IN 2007, when real estate businesswoman Melesa “Elsie” Chua went on a trade mission in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman), she was struck at how overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) did not have confidence in the Philippines. Worse, they did not plan for their lives back home once their contracts expire, which they should since GCC countries do not grant citizenship to foreigners. “The challenge was not in selling homes and properties, but in orienting them to believe in the Philippines again, and teaching them how to save and invest,” says Elsie, president and CEO of CDC Holdings Inc.

She also learned that a lot of OFWs who have worked for more than 20 years abroad have not even purchased a home. The remittances would be spent by their families back in the Philippines for their wants and needs. “They felt na kinakatasan lang sila, thus the term ‘katas ng Saudi,’” relates Elsie. OFWs also thought that they needed to have P1 million on hand to be able to buy a new home.

Elsie thus decided to focus on this niche market, the first time home buyers among OFWs in GCC. “Understanding our market’s needs, we developed properties that are of superior quality but suitable to their budget. For as low as P1 million spread over a term through Pag-Ibig, our OFWs can acquire new homes that are conducive for new families and first-time home owners,” adds Elsie. Under the setup, Pag-Ibig can finance up to 90 percent of the contract price, and OFWs need only to pay about P8,000 monthly, so the homes really become attainable.
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Today’s generation, dubbed Generation Q, is described as well-educated, passive, less radical, not socially engaged, but with high-paying jobs. But they are also optimists who will always have hope for the future. “How do we get our customers to give back?” asks Paolo del Rosario, marketing director of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Philippines, Inc.

“Sometimes all one needs is a start,” says del Rosario. This is what led CBTL to design a program to help spark the passion of this generation and stimulate the spirit of giving. Dubbed 12 Cups with The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: Give In to Giving, the program allows customers to get involved or help out in any or all of the 12 handpicked non-government and charity organizations involved in different causes.

“We want this holiday season to be what it’s about—giving. We tried to come up with different representation of organizations. There’s bound to be something that would be close to your heart,” says del Rosario.
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By: Jo Anne D.P. Villarosa*

For most developed countries, citizens travel and live abroad and it is considered a privilege. A wild adventure for many; a search for self for some. Whatever the agenda, citizens of developed countries fly away from their homeland with excitement. They leave by their own free will and they come home whenever they wish.

The rest of the world is another story.

We Filipinos, for example, leave our homeland for many reasons. The lucky ones leave for the rich learning that traveling provides. Other fortunate souls leave for better education or training, some leave for a change of lifestyle, and then there are those who leave to survive. Unfortunately, the reason one might have for leaving the country is largely dependent on one’s social and economic status in our unjustly stratified nation.
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How do you make yourself unique in a market that seems saturated? Simple. Offer something the market does not have yet – a blue ocean strategy.

Such was the business model of Treena Cueva-Tecson when she thought about what to do after she gave up her full-time marketing and PR career two years ago to be a wife and mom.

Born and raised in Bacolod, Treena noted that the chicken inasal sold in Manila does not taste the way it should. “The inasal in Manila are sweet, dry, and not cooked well. I know how inasal should taste like. Ilonggos would really know the authentic taste of inasal,” says Treena. “And the inasal places in Manila sell inasal by the stick (ex.: paa, pecho). No one is selling whole chicken inasal.”
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By Arnel Paciano Casanova*

Happiness perhaps lies in a sense of destiny and the knowledge that one’s existence is inextricably intertwined with something great. Or perhaps, happiness is found in the way we enjoy our life’s journey and not exactly the way we end it. While we all wish that we end on the best note we could ever imagine, the truth is, we do not know how it will be.

In the restlessness of my spirit, I found joy in sharing my life and its blessings by being a social entrepreneur. I decided to teach the subject at the Ateneo School of Government.

In addition to finance and leadership, I studied Social Entrepreneurship while trying to earn my graduate degree in Harvard under Prof. Gordon Bloom. I met people who shared my own passion. And the thought of solving social problems brought hope to my almost cynical mind.
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