It’s not hard to imagine that from the OFW perspective, financial dreams are not made of candy clouds and somnambulant wanderings between bright business ideas. They are built by wide-eyed hard work and sacrifice. Unfortunately, financial security at home – the dream of almost every OFW I know – gets trumped by many things, not least of all the inability to start a small business.

Nielsen Media Research simply described this inability as a tendency to depend on monthly remittances for daily expenses. Jay Mendoza, NMR says most families of OFWs prefer to have no other sources of income.

I’m not an expert on the OFW community, but I think there’s more to the story than that, just as there is more to a business than capital. There must be more to the figures than just languid dependence and zero creativity.

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The student with a clever idea for a business, the office worker who has been dreaming of starting a unique pastry shop, the OFW  who has been living poor so he can save enough money to start a business — all labor under the assumption that it takes money to make money.

I, too, believe that money begets money because capital is where the energy of an enterprise comes from. It’s not the only source, of course. An inspired business model, determination to succeed and all that are all folded into the business enterprise. But when it comes to money and capital, either you have it or you don’t have it.

Cynthia Baello, in “From P200 to riches”, an article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, made me think again. She started her business with P200, and grew it from there. This story has several business lessons for everyone.

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Ronnel Domingo’s article on SME financing urged small to medium-scale enterprises to tap a P280-million export fund.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

The Department of Trade and Industry is urging small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to tap a P280-million export promotion fund, or EPF, and advising them to follow the strict requirements. Interested exporters organizations and associations are being encouraged to submit their project proposals to the Export Development Council for evaluation, Trade and Industry Undersecretary Thomas Aquino said in a statement.

Made available through the council, the EPF was put up jointly by the Department of Trade and Industry with a contribution of P100 million, the Department of Budget and Management with P100 million, the National Economic and Development Authority with P20 million, and the Philippine Exporters Confederation with P10 million.

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