To advertise, or not to advertise — a tough question for many businesses. For one, it’s very expensive. Second, how do you quantify whether you are reaching the right people and whether your ad budget is bringing in sales? In this light, it would really seem like small and medium-scale enterprises don’t stand a chance against big companies who have humongous moolah to throw away on ads.

Carl Quema, the 25-year-old president of QMA Outsource Corp., believes he has the answer. His proposition is to find a way to reach the customer during one of his most vulnerable moments, and that is while hungry waiting for his order, and he can do nothing else than fiddle with his phone.

Placemats is an example of those little things in life that we hardly notice. But printed with entertaining, informative and practical stuff, like discounts and freebies, Carl believes placemats can be the advertising medium of choice especially for small businesses with niche markets.

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Melani and Marvin Natores have a very nice problem – demand for the product and services they have been selling for the past two years is TMTH. That’s American Idolish for “too much to handle” in case you haven’t heard.

An accountant and a chemist by profession in their early thirties, the couple set up an event-souvenir business that provide onsite creations as take-home gifts like photo magnets, bag tags, key chains.

The way Filipinos have gone crazy over the digital revolution, it’s not that hard to understand why their company, Konsepto, is very much in demand. Divisoria giveaways for weddings are uber-tacky, chocolates are nice but you can buy them anywhere. Now, instant photographs of the event itself…that’s kewl!

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These days in the flower business, the scenario is hardly rosy. There’s cutthroat competition for diminishing clients and in Dangwa market, where rows and rows of beautiful fresh flowers can be seen every day, the hunger for buyers can be felt in every corner.

I love the luxury of shopping around for the best prices in Dangwa and making ruthless demands to stall owners to drop their price tags. But during the plenary session of business mentoring recently, I learned that the other side of the fence could be thorny.

How does one business differentiate itself from the next one? Do values still matter in this kind of environment? Jay and Pat Gina (so sorry! my fault) Domingo, owners of Pat’s Floral Supplies, have downsized with much thought and care when others would have forced growth by sheer size. And they have kept their values intact, deciding not to directly compete with the small storeowners who buy flower supplies from them.
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Picture this: Subic Bay and Clark Field as the business process outsourcing center in Asia. These places are very accessible with cheap flights, a huge airport that’s only a two-to-three-hour drive from Metro Manila’s business centers in case meetings are set in the city, and on very good road, I must add. Add to these tax benefits and you’re all set!

Sounds like a nifty proposition, and John Bayarong, dean of Comteq Computer and Business College, is raring to supply companies with the brainpower they need to make this happen.

You could say John is dreaming big but experts say that is the mark of an entrepreneur. Right now, Comteq has 300 enrollees; John’s long-term goal is to have 500 and cap it at that level. “That will be the maximum. After that, we will just concentrate on quality,” he said at the plenary session of Open For Business’ Business Mentoring activity.

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Social entrepreneurship [soh-shuhl ahn-truh-pruh-nur-ship]. 1. Making money while doing good.

For Chi Burgos and friend Aldrin, their vision for social entrepreneurship will make money while doing good – while smelling good! (Watch a video of Chi and Aldrin talking about their business.)

You see, Chi and Aldrin’s start-up business called “Mandilu,” which is Kapampangan for “take a bath”, sells fragrant, handmade, organic soap bars made by an indigent community in Antipolo, Rizal. The makers of these soap were trained by Catholic missionaries and they used to sell their soap bars to the United States. After the 9/11 attacks on New York City, however, they lost that market and have found it very difficult to get back on their feet.
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