Your best friend has great work ethic, unquestionable integrity, skilled in managing a company and appears to have all the qualifications of a business partner. You know best, after all, she is your best friend. But it’s a common dilemma: do best friends turn out to be the worst business partners?

Reality shows different stories. Some of the best companies in this country were born out of friendships (or at least were nourished by friends and business partners.)

There’s SGV & Co., of course, with the legendary business partnership between Wash Sycip and Fred Velayo, who were classmates at the Burgos Elementary School from Grade 1. Some other friends and business partners featured in the Philippine Daily Inquirer through the years are those of Precy Florentino and Kuh Ledesma (Music Museum Group, Inc.), Global Wireless Connections by Jeremy Obial and Arthur Policarpio, and Marvin Agustin and Raymund Magdaluyo’s Sumo-Sam restaurant.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

Getting a business permit should be a simple and straightforward transaction. It’s most likely the fledgling business owner’s first interaction with local government and could easily be a tipping point on whether he will or will not go through with his plans.

Unfortunately, what is simple can turn out to be complex. What is straightforward can become a traumatic experience for many small business owners.

One overseas Filipino worker I interviewed, who asked not to be identified, told of his plan a few years ago to come home for good and set up a small business. He ended up going back to the US, sickened by how government officials in his town and police tried every little trick to make him pay more than necessary.

[Read the rest of this entry »]