SOME 150,000 overseas Filipino workers abroad will be displaced on account of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and they are coming home.
While they will be out of work here at home, we believe that at least they will be bringing with them some money after quitting their jobs abroad. Why don’t they go into business of their own?
Putting up a business is one good idea but many Filipinos do not have the experience for that or not inclined to start a business because their inclination and training has been more for employment. Many have very little exposure to business or are less inclined to it because they are children of parents who are not businessmen but are likewise workers or employees.
We have the Chinese or Filipino-Chinese in our midst whose parents are in the merchandising or retail trade. You will note that their boys usually follow their trail by engaging also in the retail trade like their father as they usually work as helpers in the store even while still in school. This environment develops their interest to also go into business later on. Moreover, the parents give them encouragement and would often assist them to have the initial capital when they start on their own.
In contrast, children of Filipino families usually end up as employees or working for others. The reason is that very few Filipinos go into business. They usually set their sights to work for others like in banks or in business firms operating in major cities. If you see them operate a sari-sari store of their own, it is not usually by choice but more likely it is because they were not able to find a good job with others.
We have written on this before. We say It again that our colleges and universities revisit the entrepreneurship course that they offer to their students. It is interesting to find out that in the many years that they have offered the course, how many of their graduates actually go into business of their own? Or did they just get employed or work for others?
We wish that our business colleges effectively partner with banks so that a program may be designed for business graduates to avail themselves of loan assistance, if needed, to go into business of their own. This can develop their interest to go into business right away after graduation if they are assisted to obtain starting capital.
Another group are vendors, of which we have many. They are in public markets, at bus terminals, train stations and sidewalks. Is there a chance for them to graduate later into running a more formal business of their own? What we know is that this seldom happens because their children would later go into the same trade but would just take over the same space they occupy in some sidewalk, bus terminal or train station. Look into the case of the closure recently of the Molo Public Utility Vehicles (PUV) Terminal. They are the small vendors who occupy no formal space of their own, but move from one place to another as convenient to be able to offer their wares to passengers of vehicles that park or go out of the bus station.
We wish that our Department of Trade, our business schools or some civic groups can intervene and design a program to assist our business graduates to become formal traders later on. The problem has persisted for many years, but is any of them listening?
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GEM OF THOUGHT
“Ride with the tide” – If you ride with the tide, you accept the majority decision.
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For comments or reactions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com./PN
