An OFW Success Story: Optimizing One's Talent

A couple of months ago, we had our company outing in a newly opened resort La Andreax Beach Resort, named after the children of Antonio an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who did well working abroad optimizing his talents.  The resort  is situated along the clean and pristine beach  of  Cabangan, Zambales. As with any other newly opened resort, the services were still short of perfect, but one can already prophecy a  future profitable family enterprise as our group truly enjoyed our stay in his resort.

What is the story of the resort? Antonio's 3 children (2 boys and a girl) loved to go on outings. It seemed natural that when he decided to come home for keeps that he would buy land near the sea.

FOOD SERVER CUM GRAPHIC ARTIST

Antonio was a graphic artist and designer of architectural plans. He studied at Central Luzon State University (CLSU) enrolled in agricultural engineering that he did not get to finish. It is a course mainly  focused on landscape, drainage and irrigation. He loved to draw and he was more interested  in graphics and design.

He had the opportunity to go to the Middle East, specifically, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia where he worked close to 20 years.  He  first applied as food service crew in Kuwait working during the day and at night  did part time work  doing sign boards. Then at the time when war   between Kuwait and Iraq broke out, he transferred to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There  he continued to work as  food service crew and part time graphics, draftsman artist and designer of house plans. In the 1990s, there was  not much use of computers, but  when  computer graphics became popular he learned through trial and error.

START UP OPERATIONS

For 5 years, his income a month was at  400 dollars however,  when his talent as graphic artist was discovered in one month's time it jumped to $ 2000 dollars a month. In his  part time job done mostly  at night he was doing designs of football grounds for royalty, tensile structures for tents, Arab type  hotels among others. He did  designs, computed for structural materials, then executed, Thursdays and Fridays, the typical Muslim weekends. He  worked and bought books and engaged in self study.

In 2003 he came home and tried different businesses while dreaming to have a beach house. He came to Cabangan (he was originally from Isabela). He realized using his talent and experience that the place had  good potable water, he saw the sand as a natural resource . He started to design a sketch. The place was 3,200 square meters. He was amazed at his discovery: free sand and potable  water within a few feet.

BUILDING THE RESORT

He started work  Dec 28, 2012 went full blast Jan 2- March 30 (in  90 days), built a swimming pool (in 40 days) used mainly using local residents. But he  got experts: a welder, a  plumber, the person who did the swimming pool. It was  difficult to grow plants in sandy soil so he decided to convert his beach property  into a resort.

Through the help of his children they started to build the family business. At first,  he started in the transport business but later moved on to the resort. The children started to buy their own "kudos"  a certain number for each  child, their participation in the business.  Then he came across the Zambales property. He quickly checked out its location in Google Earth and found out it was a good location that only a tsunami can destroy.

He quickly adjusted to  the neighborhood, getting to know the barangay and municipal officials.  He has a grand design for the future: two pools (a kiddie pool and an adult pool) with fountains, 10 airconditioned rooms, a water refilling station; a mini canteen. In the coming months he wants to build a parking lot  to accommodate big buses. He is still thinking through the suggestions of local officials for a function room and a multi-purpose hall. He notes  his resort is a pleasurable  3 hours drive from Metro Manila, quite accessible for tired city folks seeking communion with nature.

OFW SUCCESS

What attributed to his success as an Overseas Filipino Worker? He mentions his diligence, perseverance and  ability to use both his innate talents and acquired skills. He dreams to use these same talents such as his  knowledge of design to do what is necessary to develop the land on which the resort is built.

He also mentioned his sense of values. He rose from poverty, he was loyal to people he worked for, he delivered good service, he expressed gratitude to people who gave him the "breaks". Today he wants to be a role model to others, specially to his children, a legacy built on strong values.

Brgy. Laoag, Cabangan, Zambales 

https://www.facebook.com/LaAndreaxBeachResort

Be an Entrepreneur, Create Jobs

A core human resource challenge in the country today is job generation and employment. In fact the People Management Association of the Philippines has started to give this advocacy priority. For indeed having a job determines whether one survives and is able to take care of the needs of his family. A job or source of livelihood is  essential to avoid or alleviate poverty. Today  responsible entrepreneurship is one of the answers to job and livelihood generation

BELLA RESORTS

Last week Ancilla my company composed of 28 head office employees headed for  Bella Resorts in Matabungkay, Batangas. We found this simple resort that is clean, with a swimming pool, fronting the beach.  We were met by the manager. But I noticed this elegantly dressed lady cooking in the kitchen. Intuitively I asked if she was Bella and she was.

My writer's curiosity piqued I decided to interview her. She is Bella Dizon, born in Manila, from Filipino-Spanish parents, a former Karilagan model, who migrated with her first husband to Australia, spending 33 years in her adopted country. She raised 3 boys who are all professionals today.

Bella also represents a model Filipina who simply retires and transforms herself depending on the circumstances. She started her carreer as executive secretary, then in Australia studied to become a registered nurse, then later turned restaurant entrepreneur, now she is a resort owner (cum cook).  As we chatted away, I can sense her state of accomplishment and fulfillment. She is proud of his sons who are all professionals or entrepreneurs.

Then in 2006, after vacationing at Matabungkay Hotel she decided to purchase a retirement place fronting the beach. She built a beautiful house spending pristine days admiring the beach, the rolling waves and the lovely sunsets. However as the days passed she started to feel bored and lonely. She also saw the need of the community in the Ligtasan sitio for work . She gathered this through interaction with those who helped around her house. Multi talented she loves cooking, in Australia she worked as a nurse and even set up a rib and chicken place.  One thing she learned from her dementia patients is to always keep busy and make the mind work.

More people are coming to her place convinced mainly by word of mouth from customers.  It is only recently that she developed a web site. Soon the nipa huts gave way to more concrete air-conditioned rooms that mark her resort today. She employs 4 regular staff and 8 contingent staff who help out when the number of guests increase. Her mission today is to generate jobs and be of service to the community. Her resort now accommodates comfortably 60 to 70 guests.

She has  a vision for her resort. She wants to expand its capacity to be able to hire more people. She wants the resort to be a model to the locals of  a functional yet clean place. She recently hosted the wedding of an Australian marrying a Filipina. She entertained 130 visitors showing her the possibilities for tourism in the future, also for a lot of local celebrations such as christenings and anniversary parties. She is also bent on continuous improvement.

When asked how well her resort is doing, she smiles and says she delights in taking a vacation overseas once a year. She believes in hard work as well as in recreation. When asked about the values she instills in her staff she  emphasized fairness and  discipline. She also believes in managing the levels of stress of the staff.

Our wish and dream is for more Filipinos who have worked overseas to come retire and invest in our country and generate jobs. We congratulate Bela for her successful coming home transition to a new role.


Photos from: www.facebook.com/bella.beach.1

Midway White Beach Resort

As mentioned in my column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer I had this inspiring conversation with Borge Echavez who owns the  Midway White Beach Resort along the coastline of Tubigan, Initao, Misamis Oriental. It was the venue  for the Team Building Program  for the start-up plant of Philip Ong in Cagayan de Oro  named Pro Natural.

Midway White Beach Resort is just an hour away from Cagayan de Oro City . It has white sand and relaxing wonderful views.  Water sports include jetski, kayaks, banana boat. It also has a zipline that starts at the top of a tower on the shore and ends with an exciting splash into the ocean. The children of Borge, though still young monitor the performance of these facilities.

The workshop had twenty or so very talented participants, mostly young in their twenties and thirties and participants from head office in Manila. They were actively engaged in the program that   involved team building exercises to bond the group. It also included cross functional dialogues to  ensure quality internal customer and supplier relationships inside the plant. The evening ended with my doing executive coaching for the plant manager to manage her entry into the group.

I took the lead as facilitator, ably assisted by Mike Puangco (seated on the left front row), my eldest son who managed the team activities.

One challenging exercise is the 10 ball race. How does one manage to transport ten balls that will touch all the palms of the participants present. See picture of participants in action.

Saturday was a free day for everyone (it was also the company outing). After going to mass in the morning, Jenny Maniego (who's a program coordinator in Santeh foundation) and I went to market to buy sports clothes (in plain speak t-shirt and shorts). I was not prepared for a resort. Then we took the zipline, Jenny first. Then I followed. It was an adventure in managed risk. I noticed the safety precautions undertaken by the resort staff who prepare you to zip  (head gear, hooks etc.). Afterwards, Jenny  (shown in picture below in blue shirt ) and I (left in white shirt) rode the banana boat pulled by a jetski. What was different from the other riders, we gave strict instructions not to dump us into the ocean. They showed us how to ride (pretending that one is in horseback)  and not to tilt one’s weight to one side. It was our responsibility to keep ourselves in balance, We enjoyed the ride. 

Then we had a sumptuous lunch that included a tasty lechon! 

Entrepreneurship At It's Best

By Tita Datu Puangco

Recently, I flew to Cagayan de Oro to help " form" the new management team of an aqua and hog feeds plant named Pro Natural. Traveling from the airport, one can witness the brisk activities of rebuilding after the devastation wrought by the recent Sendong typhoon. I did not know that the workshop was to be held in a beautiful unpretentious resort called Midway owned and personally managed by Borge Echavez, 32 years old.

I was quite impressed by the level of customer service of the person assigned to assist us. He was quick on his feet, pleasant and respectful of the rules. Once he was offered something to eat. he politely declined the invitation because it was against the rules and that there is a proper time and place for the service assistants to eat.

Our training room left much to be desired, the air conditioners were not enough to cool the blistering heat being transported to us from outside. At one time we decided to open the windows and the doors to let the sea breeze cool us. But the group managed to work their best given the challenging environment. The joy of bonding, camaraderie and of course of good and delicious food worked wonders on people's learning.

Borge shared with us the history of the resort. His father bought it for 500 pesos a going away gift from wealthy and famous Muslim families whom he served for 10 years as a houseboy. He bought the resort in 1980. Borge recently got an offer to sell the resort for P 90 million that he courteously turned down.

In 2001 Borge took over after his father died. It was not easy because the enterprise had debts that even resulted in a foreclosure of property. After paying off debts to get back the property, he realized he a had to go back to study to manage the resort.

In one of the seminars he attended he was impressed by one of the speakers who talked of the importance of "personalized hands on operation" and the secret of success being " to befriend every guest " so that they come back for repeat business or spread through word of mouth the great service they received. He adopted the strategy and true enough he achieved a high 90 per cent repeat visitor record.

Then keenly aware of the trends in resorts he decided to attract the young through water sports including jet ski, kayaks, banana boat. He also added a zip line with a difference. The end point was a delightful splash into the sea. His first zip line he acquired at P 200,000 And the investment he recovered in 3 months time. Then he invested in a longer one for
P 400,000 and the experience of a quick return on his investment was repeated. When I took the zip line I noted the concern for safety and also the signing of the waiver protecting the resort from unjustified legal suits.

Another factor for success is good financial management that ensures that he keeps himself relatively free of debt. Borge also attracts groups to the resort through reasonable and competitive low packages for groups as few as 12 persons that include 3 meals, 2 snacks, rooms, all rides, jet skil, zip line, banana boat, kayak, glass bottom boat, beach volley ball and airport transfers for minimum for less than P2,000 per participant. He also understands customer seasons, one for the summer is attracting families and company outings and the seminar and training session from July to December. He has preference for government institutions who do several training batches year round.

Borge is also keen in preparing for succession, training his young children to work in the resort as his father did with him. Each child is assigned to monitor one major revenue stream on weekends. A young daughter takes care of the catering business. another boy the water sports and still another the zip line. Each one is paid P 100 per day during the weekend.

So, are these success factors in explaining success? In financial terms, resort revenues of P 400.000 to P 2 million a month. Other less tangible factors include his good relationships with both Muslims and Christians, and as a Christian he pledges a tithe to his community. he believes in " helping each other " as a practice.

Slowly he is replacing huts made of native material into concrete houses. In one section of the resort brisk construction is happening. One can already imagine the bright future of this resort and the blessings in store for the family that runs it.

It was a privilege talking to Borge. he is someone who can be mistaken as a coast guard, tanned with broad shoulders, wearing beach slippers with a walkie talkie in hand, making decisions and talking to customers. In Midway, unlike other resorts, one finds the learning entrepreneur, right at the middle of the action.