In their desire to improve their lives, many Filipinos sacrifice their time with their families to work abroad and earn a decent income. Hopefully, in the next few years, our modern day heroes will not need to work overseas in order to help their families.
Last Tuesday was the 6th OFW and Family Summit. The summit was organized by Villar Sipag Foundation and Go Negosyo to promote entrepreneurship among OFWs and their families. For the past few years, the summit has featured different business opportunities OFWs or their families can consider and invest on.
I met one former OFW turned entrepreneur, Imelda Dagus. She has been an OFW for more than 20 years and worked as an executive secretary in an oil company in Oman. She has always been enterprising. She has read business books and attended business seminars. In fact, she attended one of the first seminars abroad of Go Negosyo in 2013 held in Bahrain where she met some of our angelpreneurs and learned about the Go Negosyo advocacy.
Her family has a coffee shop established by her grandmother in 1962. The family has managed the business, but because of lack of focus, the business did not grow. Imelda decided to improve the business and upgrade the products and services they offered.
In 2015, she opened Dennis Coffee Garden which originated in Jolo, Sulu, but is now in Zamboanga. It is one of the most visited coffee shops in the province. Their coffee shop offers organic coffee called “Kahawasug” which is under the Robusta variety of coffee. They outsource their coffee beans from their relatives who grow coffee in Sulu.
What differentiates Dennis Coffee Garden from other local coffee shops is that it has perfectly showcased the traditional and modern fusion. Aside from innovating and developing the business, she preserved the legacy of her grandmother who started their coffee business.
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Less than one year in the business, she was given an opportunity to open another branch in the biggest mall in Zamboanga. Despite uncertainties, she opened it in September this year.
Throughout her entrepreneurial journey, she acknowledged the help of her mentors. Some of her mentors are from Go Negosyo, such as Chit Juan and Butz Bartolome. She understands that mentors are there to guide and help her solidify the plans she has. She consults her mentors whenever she faces roadblocks. Imelda compares the value of mentorship to diving. She shared, “When you dive, you don’t know how deep the water is. Sometimes, you will need to dive with someone who knows how deep the water is.” This is what I have always told micro and small entrepreneurs – find mentors who can support you in the process.
When asked what Imelda learned in her entrepreneurial journey, she proudly shared that through their business, she was able to help people from Jolo, “the unsung heroes”, to bring food to their tables. She has helped in job creation in her area and trained even her nephews and other relatives which spared them from illegal jobs. She has empowered many people.
“The real sense of being an entrepreneur is seeing beyond the profit.”
Today, she is part of our coffee group which is being mentored by Johnlu Koa of French Baker together with many of the local coffee growers and manufacturers in the country.
Imelda Dagus of Dennis Coffee Garden and Rep. John Bertiz III.
Aside from Imelda, I also met Rep. John Bertiz III. Before becoming a representative of the ACTS OFW Partylist, he was once an OFW himself. When his family was struggling financially, at 18 years old, he decided to work in Saudi Arabia. Because of his hard work and determination, he rose from the ranks. Aside from his full time job, he had other jobs on the side including selling merienda such as balut and tokneneng, and many others. In 1997, he returned home to put up their first business which was a hair salon. But because of his expertise in human resource management, he put up Global Asia Alliance Consultant Inc. which offers job opportunities here and abroad. His company is also one of leaders in promoting ethical recruitment practices.
He then became one of the spokesperson of the recruitment sector and OFWs. He was the spokesman of OFW Advocates Coalition which fought for issues affecting OFWs. Today, as a representative, he is still an advocate for the rights and development of OFWs. He proposes the establishment of a department focused on the development of OFWs. He wants OFWs to know more about different business opportunities they can invest in once they return home. “Dapat yung pagbalik ang pinag-hahandaan,” Rep. Bertiz said.
The OFW and Family Summit was a great venue to showcase different business models either through agri-entrepreneurship, franchising, direct selling or other types of businesses.
Thanks to our partners: Senators Manny and Cynthia Villar and Villar Sipag Foundation for continuously helping our fellow Filipinos. Go Negosyo will always be a partner in the development of lives through entrepreneurship.
