Batang Business starts them young

Kids For Christ (KFC) , the children’s component of religious charismatic group Couples For Christ (CFC), is starting the kids early in business by training them the basics of starting and maintaining a business, inventing or innovating their products and selling them in the annual mega Christmas at Megamall.

At the recently concluded mega Christmas, four booths under the banner "Batang Business" saw KFC kids selling their food and non-food products.

Batang Business is an entrepreneurship program for children.

"Definitely we disallow items that the kids just bought for re-selling. We screen their entries to the Batang Business fair very thoroughly," said Reynaldo Gajo, overall chairman and his wife, Grace, overall coordinator of the Batang Business program.

For the second straight year, the P25 Kiddo Burger was a favorite item in the Batang Business booth (which won the admiration of Jollibee for its original recipe coming from banana peeling, eggs and other condiments. It does not contain meat), Gajo said.

There were also the chocolate-coated mallows that another sector invented and the super fudge-y brownies of still another sector. At the Batang Business booth, there were eight sectors of KFC that participated.

Therese Chantal Abello, 11 years old and grade 5 student at St. Scholastica Marikina, said her sector (East B) used the savings from last year’s fair and undertook junkshop operation (they bought and sold old newspapers, bottles and recyclable materials to junkshop operators) to be able to produce the chocolate mallows, chocolate crinkles, shingaling and banana chips and pay for their share in the booth. "We had to produce P6,000 to cover for our part in Batang Business booth," she said.

She recalled that when Batang Business made its debut in the mega Christmas fair last year, her sector sold coin banks made from bamboo. "I tried it before and I enjoyed getting into business instead of just sitting by my computer for games or going to the malls," she said.

Everianne Joy Calebang, 12 years old and a first year student at Kapitolyo High School, is a member of the Gawad Kalinga, a social outreach program initiated by CFC and KFC.

She belongs to GK Central B sector and sold beaded accessories in the fair. "We made the beaded accessories ourselves and bought the raw materials after raising funds from selling our old newspapers, bottles and recyclables to the junkshops," she said.

"This is my first time to join the fair. I wanted to know how it feels. And definitely I will participate again next year," she said. Her first exposure at business was in helping her mother in her small biscuits trade.

Angelynn Flores, 12, grade six at Central Colleges of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, belongs to KFC sector Central A. Her group sold the Kiddo’s Burger , which had been adjudged the best original product and overall champion during the 2004 GK anniversary.

"We prepared 98 pieces of burger which we are selling at P25 a piece. On our first day, we sold more than half already," Flores said adding that capital for this venture came from last year’s earnings at the mall; sale from ukay ukay at the Pinaglabanan Church and junkshop operation.

Reynaldo Gajo said the rationale for coming up with the Batang Business program started two years ago with the resurgence of the entrepreneurship spirit. "CFC officials thought of adopting the Chinese style of entrepreneurship training of their youth with our KFC members," he said.

"The Chinese businessmen do not just hand over the business to their children. The kids are made to undergo difficult training doing the oddest job rising to the top position in the company," he said.

"We thought that if we were to produce future generations of businessmen, we should be starting them now as early as eight or nine years old until they get the feel of the business," he said.

Batang Business members undergo summer training on what business to put up, how to establish and operate it, basic financial record keeping and planning, marketing and budgeting.

Marco Flores, overall coordinator of KFC programs (including Batang Business) said the business trainings teach children on how to make their financial statements, receipts, business cards and how to prepare their business plans and budgets.

Usually conducted during summers "instead of the children going to ballet school or self defense sports," the training program comes in the following stages: first month is on planning; second on production; third on selling and 4th month on closing the books.

"After every fair, we ask the kids to close the books and decide among themselves what to do with their share of the revenues. Usually, after each fair, 10 percent goes to Gawad Kalinga (outreach programs), 10 percent to church tithing and 80 percent to the children participants," said Grace Gajo, overall coordinator of Batang Business.

"It is entirely up to them whether to save the money in the bank account of the group or divide it among themselves," Gajo said.

This early, Flores said KFC plans to invite all children from different schools of Metro Manila to participate in the mega Christmas fair, with Batang Business taking the lead.

"We want to spread the entrepreneurship spirit among the youth of other schools and other religions. We want the mega youth Christmas fair to be multi denominational, " Flores said.

Eventually, KFC will adopt as its advocacy the entrepreneurship program as a course curriculum in schools and "not just as a (part time) source of livelihood," Flores said.

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Batang Business

349 Ortigas Avenue, Mandaluyong City

Phone: 7270681

Email: [email protected]