Ateneans bring honor to the Philippines

A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions. — Marcus Aurelius

We were young, but we had good advice and good ideas and lots of enthusiasm. — Bill Gates

ROME, Italy — It is heartening that amid the regular text news I receive from friends about impeachment, tumultuous stock prices and others, Manila Jaycees officer Marcelo Co texted me the refreshing good news that a team of talented Ateneans had recently brought unprecedented honor to the Philippines by winning the Best Business Plan World Finals held Nov. 7 to 8 in New Delhi, India.

I’m honored to have been among the five judges in the June 18 national finals that interviewed and chose this team — along with four other student teams nationwide — to represent the Philippines.

Let us congratulate these five students, their teacher-adviser Anna Mendiola, and their dean, Rudy Ang of the Gokongwei School of Management of Ateneo de Manila University.

My fellow judges that day at the Philippine Stock Exchange Building in Ortigas Center, Pasig City, included Rod Cornejo of GMA 7, Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry vice president and Anvil Business Club honorary chairman George T. Siy, PSE governor and Anvil Business Club regent David Chua and PSE official Leo Quinito.

I’m impressed with the entrepreneurial ambitions and sheer creativity of Ateneans Mariel De Castro, Andrea Go, Jurmane Lallana, Dorthee Li and Daphne Melegrito of the EcoBuilders Inc. project. Their innovative concept uses the Philippines’ abundant and often under-utilized coconut husks to manufacture floor tiles.

The EcoBuilders team’s plan showcases basic common sense, out-of-the-box creativity, resourcefulness, solid technical research, comprehensive market study and financial feasibility analyses. Most of the coconut husks are considered waste by this agricultural industry, and this is an indigenous material of our archipelago that can someday add to the present meager and erratic incomes of our coconut farmers if the students’ bold vision takes off. If our politicos can’t support our rural farmers, maybe risk-taking and hardworking entrepreneurs can?

All over the world, newspapers are dominated by negative economic news, such as here in Europe’s fourth biggest economy of Italy, where their flag carrier Alitalia is in trouble and business confidence is now the lowest in 15 years, so we in the Philippines must highlight this type of positive good news to boost the morale of our society.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo should invite these Ateneo students, their teacher-adviser and others to Malacañang to honor them; they are the future of our economy.

Hopefully, young people in the Philippines will not just dream of becoming lawyers (I believe we already have too many good lawyers!), politicians (I believe we have too many bad politicians whom we should export to Iraq and Timbuktu!), movie stars or basketball players, but dream of being entrepreneurs, engineers, doctors, scientists, teachers, agriculturists and other professionals who can build up a globally competitive, efficient, investor-friendly and progressive Philippine economy.

Here is the good news e-mailed to me by the Manila Jaycees about this triumph, which should inspire all students, businesspeople, professionals and others to dream and to aspire for nothing less than world-class excellence in all our endeavors:

“On November 7, 2008, Ateneo de Manila University’s BS Management students Mariel De Castro, Andrea Go, Jurmane Lallana, Dorthee Li, and Daphne Melegrito  (EcoBuilders Inc.) represented the Philippines in the 2008 Junior Chamber International (JCI) Best Business Plan Competition World Finals held in Ashok Hotel, New Delhi, India.

“Since 2001, the Junior Chamber Internaional (JCI) Best Business Plan (BBP) Competition, which is organized by JCI Manila, has aimed to showcase new and creative business ideas that are feasible and profitable, and at the same time do their part in helping the community (CSR). This year, out of 900 business plans by college students from all over the world, 72 were selected by the judges of the different JCI countries and were forwarded to the international panel.

“Out of the 72 national teams, four were finally selected for the World Finals, one of which was EcoBuilders Inc. of the Philippines. With their product EcoTiles (flooring tiles made from coconut husks), the group competed against these entries: a collection of used vegetable oil and production of bio-diesel by Abraham Cesar Borda Coca from Bolivia, ethanol from coffee by Andres Ramirez Velez of Colombia, and handmade banana paper by Swaley Gokhool from Mauritius.

“It was the Philippine team, however, which emerged victorious. The audience was so convinced about their business plan that even after the business plan presentation of the students, businesspeople of various countries approached them asking for import and investment opportunities.

“In the awarding ceremony conducted in the Convention Hall of the Ashok Hotel on Nov. 8, the Ateneans emerged as World Champions in this year’s prestigious contest. They brought home a cash prize that they can use as initial capital for their business plan, and also a Taj Mahal-modeled winner’s trophy that now resides at Ateneo’s John Gokongwei School of Management.”

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Thanks to the Catholic Mass Media Awards for giving this columnist its CMMA Hall of Fame Award. Thanks to all readers. Letters, comments or suggestions can be e-mailed to willsoonflourish@gmail.com.