We need a pro-business president in 2010!

There will come a time when big opportunities will be presented to you, and you’ve got to be in a position to take advantage of them. — Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Inc.

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. — John F. Kennedy

Whenever people ask why I enjoy writing about business people — most especially the greatest of them all, the self-made entrepreneurs — I explain that it is my belief that Philippine society has for generations overly lionized and idolized mainly lawyers, politicians, beauty queens, landlords, movie stars and now even boxers, but why not the dynamic business people who are the true builders of any nation and also heroes?

Another tragedy: we are a society that does not honor teachers and farmers.

I am very angry with many politicians and bureaucrats for their hopeless bias against businesspeople and for sabotaging private enterprise with mind-boggling red tape and mindless corruption. The Philippines was recently ranked 144 out of 183 countries in the “Doing Business 2010 Report” of the International Finance Corp., the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank.

In 2010, I hope and pray that whoever wins the presidency will be a leader who will make life less difficult for businesspeople — less taxes, less overbearing bureaucrats and politicos like haughty datus harassing businesses, less chaotic corruption, please! Businessmen create jobs, open industries, risk money for ventures and advance progress.

Despite our traditional edge in English proficiency, human talent and abundant natural resources, it is tragic that according to the IFC report, the Philippines is one of the top 10 hardest places in the world to start and to close a business. Our global ranking fell three rankings compared to last year. In Asia and the Pacific, only Laos, Cambodia and East Timor were worse than us! We need leaders with the guts to push sweeping reforms!

In stark contrast, the top 10 best places to do business are Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the still officially “Communist” China, United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Canada and Australia. 

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Today, back in 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was named president of the United States after the assassination of President William McKinkley Jr., and Roosevelt became one of the outstanding leaders who made America a great nation. 

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For those people who e-mailed asking what else I shared in my recent speeches at Miriam College and to the Printing Industries Association of the Philippines, here are a few of my ideas about the importance of innovation and dreaming to become the next success story in business, and that there’s always room for a new entrepreneur, new ideas and dynamic business ventures.

One shining example of self-made success is a young provinciano girl from Santa Cruz, Laguna, whose immigrant father died early and who started out life as a saleslady. She eventually opened a small bookshop in Santa Cruz, Manila, at a time when other big-time and venerable booksellers were already rich and established. She is Socorro C. Ramos, wife of Jose Tan Ramos and the legendary founder of National Book Store, Powerbooks and Bestsellers chains. Nowadays, her children and grandkids help her, and National Bookstore is still undisputed in selling school and office supplies.

In this generation, this book lover remembers that a young architect named Jaime Daez started a small bookshop called Bibliarch in Makati. Later on, success led to his tying up with Singapore’s Page One chain for a big branch in the Power Plant Mall of Rockwell, which I remember visiting while it was under construction (the sleeves of my favorite polo shirt were accidentally torn during that visit). A problem must have caused the Page One deal to end and there were then even rumors of the new bookstore owner having problems, but it later reincarnated into Fully Booked.

Today, the classy and reader-friendly Fully Booked chain seems to be flourishing and it has a wonderful selection of books. Other good booksellers also with strong niche markets include Book Sale and A Different Bookstore. The National Book Store chain (with Powerbooks and Bestsellers) is still immensely successful, but there’s now a new kid on the block — the owner of Fully Booked — doing well, innovating and expanding. Can Fully Booked sustain growth and help expand the frontiers of reading in our society?

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In another industry, prewar Manila had a phenomenal rags-to-riches immigrant entrepreneur named Ma Mon Luk, who popularized Chinese-style chicken noodle soup or chicken mami plus dim sum items like siopao and siomai. Those old dishes were brought here by other immigrants with their panciterias, but it was the sensational marketing whiz Ma who turned them into bigger business and crowned himself the “Mami King.” Even Philippine presidents loved his mami.

At the height of the Ma Mon Luk family’s fame, another immigrant in the postwar era was starting out as a humble cook not so far away in the Seng Guan Buddhist Temple on Narra Street, Manila, and later moved to Davao City with his family to open a small restaurant. Here, the immigrants’ children like Tony Tan Caktiong and Ernesto Tanmantiong first worked part-time as students to learn the rudiments of the restaurant business. This family would eventually go to Manila and later on founded Jollibee, perhaps Asia’s most phenomenal fast-food success story. In 31 years, Jollibee has built up a chain of 660 stores.

A few years ago, I was invited by the Philippine Jaycees to be one of the judges for its young entrepreneurs competition, and one of the finalists whose innovative business venture caught my attention is Edgar Sia of Iloilo City. I had only one vote as judge and this young guy didn’t win, but his business continued to shine and is now a nationwide fast-food chain. Sia will have 200 stores by December this year and is targeting 300 by the end of 2010.

This phenomenal fast food is Mang Inasal. The Ma Mon Luk family still has their business, their cousins operate the Ma Kong and Masuki restaurants in Binondo and Greenhills in San Juan, the Tan brothers of Jollibee are still No. 1 and doing well, but there’s a new kid on the block fast rising with hard work, innovation and bold dreams. Can Mang Inasal sustain its success with good management and strategic planning?

Other industries have their phenomenal innovators such as RC Cola in soft drinks, Emperador in liquor, Megaworld in realty, BDO in banking, Extra Joss in health drinks, Bench in garments, Handyman and Wilcon in construction, Lucky Me in instant noodles, Belo and Flawless in the beauty business, Kopiko coffee, and many others,

In every generation, there are new rugged entrepreneurs with refreshingly innovative ways of doing business who can challenge the prevailing leaders in any industry and any society on earth. Nothing is impossible for those who dream and are willing to pay the price to pursue their goals!

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Thanks for your letters, all will be answered. Comments welcome at willsoonflourish@gmail.com or at my Facebook account.