School trains students to be CEOs at 25

MANILA, Philippines - Young CEOs Maan Madrasto-Brown and Carlo Nova set up their own business solutions firms and have found success being CEOs at 25.

Back in her high school days, Maan Madrasto-Brown burned hours in the Internet cafe playing with free web builders. Maan was learning something alien to the average computer user back when beepers still ruled, and that was basic web programming.

In 1996, being a web programmer involved building websites with a minimum of about two to three pages. That meant P1,000 per page. This is why, at 17 years old, Maan decided to quit college — to her parents’ disappointment — confident that she would succeed in freelance web development.

Web development was then a burgeoning industry with very few people skilled enough to compete with her business. Maan was bound to make a mark, but not without a few challenges. She was about to score a new multinational client, only to be denied the contract because she lacked a formal degree.

“This led me to enroll at Informatics Computer Institute in order to acquire an International IT Professional License. This has definitely fueled my booming IT career and grew my business bigger and paved the way to the birth of Infoteq Web Solutions, now with more projects, more employees, more equipment. Eventually I decided to enroll again at Informatics International College to specialize in multimedia and the Internet,” shares Maan.

Today, Infoteq Web Solutions offers a broad range of IT, branding, system security consulting, and supplies multimedia services to the likes of Rotaract Manila, Saga Events, and Philconstruct Online, as well as other offshore clients from the United States, Canada, and the UK.

John Carlo Nova graduated BS Computer Science in Informatics Philippines, Eastwood, in 2006. While studying, John, known to friends as Caloy, already started doing freelance work, creating systems for small enterprises and executing software development projects for his peers.

Fresh from college, Caloy exhibited three great qualities that set him above other graduates: excellent IT training, an entrepreneurial spirit, and project management skills. After studying in Manila, Caloy retuned to Olongapo to form a team of skilled IT professionals and set up Victa Software Solutions.

“Success doesn’t happen overnight. Don’t be impatient or focused on immediate financial rewards. To be successful you must take the risk, be competitive, have unique ideas. You have to be creative and think big,” says Caloy.

Victa Software Solutions won the Best Website Award in the 11th Philippine Web Awards and the 2008 Asia Pacific Award for Most Promising Software Solutions Provider. They have also been nominated Outstanding Software Solutions Provider in the 2008 Global Excellence Award and the 2009 Consumers Choice Award.

“Venturing in IT demands continuous learning to keep up with advances in computer technology,” says Leo Riingen, CEO of Informatics Philippines. “This is why we constantly introduce new courses to students as well as enforce a project-based curriculum. Writing computer programs is part of our academic requirements so that, like Maan and Caloy, we are able to develop young, skilled, and in-demand IT professionals who can work as early as their first year.”

Informatics, a Singapore-based school, has trained thousands of students in over 20 countries. With international credentials that give it first-hand knowledge of what players in the industry require and a unique ladderized program, undergraduates are equipped with IT career skills that allow them to get hired even after their first year. In the Philippines, graduates enjoy the highest employment success rate at 70 percent in the country, according to the 2010 TESDA Job Absorption Rate Review — a testament to the success of the program. New courses will be introduced this year.