Inspiration as effective business tool

MANILA, Philippines -  If there weren’t anything to inspire us in this world, then a lot of today’s thriving entrepreneurs wouldn’t probably end up successful. This is because for them inspirations are able to impart a sense of courage to take risks and the motivation to pursue what they deem is their real passion in life.

For empowered entrepreneurs Carlo and Kathleen Kaye Termulo-Garcia, Krie Reyes-Lopez, and Kim Lato, their inspiration came in various shapes and concepts, but with the same outcome: Success in their own ventures.

At 34, Lopez was inspired to make a change in the lives of the underprivileged. She wanted to make things happen for them, to give them a break from the mundane. With that in mind, she set up in 2008 Helping Ourselves through Sustainable Enterprises (HOUSE), a project based on the successful social enterprise, Delancey Street Foundation.

The idea of HOUSE (www.ourprojecthouse.org), according to Lopez —a graduate of Management Engineering in Ateneo de Manila University —is to put up a group of companies that employ, train, and rehabilitate at-risk young adults.

As part of her initial steps, Lopez launched the company’s very first enterprise — Messy Bessy (www.messybessy.com), a line of environment-friendly personal and household care products.

She explained: “I always want the products to have a strong core value —in this case, it’s environmentalism —so that the at-risk young adults aren’t only on the receiving end of the program but are also, through the products, contributing positively to society.”

Bringing in grateful hearts to the house, Lopez tirelessly trained her “at risk young adults” to manufacture the products as well as coached them on how to market and convince prospective customers to buy “green” cleaning products.

The profit earned from this endeavor she used to provide a better future to the disadvantaged. She offered more vulnerable young adults a stable job, stable income, but more importantly, a stable life.

Today, the Messy Bessy line of products has grown from seven to 25 and these are now distributed in over 30 specialty stores all over Metro Manila. “For HOUSE, we’d like to open up more businesses so that the young adults will be able to master a wider variety of skills,” she added.

Kim Lato

Hot success

“I’m bringing sexy back,” or so the song goes. This was exactly the case for Kathleen Kaye Termulo-Garcia, one of the brains behind the sexy lingerie brand, Hot Pink, who was inspired by a pair of Victoria’s Secret lingerie that her husband, Carlo, gifted her during one of his trips to the United States.

What brought her to opening up this business is the fact that she could not find any local brand that was flattering and sexy enough to appeal to the younger crowd. That was back in 2002 when the market only had women’s underwear in neutral tones.

In 2003 Hot Pink was born. The name, exuding femininity, best represents the brand, she said, as the line of lingerie boasts of modern, colorful, trendy underwear for the “gutsy, confident, and playful.”

In bringing her brand to her target crowd, Kaye’s entrepreneurship degree from San Beda College Alabang came in handy. She sourced the fabric, looked for suppliers, roamed the city for possible locations, and commissioned a graphic designer to come up with a catchy logo.

But the success of the business was really a result of conjugal teamwork. At first, Kaye admitted that they couldn’t find a decent factory that would take their orders because of the small amount. But the selling part was the real revelation, as they learned that “what sold well abroad did not necessarily sell well here.”

But they kept on and innovated their designs and product lines. They gave the local market what they wanted and what they needed. They satisfied their taste in lingerie, and eventually their slow-moving inventory became fast, picking up pace in the following months and years.

These days, the couple is still very busy. With six branches and two franchised branches in Cebu, the business is “doing pretty well,” they revealed. “We have evolved from just selling local products to carrying foreign brands as well. We are now the exclusive distributors for Body Wrap, Le Mystere, Sassybax, Pure Lim and Pull-in. We also now have an e-commerce website, which has been doing well.”

Techie dreams

Her success came in early. Kim Lato, only 18 then, wanted to tread a path that was different from her kin who were in diverse fields—from textile and garments, manufacturing, general merchandising, importing and distribution, to steel shafting and extraction.

But she was different. She wanted her own career. In 2006, she launched KIMSTORE: Your Trusted Online Gadget Store (KIMSTORE.multiply.com).

Using the social networking site, multiply.com, as her marketing platform, Lato, who didn’t really have a large capital for her business, decided to just start an online business that carries a wide range of digital electronics—from notebooks to tablet PCs, digital and SLR cameras, mobile phones, gaming consoles, music players, to other accessories.

 “I created my store online using our family computer at home. It was around 2006 when online social networking was starting to grow as a potentially huge market,” she quipped. But the challenge really was to convince interested buyers to trust her store, since there were a lot of fake online businesses.

Kathleen Garcia of Hot Pink

Lato admitted, “Let’s face it, would you be making a substantial purchase from some stranger online?” But it was through this thinking that she found more reason to continue what she had already started.

Driven by the mission “to provide a safe virtual access towards shoppers online and offline,” KIMSTORE has become one of today’s most visited, trusted, and affordable online gadget stores.

Just five years in the business, it has gained a network of loyal customers looking for top-of-the-line quality electronics, with warranty, to boot. And this was a result of her inspiration to make it on her own in the world of entrepreneurship.

These entrepreneurs are set to be recognized at the Young Entrepreneurs Summit of Go Negosyo—an advocacy of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE)—to be held today at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

During the summit, themed Be Smart, Be Enterprising, PCE will be awarding Carlo and Kathleen Kaye Termulo-Garcia, Krie Reyes-Lopez, and Kim Lato as among the new batch of Go Negosyo Young STARpreneurs who have helped instill an entrepreneurial culture in the country.

According to Go Negosyo founding trustee Joey Concepcion, granting the awards is a way of recognizing those people who bravely took charge of their lives and made the most of their resources and abilities to transform those into viable enterprises.

This year’s summit is being sponsored by PLDT SME Nation, Smart Communications, RFM Corp., BPIF Ka-Negosyo, Avon Cosmetics, Condura, Multiply.com, Orchard Property Marketing Corp., Isuzu i-Van, LBC Group of Companies, Unilever Phils., Mang Inasal (Injap Sia), Philippine STAR, and GMA-7.