Last week, I went to a local trade fair to support my youngest daughter’s new business. Bella – who’s tried her hand at being an influencer – is now venturing into the perfume business. Along with her cousins Gab and Alonso, she’s launched the perfume brand Bon Voyage. I can’t be prouder.
Bella grew up surrounded by businessmen like her lolo, her uncles, her siblings and of course, her dad. Her journey so far reminds me of the power of mentorship; it is tremendous. I would not have come as far as I did had my father not mentored me as well as he did. Our crowning achievement as parents is in seeing our children succeed in life.
Mentor your children as best you can. I imparted this message when I spoke at the Metro Manila Cooperatives Congress last week. Not all children can afford to go to the best schools or have mentors in their immediate circle, but as parents, we can guide them and boost their confidence.
It is probably in this spirit that we are getting more and more CEOs to host public school students at their corporate headquarters as part of The Boardroom Experience, a program we have at Go Negosyo that aims to develop the next generation of Filipino entrepreneurs.
Myrna Yao, the dynamo behind the Barbie doll brand in the Philippines, last week had senior high school students at her corporate boardroom in Quezon City. A few weeks earlier, Robina Gokongwei, Tommanny Tan and the father-son tandem of Samie and Chris Lim also agreed to become mentors for The Boardroom Experience. These CEOs know that most Filipino kids will probably be first-generation entrepreneurs – the first in their families. They agreed to help and give these young people from public schools a leg up by being mentored personally by them, even if only for a day.
I think Myrna put it best when she summed it up this way: you grow if you grow other people. She makes the argument that it is in the company’s interest to train its workforce. And it’s not just about training them in the hard skills in business. She shared that she also guides her employees to help them find out whether or not they will thrive in the company. Get good, loyal and trustworthy people to join you, she told the students, and grow your business as they, too, grow with you.
Myrna shared plenty of the wisdom that she’s earned after more than 50 years in the business. She said that staying motivated is very important. Setbacks and disappointments test your strength – especially in the first three years – but these force you to revisit your strategy.
She also emphasized the importance of continuous learning. Myrna pursued a doctorate while she was already in her 70s and during the pandemic, she learned to paint and taught herself online selling (and made millions in sales while she was at it).
The students also had very interesting questions to ask these CEOs. Questions like how to manage people, the challenges of breaking into the international market and how the pandemic affected businesses. You can tell that they wanted to know more about the workings of a big company. With hope, they will one day lead big companies, or better yet, become the founders of big businesses.
I put forward these stories because upskilling our workforce is becoming more urgent. There is no doubt that technology has changed the jobs landscape, and jobs have been affected – to varying degrees – by automation, artificial intelligence and digital technology. It’s often said that the Philippines enjoys the advantage of having a young and digital-savvy population, but according to a speaker from the World Bank at the Arangkada Forum organized by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines that I attended last week, the window is but one generation away from closing. Unless we put this demographic sweet spot of young, able workers to good use in the next 20 to 25 years, we might lose this critical advantage.
And here is another eye-opener: Filipinos, while social media-savvy, display limited digital skills. Attaching files via e-mail, using basic arithmetic formulas in spreadsheets and transferring data from one device to another are not widely observed skills among Filipinos. Maybe because we use our mobile devices mostly for casual communication and entertainment?
What it shows is that we have a long way to go before every Filipino has the necessary skills to use digital technology beyond using social media to sell or become an influencer. However, there is hope. Filipinos can adapt quickly to technology. We don’t lack the aptitude for it. At Go Negosyo, we continuously assist MSMEs through our Kapatid Mentor ME program in which digitalization is part of the modular sessions.
In this context, public and private partnerships will play a pivotal role. Government has the network to go and reach the grassroots, the schoolchildren and the MSMEs, while private sector knows which skills will be sought after in the future and has the resources to train and upskill people.
Private sector is doing its part in its efforts to collaborate with government to align the curriculum and training (including digital skills) based on industry standards so that the workforce can be ready to take on jobs. This makes the effort of upskilling more efficient and effective because industry itself is giving guidance.
Collaboration can ensure that Filipinos are prepared to compete in the future job market. By creating a culture of continuous upskilling and upscaling, we can empower ourselves to not only succeed but thrive in an increasingly complex and competitive environment.