Entrepreneur.com.ph

What began as a hobby for Freddy Gonzalez, 30, has helped him build a successful business venture and initiate a promising tourism project. A longtime surfing and skateboarding enthusiast, he got himself hooked again on surfing after visiting his sister in Hawaii in 2005. “But when I came back to the Philippines, I couldn’t find surfing equipment that I could use,” he recalls.

That gave him the idea of putting up a surfboard distributorship in the country. Thus, with an initial capital of US$6,000 out of his own pocket, Gonzalez established Aloha Board Sports Inc. in February 2006, initially distributing two surfboard brands, Southpoint for enthusiasts and New Surf Project (NSP) for beginners. His timing was just right because a lot of people in Manila wanted to take up surfing at precisely that time. “The surfboards got sold out from right out of our warehouse,” he says.

Gonzalez put up his surfboard distributorship even as he and his wife Anne were already running Terry S.A. Inc., the exclusive distributor in the Philippines of Havaianas footwear and David & Goliath merchandise.

He says that the strong initial sales of his surfboards were largely generated by a posting he had made at the NSP website and by referrals from his friends in the surfing community. NSP surfboards and skateboards are also sold at specialty surf shops in the country.

In 2007, Aloha Board Sports expanded its merchandise offerings to also cover clothing lines associated with the surfing and skating fashion culture, including Lost Enterprises, Dakine, Sector 9, Global Surf Industries, and Volcom. “Aloha Board Sports couldn’t survive on surfboards and accessories alone,” he explains.

Aloha Board Sport

s will be opening its own stores in 2008, and Gonzalez is optimistic about the company’s prospects due to the continuing growth of the surfing community and the greater accessibility of surfing to those who want to take up the sport. “Every weekend, surfing schools have at least 15 new students learning how to surf,” he says. “In Metro Manila alone, there are now about 4,000 hard-core, casual, and beginning surfers, and altogether there are now 10,000 of them all over the country.”

Primarily for this reason, he says, sales of the surfboards and skateboards carried by Aloha Board Sports increased by 50 percent in 2007 compared to that in 2006.

But it is not only pushing surfboard sales that Gonzalez has been busying himself with in recent months. He has come up with a program called “Onboard Philippines” (OBP) which, in partnership with the Department of Tourism, aims to tap in a big way the potential of surfing tourism in the country, the coastline of which is twice as long as that of the United States.

He explains: “Our goal is to call international attention to the Philippines as a prime surfing destination. There are 20 million surfers around the world looking for new destinations and undiscovered waves. By tapping into the tourist market and the surfing community in general, we can help bring prosperity to many local communities.”

Gonzalez cites La Union as an example: “Ten years ago, it had only four resorts; now there are around 10 to12, with the surfing schools there taking in every weekend about 20 to 70 people who want to learn how to surf.”

Onboard Philippines aims not only to popularize surfing and the Philippines as a prime destination, but also to raise public awareness about the need to take care of these places for future generations.

Through the initiative of Onboard Philippines, for instance, good but little known potential surfing places like Lanuza in Surigao del Sur, have been brought to national attention. Says its mayor, Dr. Algerico “Geri” Irizari, M.D.: “Although our engagement with OBP is still very recent, I am confident that through the resources of Onboard Philippines and the Aloha Board Sports team, Lanuza and the province of Surigao del Sur would soon become well-known not only as a potential tourism destination but also as a surf haven.”

Irizari, who is also a registered physician and nurse, is a staunch environmentalist. He says: “We are maintaining other tourism sites in the locality, like the Magkawas Falls and Green Paradise, the Lanuza Marine Park and Sanctuary, the Campamento Cave, and the Mangrove Forest and River Cruise. But even as we do so, we are determined to sustain the cleanliness and greenness of our town.”

Gonzalez intends to continue coordinating with local governments to push the Onboard Philippines tourism campaign and monitor the progress. He is particularly eyeing the development of Samar, Batanes, and Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte as the country’s next surfing destinations.

CONTACT DETAILS

ALOHA BOARD SPORTS INC.
AFP-RSBS Compound,
Km. 12, East Service Road,
Taguig City
Telephone: (02) 837-0118
Website: www.alohaboardsports.com