“Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.” Francis Bacon, the English philosopher, said this more than four centuries ago, but it still applies to the youth of the present—especially to the young entrepreneurs whose stories we feature in the next pages.
Indeed, Rio de la Cruz, Marco Aventajado, Bang Omengan, Patrick Jalbuena and Cathy Lim-Senga have done all of the above. They have executed enterprises that are both new and innovative in their respective industries, despite being all under 35 years old.
Unlike their elders, young entrepreneurs tend to put up novel businesses in areas where
markets have been untested.
This trait has helped de la Cruz metamorphose from being a champion long-distance runner to a footrace organizer and a running coach to the stars.
It has helped Aventajado to claim a foothold in the nascent poker-club industry. And it has helped Omengan, Jalbuena and Lim-Senga to reach overlooked clients in the hospitality, music and food sectors.
As most veteran businessmen can attest, it’s never too early to start your entrepreneurial
journey. And it’s easy to start a business if it means doing something you love—the common thread running through all five of our subjects. They have heeded the words of another man, the late American comedian and singer Joe E. Lewis: “You are only young once, and if you work it right, once is enough.”
1. Rio de la Cruz
Who:
He’s the champion athlete behind the afro who’s in the running to become a champion entrepreneur.
His is a story we’ve heard, seen, and read many times before: born in the province and raised in the slums, abandoned by his mother, raised by his blue-collared father, walked to school, realized he could run, did so without shoes, was seen by a talent scout, earned a scholarship, ran in a marathon, created a marathon, and became a millionaire. It’s a story we know all too well. But this one is different: the story’s hero wears an afro.
Tall, lanky, and with skin browned from spending afternoons under the sun, Rio de la Cruz, 27, is a child of the streets. A native of Bato, Camarines Sur and the youngest of 14 children, de la Cruz was barely a year old when his mother left the family, leaving all parental and nurturing duties to Rio’s father and grandfather.
Idea:
It was upon taking the train to Manila that the young Rio saw the world beyond the rickety corners of their shanty. With an allowance of one peso a day, de la Cruz began attending public school, enduring the daily three-kilometer walk. However, his ideal mode of transportation was running.
Turning point:
College proved to be a turning point in his career. In 2001, he was named Rookie of the Year in the UAAP track and field event, winning two silver medals in his first year. De la Cruz began breaking and establishing records, winning more medals, and soon joined the National Team in his second year in college.
Popular sporting brand Nike noticed the running kid with an afro and signed him up to become an endorser. “Two months before my graduation, UP hired me as a coach for the track team.”
It was also during this time that de la Cruz began to teach running one-on-one. His clients, company presidents and CEOs, actors and socialites, made him the running coach to the country’s running elite. And Rio became Coach Rio.
“At that time, I was already thinking of organizing races myself,” recalls Rio. Challenged by his then girlfriend who thought he couldn’t do it, de la Cruz took it upon himself to prove her wrong. Armed with nothing but his experience as a racer and a little over P100,000 of his own money, de la Cruz took to organizing his own race.
He was a one- man team—from producing registration materials, designing flyers, looking for sponsors, creating the race route, applying for permits, delivering registration forms, and even creating jerseys. This barefoot runner was not about to be daunted by scant resources.
And in August of 2007, the grounds of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City was swarmed by nearly 2,000 runners participating in The Great UP Run. The result was an event worthy of its name. “That was where it all began,” de la Cruz says, “the notion that if Coach Rio organizes a race, it’s a quality event.”
Now, in only two years’ time this veteran of over 20 races in more than four countries has managed to make himself and his full head of hair a brand that holds quality and world-class racing events popular among the country’s running community.
The next level:
And better he became. In 2007, de la Cruz established Entraineur, an events and sports management company that handles corporate accounts.
In 2008, together with business partner Vince Mendoza, he launched Finishline.ph, an online sports management company that organizes races. And just last year, he launched Run Rio Inc. which holds de la Cruz’s own running series called The RunRio Trilogy, a yearly triple combination of three major running events, and RunRio Sportswear, Rio’s own running apparel brand.
2. Bang Omengan
Who:
When Rock Inn & Café opened on October 30, 2004, Bang was still pursuing a degree in Hotel and Restaurant management at the University of Baguio. Sagada is 140 kilometers away from Baguio, so Bang had to shuttle between his hometown and the summer capital on a road that has been declared as one of the top five scariest in the world.
“My family was actually looking for a ‘fall guy’ to run the place. I didn’t have any other choice,” Bang jests. Being the eldest, the task to manage the family inn fell on his shoulders. “Actually, we all have choices right? I have no regrets.”
Idea:
Rock Inn & Cafe lies in the middle of the family orchard. The eight-hectare lot was purchased in 1996, and was a full-fledged farm until the family decided to build the inn in 2004.
There are over 2,000 citrus trees in the family orchard: ponkans, hamlins, navel, clementine, washington navel, lemons and calamansi, to name a few. They yield an average of 500 kilos a week. Making the most of this abundance, orange picking has become one of the inn’s attractions. This is best done between late September to February.
Turning Point:
“When we were constructing the inn, we had in mind a masa clientele, backpackers,” Bang says. “We built very affordable accommodations and only two rooms had bathrooms.”
His mother, Fely, built the inn from the ground up, while Bang took care of purchasing construction materials. Previous to its opening, the place was being referred to as “Rock Farm.” But Bang wanted to find a more appealing name. “We only came up with the name ‘Rock Inn and Cafe’ on the day of the opening. We did not even have keychains, there were no room numbers, no signs yet on the bathroom doors.”
At first, only two of the inn’s rooms would be occupied by guests. Then, curious tourists would just find their way to Rock Inn. Other innkeepers in the community would also refer guests to them. Eventually, through word of mouth helped by technology via the cellphone and Internet, Rock Inn’s clientele grew.
These guests, however, looked for bedrooms with in-suite bathrooms, and some VIPs would request for the place to be shut down exclusively for them. So for the next two years, the Omengan family had to retrofit the rooms with bathrooms.
The next level:
Guests can choose to buy items they fancy. “We want to encourage pride in things that we have, and not desire Western things,” Bang shares. This not only makes the place more attractive; using things that are easily available or using found items rather than purchasing things from outside helps them save on expenses. “We’ll even set out a big bowl of oranges instead of flowers as centerpiece.”
In terms of accommodations, they plan to put up cottages representing the different Igorot tribes in the Cordillera, each decorated with a tribe’s unique carvings, basketry, as well as the construction structure and layout.
“We will construct a healing garden where people can meditate and just let time pass. It is a place where you can relax, read a book, enjoy a cup of steaming coffee,” Bang says.
For even better customer service, “we intend to put in place a good intercom system so that the guests don’t have to see the staff, but will have all their needs provided. [We will construct proper] staff access, so guests will feel like they have the entire place to themselves.”
3. Cathy Senga, 34Who:
A third-generation restaurateur carves her niche in her own private enclave, keeping a family tradition of serving good food at Burntmilk Café.
Several years before Burntmilk started, Cathy was already actively involved in her own family’s enterprise in Marikina City, the Café Kapitan Restaurant. Coming from a line of restaurateurs – her grandfather, Anotnio Lim Sr., was the pioneering entrepreneur of Lim’s Panciterai and has been recognized as having established the first-ever restaurant in Makati City – she was nurtured since her early years and had become well-versed in the business of food preparation.
Idea:
The shop started in 2006, when then newly-weds Catherine “Cathy” Lim and Gabriel “Gamby” Senga moved into one of the condominium units at the exclusive community. What was a longtime dream of hers began to take shape when they noticed that the clubhouse was still being put up, and started inquiring about its commercial possibilities.
“My husband and I immediately recognized the prospect of putting up a food service-related business,” says Cathy. “Nagtanung-tanong lang kami, sabi nila hindi raw commercial (we asked around, and somebody said it wouldn’t have commercial spaces).”
Turning Point:
Her stint in the family enterprise taught Cathy a lot of things she couldn’t have learned elsewhere. She acknowledges her parents’ immense influence to her career.
“We began with a capital of around P800,000 [of their own savings] and a whole lot of moral support from my parents. Their help was truly all-out.”
Cathy submits the fact that her parents assisted them by providing the right contacts, from suppliers to shop fabricators to employees during their start-up phase.
“The first six to 12 months were truly challenging times for me and Gamby,” she says with a sigh of gratitude. Gamby who is a graphic artist and venture capitalist, serves as Cathy’s consultant and helps in the decision-making, enhancing the café’s ambiance and designing the menu.
Cathy says they are known for their fried chicken’s distinctive taste, not to mention the home-cooked pansit, rice meals, sandwiches and pastries.
The next level:
Cathy’s employees have grown from four to eight now that their establishment is making more than enough to get by. She says: “As long as I am making money the right way, the people in my employ are satisfied and as long as I am not in debt, I am happy.”
Expanding and branching out Bruntmilk is “out of the question” for now, so people will have to visit their shop to taste their masterpieces.
Says Cathy: “I see myself as a simple person and I want to keep my business simple. I want to keep it small, yes. But I’ll keep on maintaining it in a very big way.”
4. Marco Aventajado
Who:
Aventajado was hired by a company in 2004 to be the project manager for what would have been the Philippines’ first private poker room, before Texas Hold ‘Em and poker’s other variants became in vogue with the country’s young professionals and wealthier set.
The day after the project died, Aventajado quit the job, then offered his services as a consultant to broadcast networks ABS-CBN and Solar, to which he had discussed televising his would-be poker room’s games. Solar took up his offer, and under Aventajado’s direction, started the Poker Bar Tour in mid-2005.
Idea:
The success of roving parker event caught the attention of the government-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).
Says Aventajado: “I had a feeling they were going to shut us down, only to find out they were inviting our group to do poker tournaments at the Airport Casino Filipino” run by Pagcor in Parañaque City.
Bringing together four private investor groups, including his own company Poker Pro Asia, Aventajado formed Tight Aggressive Group Inc. (TAGI) in 2008 and then began looking for the right spot to open a poker room.
When a friend suggested, “Why not Mall of Asia?” he knew all he needed to do was ask SM’s management for available space. “They said yes, so that’s why we’re here,” he adds.
Turning Point:
Situated at the strip of bars and restaurants facing the shore behind MOA, Manila Bay Club opened its doors in September 2009, catering to poker players “both young and old, expert and beginners” who are mostly from south of metropolis, says Aventajado. “We hear from the different people that come here, that we have a friendlier atmosphere than the other poker rooms.”
According to his business partner and the club’s operations manager Jose Constantino, they currently employ 40 staff including the card dealers, cashiers, and back office and support personnel.
The next level:
The long-term goal, says Aventajado, is for Manila Bay Club to be the premier poker club in Metro Manila within five years—despite other poker rooms getting a two-year headstart on them. (His and Constantino’s company, Poker Pro Asia, also own The Diamond Club in Cebu City, which their partner Eduard Uy is overseeing.)
5. Patrick Jalbuena
Who:
After he graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2000 at the age of 20, he was still longing to be in tune with his calling to be in the music industry after a brief stint with a call center – but not as a recording artist because his band had disbanded by that time.
Jalbuena pursued studying in London, and did so until 2002. During this time, he learned how to work with million-dollar music recording facilities and local London bands like the Wild Hearts. However, he still had to work himself up the corporate ladder. So, he returned to the Philippines in October 2003.
Idea:
Jalbuena came back to the local music industry at a time when its leaders were complaining of its slow death owing to music piracy. But as soon as he returned to Manila, he put up Kerplunk! with former bandmate Greg Garcia using the latter’s basement as a workplace.
Working in the Philippines was an adjustment, says Jalbuena, because the instruments used here were much cheaper than those in London. Still he was able to purchase the start-up equipment he needed, such as computers at about P200,000 by buying it second-hand from friends.
Turning Point:
Finding bands to produce their albums wasn’t difficult either, because they were his former college friends, like his Keplunk! Partners Kelvin Uy and Niles Chong from the band Angulo.
As a music producer, Jalbuena also promoted his bands in local indie bars like Saguijo.
He started Kerplunk! Bar tours that showed the diversity of his label’s artists, with pop, rock, and even jazz acts. With the initial albums produced, other indie artists took notice of Kerplunk!, such as Carlo Tañada of UP Dharma Down—a band featured in Time magazine—who liked how the studio produced guitar sounds.
Other known local bands like Kjwan and Blue Jean Junkies soon followed suit, because they fell in love with the “artistic nuances” that marked Jalbuena’s work.
The next level:
Today, Kerplunk! is developing a more mature sound business, balancing its advertising material with producing albums to promote the local music scene. The difference, Jalbuena says, is that Kerplunk! is now looking for bands that have produced at least one album.
Also Kerplunk! is also open to new business trends like producing and selling music online and through tie-ups with mobile phone brands like Motorola and Nokia. With these ideas creating the tone for Kerplunk’s future, Jalbuena hopes to have the best of both worlds—by earning and keeping his creative integrity intact for the music industry.
RunRio Inc.
www.runrio.com
(02) 396.5170
rio@runrio.com
Rock Inn & Café
Batalao, Sagada
Mountain province
www.rockfamsagada.com
0920.9095.899
info@rockfam.com
rockfarm_sagada@yahoo.com
Burntmilk Café and Pastry Shop
2F Clubhouse
Bonifacio Heights Condominium,
Lawton Avenue
Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City
(02) 257.6544; 0926.6423784
Manila Bay Club
San Miguel By The Bay
Seaside Drive
SM Mall of Asia Complex
Pasay City
(02) 804.0423;
(02) 804.0462
Kerplunk! Studios
http://kerplunkstudious.multiply.com
Unit 701 Midland Mansions
Arnaiz Ave., Makati City
(02) 892.3251
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