How To Start Business In The Philippines

Before anything else, one fact remains: the kind of business you get into and the degree of risk you are willing to take ultimately depends upon your character and the financial goals. It is essential therefore that from the start, you realize your risk taking capabilities, and determine how much you want to earn from your business, and how soon you plan to earn it.

After setting your business goals, the following tips on starting a business may prove useful. These are borrowed from Prof. Andy Ferreira, the Dean of the Asian Center for Entrepreneurship of the Asian Institute of Management.

Making A Living In The Philippines

To try to sustain oneself while living in the RP is next to impossible. If you're looking to work you'll need the appropriate visas allowing you to do so. Unemployment and underemployment are rampant in the RP. Too many people go to bed hungry every night not knowing if they will have the food the next day too. All of these people are already ahead of you in trying to find a job. And really, would you want to take a job away from one of them? Fast food restaurants usually require a college degree just to flip burgers. Even if you could find employment the jobs pay from $3-$5 per day. Yes, per day not per hour and that's for 12 hours a day, six days a week. The best thing for you if you're insistent on doing this is to hook up with a western company already doing business in the RP. Perhaps they would hire you to work for them but those jobs are few and very far between.

My Business And The Philippine Culture

Having been in the Philippines for 2 years at the time my US company made me walk the plank, I decided to make a go of it here, and thought that I could, with my western-style business acumen and decent savings, make just about any business work.

Boy, was I mistaken!!

My wife and I have bought several working plantations, some real property, built a couple of speculative homes, and started a money- lending business. None of the businesses produce anything close to their full potential.

Philippines is the World’s Top Call Center Country

In a nutshell, it’s all about the culture.

Historically, the Philippines has always been an occupied country. Spain ruled the islands for 333 years, followed by 45 years with the United States in 1898 with a brief period of occupation by the Japanese during World War II until it was liberated by the United States again. On July 4, 1946, the United States granted the Philippines its independence as a sovereign country. Since then, American culture has always taken a frontline in the lifestyle of the modern Filipino.