3 Local Entrepreneur
1. Orlando Vea (Mobile Communications/New Media - SMART founder, MediaQuest)
Orlando B. Vea co-founded Smart Communications, Inc. in 1991 and has been its Chief Wireless Adviser since January 1, 2008. Mr. Vea serves as Treasurer of Friendly Care Foundation Inc. He is also the President and/or Chief Executive Officer, Digital Paradise, Inc., Netgames, Inc. and Kalayaan College, Inc. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Smart Communications Inc. from February 1991 to December 1999. Mr. Vea was an head of the PLDT Group's
Orlando B. Vea co-founded Smart Communications, Inc. in 1991 and has been its Chief Wireless Adviser since January 1, 2008. Mr. Vea serves as Treasurer of Friendly Care Foundation Inc. He is also the President and/or Chief Executive Officer, Digital Paradise, Inc., Netgames, Inc. and Kalayaan College, Inc. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Smart Communications Inc. from February 1991 to December 1999. Mr. Vea was an head of the PLDT Group's
2. Diosdado Banatao (Computer Chips - Mostron and S3)
Diosdado Banatao (born May 23, 1946, Iguig, Cagayan, Philippines), popularly known by his nickname Dado, is a well-known Filipino serial entrepreneur and engineer working in high-tech industry. A three-time start-up veteran, he co-founded Mostron (PC Motherboards), Chips and Technologies (PC Chip Sets, eventually acquired by Intel), and S3 Graphics (originally 2D graphics chips, renamed to SonicBLUE). It is Silicon Valley folklore that he chose the company name S3 to mean "Start-up number 3".
Work
He worked on the following technologies as have several hundred other engineers and does not claim having invented or innovated any of these technologies.- First single-chip, 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator (while at Commodore in 1976. Note: The first single-chip 16-bit microprocessor was the 1976 TMS 9900 by Texas Instruments. Texas Instruments also came up with the first pocket calculator in 1972. (Was Commodore the first to come up with the single-chip 16-bit calculator?)
- First 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and transreceiver chip; got 3Com into the Ethernet PC add-in card business (while at Seeq in early 1980s)
- First system logic chip set for the PC-XT and the PC-AT (while at Mostron in 1984 and Chips and Technologies in 1985)
- First enhanced graphics adapter chip set (while at Chips and Technologies in 1985)
- Pioneered local bus concept for PC (while at S3 in 1989)
- First Windows Graphics accelerator chip (while at S3 in 1990)
3. Manny Pangilinan (Telecommunications - First Pacific, PLDT)
First part of the journey: A Student The first part of my journey begins with my family. My lolo (grandfather) started as a public school teacher in Pampanga and Tarlac, rising through the ranks to become superintendent of public schools and, eventually, secretary of education. My dad began his career as a messenger at Philippine National Bank, and retired as president of Traders Royal Bank, one of the larger banks in the ’80s. During my elementary years, I had ten centavos to buy a bottle of Coke, five centavos for crackers, another ten centavos to take the bus home from San Beda in Mendiola, which I made sure I wouldn’t lose, otherwise I would have walked home. In college, my weekly allowance at the Ateneo was P10, and that included my jeepney fares. I have a lot of classmates who have cars and others even have their own drivers. They were lucky. Someday, I said to myself, I will reach all those. My scholarships in both San Beda and Ateneo were only my lucky charms.
In late 1965, as my own graduation was approaching, I had come home from the Ateneo one Saturday afternoon, and spoke with my dad about taking an MBA in the States. I was met with silence, which meant there wasn’t enough money for an education abroad, that if I really wanted it, I had find a way myself. Fortunately, Procter & Gamble was offering a rare scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. It was a national competition. I entered-and won. For three generations of my family, life meant coping with challenges despite modest means, relying on God-given talent, hard work and a passionate determination to succeed.
Second part of the journey: A professional manager
Let me now turn to the second part of this journey. After two years in Philadelphia, I returned home, hopeful about landing a managerial position in a large company. I struck out at first bat. My benefactor, Procter & Gamble, turned down my application. So I ended up taking the first job I was offered, as executive assistant to the president at Phinma for P1,000 a month. Without any job experience, we can’t be choosers, right? Grab the first decent job that comes your way, immerse yourself in work, and soon, you’ll find the right job, or it will find you.
After six years with Phinma, I decided to work abroad. There were the usual reasons: the glamor of being an expat in Hong Kong, the stifling staleness of my local career but, more importantly, I needed to find myself, to prove that I can stand on my own and succeed. The warmth of family ties, the comfort of an extended family system so embedded in our society were indeed beguiling, but I wanted to assert my independence.
I was recruited by Bancom International, a Philippine investment bank based in Hong Kong. It was a stimulating experience. I learned the dynamics of international finance from my Chinese colleagues, not from the Filipino executives. Thereafter, I was seconded to a joint venture investment bank with American Express. I had expected to be appointed CEO of that new bank, but wasn’t. While disappointed and even depressed, I soldiered on and, sure enough, this venture failed inside of two years. A huge dilemma confronted a young man of 30 years: return to Manila or stay with AMEX? I decided to remain a soldier of fortune in Hong Kong. Why? Because after this setback, I wanted to prove something to myself. I felt I had to prove to AMEX the Filipino can. Indeed, after four years with AMEX, I received a phone call from my boss in London. He said, “You’ve outgrown Hong Kong and are now ready for London, and to fast track your career.” After reflection, I politely said, no. I’ve proven the point to myself and to AMEX, and that had been enough. Besides, I felt Asia is my home — and so it shall be.
Third part: An entrepreneur and corporate activist
The third, and final part, starts with First Pacific. Whilst working in the region, I met some clients - foremost being Anthoni Salim - who were willing to support my idea of a regional banking and trading business. With their help, I founded First Pacific in Hong Kong in 1981. I started out with only six people, on 50 square meters of office space, and little capital. Now, the companies that constitute First Pacific have sales of $5 billion, with more than 60,000 employees across the region. But I won’t tell you about our successes at First Pacific. Instead, I’ll describe our failures - some of which indeed became total failures, but some of which we turned around and made a success.In 1989, we were negotiating to acquire Hanimax, maker of middle to low-end cameras based in Sydney, Australia. I took the overnight flight to Sydney from Hong Kong, confident that when I arrived the following morning, a letter from an international bank approving our financing would await me. But lo and behold, it was a letter of disapproval. So there I was in Sydney, committed to purchase Hanimax, but without enough money to complete it. Providentially, there was a competing bidder who sought to take us out of the race by offering a sum of money. That practice is called “greenmail.” Our gambit won $7 million that day when we had no cards to play. But there’s a sequel to this. Buoyed by confidence - perhaps overconfidence, even hubris - we were off to the races again, and decided quickly to buy another company. This was Tech Pacific, Australia’s largest distributor of computer products. It was indeed a large company with sales in excess of a billion dollars! Well, it was a disaster. It took us three years, and enormous pain and effort, to turn its fortunes around. I fell sick from stress and anxiety and, on several occasions, contemplated resigning. But we stood to our tackle and, after those three years, Tech Pacific is now Asia’s largest distributor of computer products.
In 1998, I came home, after 22 years abroad - after what father (Roque) Ferriols often calls “the days of wasted youth.” When we invested in PLDT seven years ago, we faced the massive task of repair and renewal. Critics told us that we couldn’t change the culture of monopoly, that misdemeanors in PLDT couldn’t be eradicated, that our fixed line business had no future. But we made the tough and unpopular decisions at PLDT. Like reducing the number of employees from 14,000 to 9,000. Like changing dubious practices and encouraging honesty and transparency. Like converting the mindset of bureaucrats to that of innovators and entrepreneurs. Decisions about people are always difficult for us because First Pacific is an Asian company with Asian values. But head count reduction was critical for PLDT to survive.
Now that PLDT has recovered, and is now the most profitable company in the country, my confidence in the Filipino’s ability to succeed has been absolutely affirmed. In fact, despite the downsizing I mentioned earlier, we now have more people under our wings - about 19,000 - simply because PLDT is now a different company. And to most of you who might be familiar with Piltel or Talk N’ Text - it was a company in extremis. I’ve had to tell creditor banks that Piltel could not pay its debts - the first time I’ve done that in my life. My officemates told me to close Piltel. I didn’t agree. I believed that the cellular frequency it owns, as well as its brand, are potentially valuable, as they have become today. Also, I did not want to imperil the financial health of local banks to which Piltel owed much.
After five years of rehab, Piltel’s return to profitability has been close to supernatural. It is now the country’s most profitable company - after PLDT and Smart. Finally, some of you have raised with me the question - is business bad? Let me respond by saying, business is not all bad. It is people - some people at least - that may make business bad. No business can prosper in the long term without the right values. The best performing companies are those that manage their businesses which meet ethical standards. Transparency, accountability, integrity, discipline - all these good governance principles - must permeate every policy, every process, of the company, as they do at First Pacific and PLDT.
Closing:
Thefore I close, I’d like to make a personal request. I’d like to ask each of you a favor. Give me bragging rights. Do something great. Sometime in the future, I want to hear some incredible thing you’ve done. And I’d like to brag that I spoke at your graduation. In return, I offer you a few more pieces of advice. Keep it real. Stay true to what’s best in yourself, to the best of your experience here at the Ateneo. Trust your instincts. Believe in yourself. Engage in sports, you’ll need it as you age. Make art, or at least, value it. Be brave. Be bold. Find something that moves you or pisses you off, but do something about it. You have a voice, speak up.
Take a stand for what’s right. Make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is cool, isn’t it? But I also want to offer a warning: you will meet people who’ll entice you to compromise your principles. They’ll try to seduce you and distract you with money, power, security and perhaps, most dangerously, a sense of belonging. Don’t let them; it’s not worth it.
You can have genuine values and still get that job. You can have a conscience and still make money.
Let me send you off with one final thought. I was born poor, but poor was not born in me. And it shouldn’t be born in you either. You can make it. Whatever you may wish to do with your future, you can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes always. Suffering breeds character. Character breeds faith. In the end, faith will not disappoint. You must not disappoint.Take a stand for what’s right. Make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is cool, isn’t it? But I also want to offer a warning: you will meet people who’ll entice you to compromise your principles. They’ll try to seduce you and distract you with money, power, security and perhaps, most dangerously, a sense of belonging. Don’t let them; it’s not worth it.
You can have genuine values and still get that job. You can have a conscience and still make money.
MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2011
PEC's assignment
1.)
Characteristics/qualities of a successful entrepreneur
Qualities or Personal Entrepreneurial Characteristics (PEC) of successful entrepreneurs refer to the desired traits, which enable an entrepreneur to do what is expected of him/her and succeed in business. It is the combination of these characteristics that is required to enable any one to perform effectively as an entrepreneur. It is possible for people to develop these characteristics and succeed in their careers as entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs have common characteristics, which are divided into three clusters namely achievement, planning and power.
1. Achievement Cluster
Opportunity seeking
This refers to the quality that enables the entrepreneur to see and act upon new business opportunities even in situations where other people see nothing but problems/hopelessness only. It also encourages him/her to seize unusual opportunities for obtaining the necessary resources such as financing, equipment, land, workspace, technical assistance, etc, which will enable him/her to implement his/her business ideas.
Commitment to the work contract
This is the ability to accept final responsibility for completing a job for the customers. Customers expect entrepreneurs to perform and honour their commitments. It follows therefore that the entrepreneur should do everything possible to ensure that he/she fulfils the commitment with his/her customers. It means joining the workers to work with them to ensure that contractual commitments are fulfilled, the entrepreneur will do it.
Persistence
This is the quality, which enables the entrepreneurs to develop determination to have a thorough job done at any cost in terms of personal sacrifice. By doing this, the entrepreneur remains working towards the achievement of his/her set goals.
Risk taking
Entrepreneurs are people who prefer taking moderate risks. Before they commit themselves and their resources, they assess the risks that are associated with a business opportunity that they have selected, and their ability to manage them, the benefits that they will realise and the challenges that they will face from the venture to be undertaken.
Entrepreneurs can earn profits as a result of taking risks and the higher the risks, the higher the profits. However, entrepreneurs will always prefer to take on those risks that they can manage.
Demand for efficiency and quality
This is the quality that enables an entrepreneur to do things that meet or surpass existing standards of excellence or improve on performance by striving to do things faster, better and cheaply. By doing this, the entrepreneur remains ahead of others, makes more profits and retains a growing market share.
2. Planning Cluster
The planning cluster is made up of the following characteristics:
Goal setting
This refers to the ability of an entrepreneur to set clear and specific goals and objectives. These goals and objectives are normally high and challenging but at the same time, realistic and can be attained, given the resources that one has got at his/her disposal.
Information seeking
This is having the urge to look for the required information in order to make an informed decision, for example, selecting, starting and successfully managing the desired business. This calls for the concerned person to personally seek and obtain information regarding customers, suppliers, competitors as well as any other relevant information that is required to enable the entrepreneur make decisions and improve knowledge on his/her business.
Systematic planning and monitoring
This is the ability to develop plans that will be used in monitoring and evaluating the progress of the business. This helps the entrepreneur to carefully monitor his/her business’ actual performance against desired performance and turn to other alternatives whenever the need arises; so as to achieve his/her set goals.
3. Power Cluster
Persuasion and networking
This is the ability to link, convince and influence other individuals, agencies and other groups in order to maintain business contacts at a high level. This will help or work for the cause of the business in a positive manner to accomplish own objectives.
Self-confidence
This refers to having a strong belief or confidence in oneself and the ability to complete a difficult task or meet a challenge.
2.)‘Awareness,’ they say, is the first step towards ‘improvement’ and ‘success.’
Now that you are aware of the critical competencies for entrepreneurial
success and also have a measure of your scores on these, it is appropriate that
you also think in terms of how to improve your scores. Suppose, you find
yourself lacking in the competency- ‘opportunity spotting,’ you may start
practicing to think like an entrepreneur (See Below entitled ‘Thinking like an
Entrepreneur’). With just a little change in perspective, the world changes for
you. Similarly you may work on the other competencies as well.
4
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
On a trip down south, at Nagpur you marvel at the size of the oranges and the
price at which they are available. You buy in dozens and consume these
merrily en route. This is consumer’s mindset.
On the contrary, an entrepreneurially thinking individual, he may buy and
enjoy the oranges as well, would also start thinking what if I arrange for their
transportation and sale at my place… if volume-weight factor and perishability
is the constraint how about packaged orange juice… where would the
technology come from, Italy? Would Indians like to consume packaged juices
when by the roadside they can get fresh juice? … Exports? Which are the
countries that could serve as the potential market? What would be their quality
expectations? …
SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011
Assignment No.3
Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PEC's)
The original research by McClelland and McBer identified 14 PECs; the EMPRETEC [a UN program for small businesses; from the Spanish words emprendedores (entrepreneurs) and tecnología (technology)] clustered these into just 10:
Achievement Cluster
I. Opportunity Seeking and Initiative
* Does things before asked or forced to by events
* Acts to extend the business into new areas, products or services
* Seizes unusual opportunities to start a new business, obtain financing, equipment, land work space or assistance
II. Risk Taking
* Deliberately calculates risks and evaluates alternatives
* Takes action to reduce risks or control outcomes
* Places self in situations involving a challenge or moderate risk
III. Demand for Efficiency and Quality
* Finds ways to do things better, faster, or cheaper
* Acts to do things that meet or exceed standards of excellence
* Develops or uses procedures to ensure work is completed on time or that work meets agreed upon standards of quality
IV. Persistence
* Takes action in the face of a significant obstacle
* Takes repeated actions or switches to an alternative strategy to meet a challenge or overcome an obstacle
* Takes personal responsibility for the performance necessary to achieve goals and objectives
V. Commitment to the Work Contract
* Makes a personal sacrifice or expends extraordinary effort to complete a job
* Pitches in with workers or in their place to get a job done
* Strives to keep customers satisfied and places long term good will over short term gain
Planning Cluster
VI. Information Seeking
* Personally seeks information from clients, suppliers or competitors
* Does personal research on how to provide a product or service
* Consults experts for business or technical advice
VII. Goal setting
* Sets goals and objectives that are personally meaningful and challenging
* Articulates clear and specific long range goals
* Sets measurable short term objectives
VIII. Systematic Planning and Monitoring
* Plans by breaking large tasks down into time-constrained sub-tasks
* Revises plans in light of feedback on performance or changing circumstances
* Keeps financial records and uses them to make business decisions
Power Cluster
IX. Persuasion and Networking
* Uses deliberate strategies to influence or persuade others
* Uses key people as agents to accomplish own objectives
* Acts to develop and maintain business contracts
X. Independence and self-confidence
* Seeks autonomy from the rules or control of others
* Sticks with own judgement in the face of opposition or early lack of success
* Expresses confidence in own ability to complete a difficult task or meet a challenge
The original research by McClelland and McBer identified 14 PECs; the EMPRETEC [a UN program for small businesses; from the Spanish words emprendedores (entrepreneurs) and tecnología (technology)] clustered these into just 10:
Achievement Cluster
I. Opportunity Seeking and Initiative
* Does things before asked or forced to by events
* Acts to extend the business into new areas, products or services
* Seizes unusual opportunities to start a new business, obtain financing, equipment, land work space or assistance
II. Risk Taking
* Deliberately calculates risks and evaluates alternatives
* Takes action to reduce risks or control outcomes
* Places self in situations involving a challenge or moderate risk
III. Demand for Efficiency and Quality
* Finds ways to do things better, faster, or cheaper
* Acts to do things that meet or exceed standards of excellence
* Develops or uses procedures to ensure work is completed on time or that work meets agreed upon standards of quality
IV. Persistence
* Takes action in the face of a significant obstacle
* Takes repeated actions or switches to an alternative strategy to meet a challenge or overcome an obstacle
* Takes personal responsibility for the performance necessary to achieve goals and objectives
V. Commitment to the Work Contract
* Makes a personal sacrifice or expends extraordinary effort to complete a job
* Pitches in with workers or in their place to get a job done
* Strives to keep customers satisfied and places long term good will over short term gain
Planning Cluster
VI. Information Seeking
* Personally seeks information from clients, suppliers or competitors
* Does personal research on how to provide a product or service
* Consults experts for business or technical advice
VII. Goal setting
* Sets goals and objectives that are personally meaningful and challenging
* Articulates clear and specific long range goals
* Sets measurable short term objectives
VIII. Systematic Planning and Monitoring
* Plans by breaking large tasks down into time-constrained sub-tasks
* Revises plans in light of feedback on performance or changing circumstances
* Keeps financial records and uses them to make business decisions
Power Cluster
IX. Persuasion and Networking
* Uses deliberate strategies to influence or persuade others
* Uses key people as agents to accomplish own objectives
* Acts to develop and maintain business contracts
X. Independence and self-confidence
* Seeks autonomy from the rules or control of others
* Sticks with own judgement in the face of opposition or early lack of success
* Expresses confidence in own ability to complete a difficult task or meet a challenge
Assignment No.2
Electric light
Building on the contributions of other developers over the previous three quarters of a century, Edison made significant improvements to the idea of incandesent light and wound up in the public consciousness as "the inventor" of the lightbulb.
After many experiments with platinum and other metal filaments, Edison returned to a carbon filament. The first successful test was on October 22, 1879;it lasted 40 hours. Edison continued to improve this design and by November 4, 1879, filed for U.S. patent 223,898 (granted on January 27, 1880) for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected to platina contact wires". Although the patent described several ways of creating the carbon filament including "cotton and linen thread, wood splints, papers coiled in various ways", it was not until several months after the patent was granted that Edison and his team discovered a carbonized bamboo filament that could last over 1,200 hours. The idea of using this particular raw material originated from Edison's recalling his examination of a few threads from a bamboo fishing pole while relaxing on the shore of Battle Lake in the present-day state of Wyoming, where he and other members of a scientific team had traveled so that they could clearly observe a total eclipse of the sun on July 29, 1878, from the Continental Divide.
In 1878, Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City with several financiers, including J.P. Morgan the members of the Vanderbilt family. Edison made the first public demonstration of his incandescent light bulb on December 31, 1879, in Menlo Park. It was during this time that he said: "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles."
Lewis Latimer joined the Edison Electric Light Company in 1884. Latimer had received a patent in January 1881 for the "Process of Manufacturing Carbons", an improved method for the production of carbon filaments for lightbulbs. Latimer worked as an engineer, a draftsman and an expert witness in patent litigation on electric lights.
George Westinghouse's company bought Philip Diehl's competing induction lamp patent rights (1882) for $25,000, forcing the holders of the Edison patent to charge a more reasonable rate for the use of the Edison patent rights and lowering the price of the electric lamp.
On October 8, 1883, the US patent office ruled that Edison's patent was based on the work of William Sawyer and was therefore invalid. Litigation continued for nearly six years, until October 6, 1889, when a judge ruled that Edison's electric light improvement claim for "a filament of carbon of high resistance" was valid. To avoid a possible court battle with Joseph Swan, whose British patent had been awarded a year before Edison's, he and Swan formed a joint company called Ediswan to manufacture and market the invention in Britain.
Mahen Theater in Brno in what is now the Czech Republic, was the first public building in the world to use Edison's electric lamps, with the installation supervised by Edison's assistant in the invention of the lamp, Francis Jehl. In September 2010, a sculpture of three giant light bulbs was erected in Brno, in front of the theatre.
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