STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

A nation of entrepreneurs
Ike ‘Ka Iking’ Señeres

I think that there is truth to the popular notion that most Chinese are inclined to become entrepreneurs, while most Filipinos would just rather become employees. This is perhaps deeply rooted in our culture, since most parents send their children so that they could earn a diploma to work as employees, but not to go into business for themselves.

Looking closer at this reality however, our perspective could change if we would also change the way we would define what a businessman is, and what it takes for one to become a businessman.

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Just to cite an example, we do not usually view jeepney drivers and farmers as businessmen, but a closer look would reveal that these people are actually businessmen also, if only we could change our definitions.

Broadly speaking, I think that we could consider as a businessman anyone who is into business on his own, the exact opposite of being an employee of someone else. With this new definition in mind, let us look at the reality that a jeepney driver (or a taxi driver for that matter) is into business for himself, because he rents a vehicle (his cost of production) in order for him to earn profits (after deducting his other operating costs).

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The situation of the farmer is similar to that of the jeepney driver. Except those who are technically farm workers (or employees), farmers are actually businessmen on their own, having a cost of production (rentals and other inputs), and are operating for profit as well. Again due to the effects of wrong (or outdated) interpretations, a farmer who is a tenant is actually a customer of the landlord (being a renter), in much the same way that a jeepney driver is a customer of the operator (being a renter also).

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Under the boundary system of the transport industry, a jeepney driver is not actually an employee of the operator, but the wrong culture apparently prevails, because the operator is actually regarded as the boss, seemingly always right, even if the boss should really be the customer (the driver who is the renter) who should always be right.

Due to the influence of the wrong culture, the driver is looked down as being “only” the driver, while the farmer is looked down as being “only” the tenant. Is it not about time that we change these wrong actuations?

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Counting only the jeepney drivers and the farmers, and thinking as well of the vendors and fishermen who are legitimate businessmen too in this broadened definition, would that not make small businessmen the majority in this country?

As I see it, this realization should not just be a play of words, but it should require some new legislations and perhaps some restructuring of the government organization to make it real.

To cite an example, it is the Department of Agriculture that now serves the technical needs of farmers, but is it not about tie that the Department of Trade & Industry would also service them as businessmen?

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As suggested by my brother Lee who is now a businessman in the United States, I will be organizing a Speaker’s Bureau composed of volunteers who would go around and speak in the graduation ceremonies of high schools all over the country.

Their mission is to persuade the graduating students to take up vocational-technical (voc-tech) courses if they are not going to college, so that they could have their own business right away, and have their own means of livelihood, instead of working as employees.

Of course the choice of going to college or not is actually up to them, but our volunteer speakers would also persuade them to pursue their studies with the goal of becoming businessmen on their own, instead of becoming employees.

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Could voc-tech graduates really become businessmen in the real sense as we have redefined it? I think that the answer is yes, in the sense that many skilled professionals are now in business as independent service contractors. Just like all the other businessmen however, they are also facing the challenges of financing, management, technology and marketing, and this is where a re-oriented government could come in to help them, with the assistance of like minded non-government organizations.
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Could we possibly become a nation of entrepreneurs? I think that we already are, except that we have not realized it yet. We should all do our part in making all our countrymen make this realization, and on top of that, we should convince our government to readjust its priorities to adopt this new realization. It may sound easier said than done, but it is very doable.

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