Taking Flight
Current student business groups share their perspectives and expectations on JGSOM's Business Accelerator (SOMBA). Edited and compiled by John Tigno
Passions at Work
Our initial attraction to join SOMBA was the mentorship program. It seemed very appealing because it provided us with a guide to actually running a business, touching on different aspects. The program allowed us to actualize our business dreams, giving us a feeling of security because there are professionals who are there to help us with our initial everyday operations. It is also serves as a place for us to make practical use of the theoretical knowledge being taught in our other business courses.
Since we all believe in starting young, we see SOMBA as our stepping-stone to be successful entrepreneurs in the future. We strongly believe in our product and company and we would definitely continue this well after graduation. It is more than just a class, its really our passions at work.
After a month of product testing with a variety of products, we decided on Natural Cane Juice as our pioneer product because we believe that it is challenging but very do-able. We also have a clear competitive advantage and a defined target market, as evidenced by our market research. Lastly, it fulfills our mission to create a truly Filipino product that we can be truly proud of and somehow reduce regional disparity through offering jobs and opportunities to people outside Metro Manila.
Sugarush, Inc.
Roslyn Chua (IV BS Mgt)
Christina Sioco (IV BS Mgt)
Catherine Tsang (IV AB MEC)
Yan Mei Zhang (IV BS Mgt)
Striving for the Best
SOMBA sounded appealing to us for it was chance to put everything we have learned from our various business classes into actual practice. It serves as an opportunity to test our business 'know-how" in a real world setting that would in turn help us mature while facing the harsh realities of the world. Moreover, it provides us with a continuing learning experience that may help confirm what we really what to get into after college--entrepreneurship or corporate.
We expect to fail and learn from our mistakes. As we took SOMBA in lieu of an internship last summer, we see SOMBA as a good opportunity for us to be independent and creative in thinking. In addition to having our own office space, we loved the fact that we would get to start our own business with few restrictions. In this sense, SOMBA is a good training ground for us before we go into the more "rigid" or "formal" corporate world. Compared to the usual Leadership and Strategy classes that management students have, SOMBA also requires us to actually incorporate and operate for a longer term. This entails a larger risk on our part so we really appreciate that JGSOM provides us with business mentors to guide us.
During a trip to Canada, one of our group mates came across quite a tasty snack that turned out to be Salmon Jerky, which he brought some back with him for us to try. It was meant to be a pasalubong since we were already working on a different product as our business. But its taste captivated us so much that we were enticed to scrap our previous plans and introduce it into the Philippine market. We couldn't quite come up with salmon here since it would come out a bit too pricey, but being an island, we are blessed with aquatic life and tuna just so happens to be one of them. It proved to be a viable substitute, enabling an opportunity to open up. We decided to take the chance and grab it by the reigns. Only time will tell how our product will do. But from here on end, we are working hard day in and day out, keeping our fingers crossed and striving for the best!
ThinkBox
Kevin Chua (IV BS Mgt)
Johann Garcia (IV BS Mgt)
Jill Lao (IV BS Mgt)
Miguel Villadolid (IV BS Mgt)
Combing Business and Education
Many entrepreneurial students are not able to pursue their potential business ideas because they are still in school. However, SOMBA gave us an opportunity to execute our own business without compromising our education. Supposedly, the program promised to offer us different methods of assistance. They presented SOMBA as a program that will provide guidance through mentors that gave essential connections, legal advice and other business imperatives; things that we would not have direct access to if we had started our business outside the program.
Based on the testimonials of previous SOMBA groups, we expect quite a lot. The past two years, the groups were given several forms of opportunities and resources that enabled their businesses to move forward, and even to some, to succeed. Such opportunities included an event that allowed the different SOMBA groups to sell their products and services with an audience of venture capitalists and angel investors. Besides this, they were also given free consultations from professionals of different fields and expertise.
From our own experience, though our group is experiencing more independence compared to the groups last year as most of the processes are done solely on our initiative. However, we are greatly looking forward to the possible assistance provided by the program.
Either way, the SOMBA program has greatly shaped all of us. From the academic perspective, we have at last applied the various theoretical lessons that have been handed down to us by our teachers. More importantly, it provides us firsthand experience on how to run our business; from incorporation to adapting on a day to day basis. Being part of the SOMBA program has greatly defined our priorities and the things we value. Grades do matter, however, experience and learning from it is much more important. Credentials may seem representative of one's capabilities, but in an entrepreneur's perspective, it is the character that truly counts.
The group wanted to capitalize on the growing mobile industry of the country. Being the text capital of the world, the usage of text messaging in the Philippines has become an important medium of information dissemination among people, including of course, students and school organizations. Being active members of different school organizations, the group has seen first hand the need for a message service that would eliminate the hassle of sorting through one's phonebook for every recipient. Pyrotext, the initial product offering of the company would be the solution to this. Pyrotext would provide a service that will allow organizations to broadcast important messages to their members without going through the said hassle.
PyroMedia
Rita Alo (IV BS Mgt)
Ma. Kristina Barreiro (IV BS Mgt)
Juan Leo Cabredo (IV BS Mgt)
Julian De Guzman (IV BS Mgt)
Anna Katrina Echevarria (IV BS Mgt)
Karlo Mortel (IV BS Mgt)
Experiencing the "Real" Thing
For our group, SOMBA is an exciting opportunity for students to develop their entrepreneurial skills by providing them with the necessary facilities and education to actualize business ideas. The idea of a business incubator is very promising to us especially the support that it can give to our business. In a way it lessens the risk of failure in new business ventures so that we come prepared to the mechanics of real world. It is here that we come to realize the importance of what we have learned in college and apply it to real life situation.
SOMBA is an experience of the real thing. We expect a lot of hands-on learning that we cannot get from regular textbook knowledge. It's actually a complete experience, we have an office, we talk to real people, and we make contracts and deal with the government. When we go out of Ateneo that's what matters most if we apply to companies or choose to carry-on with our business. It widens our horizon so that we have better career opportunities.
First Sachi
Marketing Corporation
Michael Austria (IV BS LM)
Kristine ChuacoKiong (IV AB MEC)
Clarisse Pua (IV AB MEC)
Tony Quetulio (IV AB MEC)
Being Business-minded
We are business-minded individuals and we opted to join SOMBA because the program gives great promise in assisting us to start up what could be a successful corporation for us (in the future). Since SOMBA is a 21-unit program, which takes into consideration the different aspects/steps of starting up one's own business, we deem it as an effective approach for interested entrepreneurs to do things the right way. But the best feature of the program would be the consultants/advisers provided for us-both our professor and the director-since opinions of more experienced and very capable persons from the real business world is exactly what we would need to lessen the risks involved with start-up businesses.
Through the program and the essentials that it will impart to us, we are very hopeful that our corporation would continue on even after we've achieved what the program expects from us. Currently, we try to juggle both the start-up business' demands and academic work. As for the future, some are planning to focus full-time on the corporation while some are still considering working for an outside corporation and part-time in ENCYNC.
The number of coffee drinkers in our country has significantly increased since the emergence of all the coffee shops. Still, our coffee industry has yet to reach its peak. And this is an opportunity that the company believes should be taken advantage of. Thus, we conceptualized a ready-to-drink coffee frappe that's hopefully, something that the consumers would see as more than just the usual RTD iced coffee sold in the market. Aside from the observed potential of the coffee industry, our interest in working for ourselves and earning our own money this early triggered the group to join the SOMBA program.
Encync Beverages
Incorporated
Jeffrey Choi (IV BS LM)
Marc Cu (IV BS LM)
Ian De Leon (IV BS LM)
Raizelle So (IV BS LM)
Rickie Tan (IV BS LM)
Vendric Tan (IV BS LM)
Changing Lives
We really wanted to put up our own business, but just didn't find the time and the resources to do it. SOMBA allows us to work and study at the same time in school. The program also made it easier for us to start our business by minimizing costs of expenses and office utilities by providing us with one. It is also very helpful that our teacher and the SOMBA director is always available to give us comments and suggestions.
We are hoping for more talks from entrepreneurs who can share their stories or give us practical advises re marketing, advertising, product development, taxes, etc. SOMBA has changed our lives a lot. Hopefully, our business will take off and give us stable sources of income after college. This venture has given us a lot of experience that will be very useful in other career pursuits when our business does not proceed as planned.
The main reason we entered into making ready-to-drink whey protein, is because we already have the core competence needed to produce this product as well as a market that is more than ready for it. A team member has been selling imported brands of powdered whey protein for at least 2 years and has already developed a wide network of connections in the whey protein market. Another team member is knowledgeable in the field of developing beverages.
Biggulp! Inc.
Sarah Liuson (IV BS ME)
Harrier Ongsun (IV BS LM)