Mind My Business: Fostering Entrepreneurship in The Philippines

There are reams of data available creating a canvas of The Philippines as a difficult place to do business. Start with points on the grossly inequitable distribution of income, and you wind up wondering where the market for your product could be. Embark on fulfilling the mandated government and tax requirements for registering a business, and you quickly begin fielding questions around why you wanted to try business in the first place. Get your product up, running, peddled off on the internet or in a store, and so run into the mad task of spinning hundreds of plates in the air all at once.

Business is a tough game to play. 

But, spitting in the face of adversity and smirking at the task of creating something of value, the entrepreneur remains undaunted–battle-hardened–but optimistic that the fruit of their creative labours finds the sun of a robust and sustainable consumer base.

Bridging artists on the fringe and deep in underground subcultures–from the graffiti to skateboard scenes–with markets that can appreciate their work has been the goal of artist-run space and initiative Kalawakan Spacetime since its founding in 2017. But that task, the devotion that comes with navigating “the mundane”, i.e. the admin and bills, to launch the careers of artists takes hope.

Attention to the Product and the People Buying it

With a country crippled by stark inequality, understanding where the market for a product is is difficult. While there is an argument over whether our country has a real unicorn in it or not, it’s an interesting point to ponder: the largest “startups” in the country are payment processing giants. The companies worth a billion bucks are those that transfer money from person to person, the building block of commerce. 

For the rest of the small business community, entrepreneurs can’t but focus on huddling their brands closely around where they can actually flourish. Even if that means moderating the pace at which their operations scale. Abraham “Finn” Finney Santos of Freedom Print Lab and cult-followed Nobody shares, “I think that’s an aspect that sometimes gets missed, your scale versus the work you accept.” After all, the success of his brands has come through striking a strongly resonant chord with the market. “We do good work,” he shares. “We do work that I think is smart, something with layers of meaning, and mostly things that [are] referential to our local environment.”

More often than not however, finding the product that most fits the desired nostalgia of the customer takes more than sticking a wet finger in the air. Smash-hit Salcedo-based, Instagram brand turned restaurant Kodawari, achieved virality serving an anime, Japanese Pop-culture laced brand of dining. Toni Potenciano-Abesamis, freelance writer and creative director at Kodawari beckons that a brand extends far beyond just visuals–especially in the context of a product as physically gratifying as food. “The restaurant did become viral,” she says, “and this […] by the way, [was] not by intelligent design or anything on my end. I would say what keeps people coming back is definitely the food. It’s the happy mix of food, price and, in my opinion, how fast your food is going to come out.”

But how can you, sitting at your laptop, confirm that your business idea will find the same hungry public Kodawari is now serving? Frankly, in this fickle, capricious world, no level of googling or Chat GPT-ing will provide you that certainty.

Toni refers me to poet Richard Siken’s twitter page. “His advice was [to] read the stuff you like, but also read the stuff you don’t like. Because that’s the only way you’re going to know that your voice is needed or that your voice is valuable. So I guess it keeps me motivated just to consume.” 

Attending to the Village

Given how young the business ecosystem in the country is, it has a vulnerability to it which builds a sense that entrepreneurs need to succeed together. To change legislation (on taxes for example) takes concerted effort. To create more noise for local businesses, often platforms (themselves businesses) have amplifier effects which allow small names and tight budgets to breach larger markets.

Jason Quibilan, himself a photographer, and founder of Shutterspace Studios which houses non-profit Foto Baryo and printing arm Silver, feels that more people are finally paying attention to work in photography. They’re finally buying works of art photography. What he notes too is the small village employed to have a work taken, printed, and treated for display. “Less than ten percent is the artist,” he says. “You have to work with your framers your printers, your curators, the people who have exhibitions, people organising submissions. So that’s one whole system. It’s not just artists and the art.”

A great responsibility of attending to all the members within the village falls on the entrepreneur. It extends from the basics–of paying their employees properly, creating safe and comfortable working environments, and communicating the overall direction of the ship–and into functioning as a platform for everyone within the village–especially smaller players, to reach a greater share of the market, and in doing so create greater demand from customers.

Having been an ardent supporter of representation for such artists as Soika, Jan Sunday Paloma wields this responsibility as one of the country’s artist-run spaces. “[It’s a big thing] for spaces to be more compassionate and be more mindful of the artists’ welfare,” she says. “…The biggest factor that keeps us pushing forward is to see how much an artist has blossomed and grown through the space.”

In designing a business to be relationship focused and opportunity rich, entrepreneurs are making an existential decision. They’re binding themselves to a unique method of operations around which their lives begin to tangle. Restaurant ownership could very well mean long hours spent on foot; studio creation may mean managing large numbers of individuals, each with their own requirements; the list goes on. And it beckons the question to would-be entrepreneurs: is this the kind of life you’re hoping to lead?

It’s important to ask that at the onset–before you’ve hired people who suddenly intertwine themselves around your life, not just for mentorship but for sustenance. Before investors are on your capital table with their demands. Mark Zavalla of Saan Saan, soy candle and mindful implements workshop, left a career in the zippy world of tech to craft a life more closely attuned with his worldview.

“I always consider the brand or the business as something that supports me as an entrepreneur, something that I enjoy doing, something that’s not as stressful as an actual job,” says Mark. “I guess I’d want to make sure that I keep it as small as I can, but also, I feel that’s really the draw to the brand.” Pursuing what he calls “anti-growth”, having bootstrapped the business (which has its own web of difficulties), he has achieved a handle that some may find counterintuitive.

But, perhaps we’re beyond pursuing growth for growth’s sake. Entrepreneurs are using the buying power of the market to create objects, platforms, and services which nourish themselves–amidst the difficulties that come with operating. They’re orchestrating brands like shows where we, the customer, are blind to the travails behind the curtain. “[It’s] creatively solving [difficulties] without really telling the audience that,” says Finn of Nobody. And it’s never an easy process. “I think hard is temporary. It’s outweighed by the fun that we get from this.”