Business Ideas: Want to go home for good? Check out DMW’s Reintegration Program

 

DMW ASec Francis Ron De Guzman explains Reintegration Plan Roadmap 

By Leo A. Deocadiz

Inaul, a fabric native to Maguindanao, is now one of the country’s emerging exports as its production has increased to meet buyers’ need for bigger quantities, with the help of former OFWs who have gone home for good and joined a cooperative that makes it.

In Aklan, a group of former OFWs are producing barong and export-quality products such as placemats made of nito fabrics which they now sell abroad.

These are just some of the ex-OFWs who have found new livelihoods under the Reintegration Program of the Department of Migrant Workers, according to Francis Ron de Guzman, DMW assistant secretary for reintegration services.

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The program includes financial literacy  and business development training. “When you finish the two-day training, and you have chosen what you want to finance, we will give you P10,000 to start with.  It’s a small amount but it’s a big help,” he said.

De Guzman, who spoke in an orientation for a group of OFWs recently at the City University of Hong Kong, said the Maguindanao OFWs got into their new trade after being introduced by the DMW Region 12 office to a cooperative whose members have woven inaul for decades.

The OFWs were given training and became members of the cooperative. Now, with government help and bigger production, the inaul weavers have found buyers abroad.

“In Aklan, the PESO (Public Employment Service Office) introduced us to makers of barong and products made of nito fiber, who were beneficiaries of DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and DOST (Department of Science and Technology) export engagement program,” he said. “So we helped ex-OFWs there to train in producing those products and join the export enterprise as suppliers.”

Ex-OFWs show their checks to serve as starting capital after completing their training

De Guzman said DMW’s reintegration program has evolved over the last decade to become a part of OFWs' life even before they leave for abroad.

It starts in the pre-departure orientation seminar that OFWs are required to take online before they leave; it now includes financial literacy, which shows them how to manage their finances so they can  save for their return home.

Various government offices are also cooperating with DMW to offer programs for returning OFWs.

“In Tarlac and Nueva Ecija, we are piloting programs with the Department of Agriculture on backyard gardening, to provide access to all DA services to improve the quality of their land to make even a small plot of land more productive.”

A joint project with the Department of Tourism in Nueva Ecija is Kulinaria, which aims to introduce OFWs to the food business by training them in cooking, basic food handling and safety, and then giving them a small capital to start a home canteen business.

One of the graduates cooked a really delicious laing (gabi leaves cooked in coconut milk) and would always bring food to sell in the DMW office. “We realized she already had a small canteen. So what we did was to get her as caterer for events in the office. We then urged her to register with the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) so she can bid as a supplier to other government agencies.”

He said catering for government functions is big business.

“For example, in one big event at DMW, the catering can cost about P400,000 to P500,000.  If you can meet that demand, then you would have an edge over commercial caterers simply because you are an OFW catering at a DMW event,” he added.

Beginning next year, he said, reintegration programs that target OFWs’ families will be implemented through local government units in all provinces in the country, with the help of the Department of Interior and Local Government. He said DMW and DILG signed a memorandum of agreement for the project last June.

He said his group refers to DOST those who need to improve their products. “If you are an OFW with a product, reach out to us," he advised. “We will network you with DOST which will provide you with an entire menu of free training, product and packaging design. They will even will help you print your initial packaging for your product.”

Business Ideas for OFWs: Setting up a coffee shop

 

Ernest Martin, who operates a chain of coffee shops called Chapter Coffee, shares his experience

Do you know that it costs only about P14.65 to P23.21, depending on the quality of coffee, to make a cup of Café Americano that can be sold for up to P150?

The lowest cost of a cup of coffee is broken down as follows: P3.14 for the coffee beans, P2 for water, P8 for packaging (the cup and cover), P0.5 each for sugar, creamer and tissue.

This makes operating a coffee shop profitable, right?

PINDUTIN DITO

It’s not that simple, said Ernest Martin, owner of a chain of coffee shops called Chapter Coffee in Metro Manila and Pangasinan. He spoke during a seminar last May 11 at World Trade Center as part of the IFEX (International Food Exhibition) Manila 2024.

This wide margin between the cost of product and selling price does not give an accurate picture of profitability because there are other costs that one has to meet: rent, salaries to the baristas and waiters/waitresses, maintenance, and utilities such as electricity and water.

These are costs that one pays monthly, whether the shop sells one or 1,000 cups of coffee a day.

TAWAG NA!

When all these costs are added up, it would be ideal to limit the cost of coffee (plus other drinks and the cookies, cakes and other foods served with it) at the ideal level of 15 to 35 per cent of gross sales, Martin said.

This way, he said, profit (or what is left after expenses are deducted from sales) should reach about 15-25 per cent of gross sales.

Getting to these ideal levels of cost and profit is the challenge, he added. Add to this the Filipino expectations of the food business, which can be summarized in the so-called three Ms: "mura, masarap, marami." (cheap, tasty, abundant).

If the profit margin goes below 15 per cent, one needs to look into where to cut costs. In many cases, businesses have resorted to lowering the quality or reducing the quantity of food and beverage sold, but Martin said this is not ideal.

“I would recommend increasing the prices instead,” he said. “If people have gotten used to the quality and quantity of food you serve, it will be more harmful to reduce them instead of raising your prices, because these customers may never come back.”

An alternative is to increase sales. 

Martin said he motivated his staff to help increase sales by declaring that 1.5 per cent of gross sales will be given to the staff as their share of profits if they exceed their daily sales target. 

Because they benefit when the business succeeds, the staff keep the shop open beyond operating hours just to meet their quota and upselling customers to convince them to spend more. It becomes a partnership between the company and the employees, he said.

In starting a café, Martin said location is the biggest factor in one’s success, much bigger than the size at which the business is started.

That location should be accessible to the target clientele, he said. If one opens a small place in a mall which has a huge foot traffic and offers parking, for example, it can grow from there. He also recommended setting up near transport terminals and other places where many people congregate.

In these locations, one needs to observe the people who go there frequently. “Determining their demograpics (to what income brackets they belong, how they dress, whether they arrive on taxis or cars, and so on) will help guide us in pricing our products,” Martin said.

“If we choose to set up in a place frequented by the middle class, for example, our prices should be affordable to the middle class,” he said.

Once we choose a location, we should also study what is missing and exciting in the area, he added.

Martin said social media can help a lot in promoting a business. With just one click of a button, one is able to take advantage of social media’s ability to send their message to their target clientele. 

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BUSINESS IDEAS FOR OFWs: Low-cost business training

 

Photo from PTTC Facebook page

Note: With this article, The SUN embarks on a series of articles to encourage OFWs to aspire and prepare themselves to start a business back home, not just to make better use of their savings but also improve their lives as they create jobs back home and, in the process, help push economic development in the country.

Do you want to start a business in the Philippines?

First, you start learning how, so as to avoid the pitfals and mistakes that have caused failure for many who plunged into the challenge unprepared.

The Philippine government’s Philippine Trade Training Center’s Global MSME Academy (PTTC-GMEA)  - the training arm of the Department of Trade and Industry - has lined up low-cost courses that aim to teach the basics of running a business, such as accounting, to increase the chances of them succeeding.

PINDUTIN DITO

Even OFWs in Hong Kong can join because most of the courses are livestreamed online, allowing trainors to interact with the trainees who can be anywhere in ther world.

During the International Food Exhibition (IFEX) Philippines at the World Trade Center Manila last May 10-12, for example, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) and  the PTTC-GMEA presented free sample seminars to fair-goers.

The seminars were entitled Reinventing the Fresh Tuba Culture to Connect with Global Markets, Exporting Food Products to the European Union, and Understanding the Importance of Intellectual Property Policies.

TAWAG NA!

In the regular schedule, the courses for the rest of May include Logistics Management on May 20-21, Emotional Intelligence in the Modern Workplace on May 21, Introduction to Production Management on May 28-29, and Basic Debt Management on May 30, and many more.

For June, the lineup includes Accounting for Non-Accountant on June 1, Digital Marketing: Transforming the way We Promote Business on June 18, Effective Business Communication on June 18, Internal Quality Audit on June 19-20, Basic Cash Flow Management on June 22, and many more.

To avail of these courses, those interested would need to register – for free. This is done only once, to enable them to log in for any course they want to join in the future.

Once registered, they can browse through the courses available on any day, with the corresponding prices, which range from P1,200 to P3,000.

To register, press this: https://online.pttc.gov.ph/

For more information, press this: https://pttc.gov.ph/

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