Franchise Industry Bucking Economic Downturn

With the economic crisis still being felt worldwide, it’s good to know that our local franchising industry is bucking the trend and is actually expected to grow by 5 to 10 percent this year with so many franchise companies set to expand both locally and abroad, according to Mr. Robert Trota, the president of the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA).

As proof of overseas expansions, Tokyo Tokyo, the Japanese fast food chain is set to open up a branch in the United States in the next 3 months followed by another local player; Potato Corner, is expected to be setting up shop in California soon. The PFA is also set to bring in new franchises from Europe this year.

Despite the economic downturn, franchise business still has a 90 percent success rate. Some would even say that a franchise business is recession proof. But there is no denying that if you are looking to start your own business and be your own boss, getting a franchise is one of the things you should definitely consider.

Business amid the Economic Crisis

With the economic downturn affecting everyone, from employees to businessmen. We need a business that can withstand the crisis as well as the test of time, and nothing has proven itself more than the food business. Business involving our basic necessities like food and shelter are always in demand no matter what the state our economy is. While business built around real estate has been proven to be a money maker, it requires huge sums of capital that's out of reach for most of us. The food business however, is a different story since you can start a business built around food for a small start up cost.

While malling, if you notice that many people are mostly window shopping these days, watching and browsing but hardly buying anything. But when it's lunch or dinner time, food stalls, food carts and restaurants are jammed packed with people. While most retails outlets are trying everything to get people to at least enter their shops, the more popular restaurants are having trouble providing seats to their customers due to the sheer volume of people lining up to eat there.

The success rate of the food business is by no means higher than any other business. There have been far too many that has come and go due to perhaps unwise business decisions, bad location or just plainly badly managed. But with the right location, pricing and promotion, your food business will likely flourish. If you don't know whether to start from scratch or your going to franchise, our food business section has tons to choose from.

Friendship and Business Don't Mix

Like oil and water, business and friendship generally don't mix well. Most business ventures born out of friendship usually ends up with partners not only going their separate ways, but also end the years of genuinely built up friendship. When friends go into business, the usual barriers of being business partners like the negotiations, contracts, due diligence and ownership issues usually get's thrown out of the window. You have known each other for years, mag kumpare kayo, what could go wrong right? Plenty in you ask me, it's these times when we let our guard as well as common sense down that makes for a highly volatile business situation.

A difference in opinion, miscommunication or just plain greed from one of the friends involve in the business will make your venture go sour. It's when money is involved that you suddenly realized the friend since childhood you though you knew morphs into this complete stranger. Business really stresses your friendship to the limit especially if it's not doing well. You see each other differently by then and even might end suing each other. But some business ventures between friends do end up succeeding so it's very important to make written contracts and hammer out whatever issues that may come up before even starting.

Tips in saving money for the startup entrepreneur

So you have just decided to open your own franchise business and you want everything to be just perfect come opening time so you spared no expense in ensuring it does. But did you know that most of the time, this sort of thinking is what makes a business fail during the start up process? Money, as we know is a limited resource and like any other limited resources, we must think and use it wisely. There are parts of the whole business process that we can save money on and some that we must not As a rule, it's important that you do not skimp on resources when you spend money on the customer service, convenience and accessibility aspect on your business. The location of your business is perhaps the most important ingredient whether your business succeeds or fail. Places with a steady supply of human traffic is ideal so malls should be on the top of every businessman's list. The downside to this is that securing a spot in a mall is quite expensive, especially on popular ones like SM where they also earn a certain percentage of your sales. It is by no means a guaranty that your business will not fail if you set up shop in malls as any location with lots of human traffic like LRT/MRT stations and places near schools is ideal. But when it comes to constant streams of human traffic that actually increases during holidays and summer breaks, nothing beats the mall.

With that said, you can save on everything else in the process of doing business. Take for example the delivery vans. While brand new one are really much better than second hand cars, there are reconditioned vehicles there that cost half of what a brand new one might set you back and are just as good. The same could also be said for equipments. If possible, buy used or reconditioned business related items if it can function just as well. When it comes to storing you inventory, you could renovate your house instead of renting a warehouse just to store it. It might be inconvenient to some to share your living space with various inventories, but you are saving quite a bit of money by doing so. You can always rent a warehouse when your business is already more established. Get some free advertising by getting yourself featured in a magazine or better yet, a TV show. It's a great way to advertise your business and you will be reaching a huge market eager to try out your product or service.

Franchise Return On Investment | ROI

Entrepreneurs who want to start their own franchise business these days has a lot to choose from these days. Some franchise companies even proudly declare what ROI to expect when you franchise with them to make it attractive for people who are still looking for a company to franchise. But should be take their ROI claim at face value? Due diligence must be conducted before sinking your hard earned money in any business venture. If you are really decided on getting a franchise with a particular company, First scrutinize their financial records to verify that their ROI claim is indeed true. That way you will can also tell if their operation is legit. With all these fly by night companies claiming to be franchise businesses but are actually MLM in disguise, you can't be too careful these days.

Remember there are lots of factors that contribute to the earnings of a franchise. First and foremost is the location, location location. You can't expect the earnings of a franchise business establishment that is located inside a mall or LRT/MRT stations to be the same compared to the same franchise establishment that is located inside your subdivision or some street corner that does not have lots of human traffic. Also, the product or service being offered must be up to the consumers standards. It will be hard to believe the ROI claim of a company if what they are offering is sub standard. It would be wise for the potential franchisee to just ignore the ROI claim and instead look for a great place to setup their franchise business then look for a reputable franchise company that has a pr oven track record to do business with.

Poverty | Motivation For Business Success

The most successful businessmen in our country came from very humble beginnings. The drive to succeed is greater in people who are poor or have experienced poverty at some point in their lives. I am not saying that well to do people cannot excel or be very successful in business. The knowledge and motivation to succeed in business is not exclusive to any one social class. Well-off and educated people have found success in business. But unless you have personally experienced poverty yourself, the desire and motivation to succeed will not be as great or as passionate.

There are people who sit at their home all day complain and complain that they are poor while some use their poverty as motivation to achieve financial success. Based on my observation, there are two kinds of poor people who want to get rich. People who expect to get rich instantly while doing as little work as possible expecting to win the lottery or depend on the government to be somehow the answer to their prayers by providing them with dole outs of not only food but also money and a house and lot while holding their heads up high as if the state owes them anything. On the other side are people who came to realize and accept the fact that they are poor but are determined to find a way out of destitution by sheer hard work, creativity and ingenuity.

We must realize money does not fall down from heaven; you have to work hard to earn it. Individuals who have experienced poverty before are wiser in making monetary decisions; they treat money as a limited resource not just something that can be spent on a whim without thoroughly thinking it through. You can trust these guys to make the correct business decision and they therefore make excellent entrepreneurs. Anyone can open a business, but to open a business that is successful requires more work than just spending money. It requires discipline from someone who can manage their personal finances well.

Risk Management Franchise Business

In business, as in everything else, there exists a degree of risk that all of us are exposed to. In the case of the entrepreneur or the businessman, the risk is the possibility of incurring a loss from you investments. The possibility of a bad outcome is what keeps many of potential entrepreneurs in the sidelines, afraid of taking the risk of investing money in a franchise business that may or may not be profitable in the future. But there are certain measures that we can take to minimize the risk present all around and this is called risk management.

Risk management requires careful planning of the factors that may affect your business. Conducting feasibility studies and noticing the latest trends before starting is the most important step, identifying the risks before sinking any money into a venture is the wisest move you will ever make. I have a couple of friends who partnered up went right ahead and opened up a store because of perceived profitability and hearsay from relatives that this particular business is great without them actually doing any research into the viability of the business encountered lots of problems and they are now thinking of closing up shop.

But there are some things no matter how hard you try to prepare for remain very much unpredictable like our political landscape, advances in technology that may render our products or services obsolete and other fortuitous events that may come our way. We may not prevent these events from occurring, but with risk management we can minimize the losses that may arise. While a less prepared business owner might already be stressed out of his mind figuring out how to get out of the quagmire, a more prepared businessman who has taken into account all the risk involved may already have a contingency plan in place.

Franchise Value

In recent years, the country has experienced significant growth in the food and restaurant business especially with the ones operating inside the malls. Most of these are franchise businesses. Franchising, particularly food franchises has become very popular in the Philippines and among Filipino entrepreneurs due to a relatively low start up cost, brand name recognition and support compared to starting a business from scratch. . Depending on your budget and preference, some franchises can be had for as low as 10,000 pesos for food kiosks to as high as 10 million or more for a big-ticket franchise like Jollibee.

But not all well-known brands are expensive to franchise. Some are priced just right for the start up entrepreneur. But there are some cheap franchises being advertised that can be had for as little as 5,000 php. Even if it’s relatively cheap to begin with, many sound suspiciously like fly by night companies. Carefully research them first and try to get feedback from previous clients before committing any money. Most of these franchises lack name recognition to warrant paying a franchise fee. There are some food kiosk who are not really well know brands are offering their franchise for an amount not in proportion to their value. In these cases, starting from scratch would be a better idea than paying for a franchise that will go nowhere.

The primary reason for many people in acquiring a franchise is brand name recognition. An established brand is a name that everybody can immediately recognize, no matter if you’re 8 or 80 years old. And only a few franchises in the Philippines have the distinction of that honor. Think about it, why would someone spend millions of pesos just to acquire an established brand name like Jollibee when they could spend significantly less by using another name and offer the same products and services.

Innovation | Key To Successful Franchise Business

The most successful franchise business today belongs to entrepreneurs who innovate their products and services. Putting out something that has never been seen or done before is a recipe for a successful business. But coming up with a new idea from scratch is very difficult; it involves countless hours of research and development to come up with an original concept. When looking for ideas, a good place to look for new and exciting food franchise concepts is in the malls and LRT/MRT stations. These high traffic areas are prime location for successful franchise businesses. Whatever your food palate is, there’s enough variety there to satisfy even the most discerning taste buds. From affordably priced Hong Kong styled stir-fried noodles to one-day-old chicks, there’s enough variety here to give the clever entrepreneur enough ideas to come up with an interesting and hopefully profitable niche.

A perfect example of taking an existing product and altering the way the food is being served is Dippin' Dots. They have taken regular ice cream, and re-packaged it into little ice cream dots and sell them at a premium price, their innovation has paid off big time. Their success story should provide enough inspiration to would be entrepreneurs that there is still a lot of territory yet left unexplored in what is seemingly an already crowded market void of any originality in the food franchise business.

But if you put out something that is popular and unique in the market, it’s bound to be copied and imitated. Waffle Time and its concept of selling delicious waffles with a wide variety of flavors at an affordable price made for a winning combination and the masses loved it. But its concept has since been copied by a wide variety of wily businessmen selling waffle franchises for as low and 15,000 php complete with tarpaulin, waffle maker and food stand. It is almost impossible to stop people from copying you business concept especially if it is related to food even if you get a patent for it. The best way to safeguard our business innovation is to make sure that you provide high quality standards to your products and services making sure that people know that when they do business with you, they are buying quality stuff compared to second rate knock offs.

Uncomfortably Strong Philippine Peso

Anyone who's business transactions are in dollars and to the vast majority of us who has a relative working abroad as an OFW who rely heavily on dollar remittances for daily expense must be really feeling the pinch of the peso's spectacular rise due to an improving economy and a weak dollar. As of writing, the peso this week has already breached the 44 peso to a dollar exchange level but is now comfortably back at 45.72 pesos amid the cheers of thousands of exporters, OFW's and their families. While I am happy that my peso is worth more internationally, I can't help but wonder why my pesos is worth considerably less in my own country where it really matters. Prices of basic commodities and utilities are on the rise again. Gasoline prices has gone up in recent weeks, Jeepney fares will go back to being 7.50, brownouts are now occurring to condition the minds of the public that there is a shortage of electricity to justify another one of those darn price increases.

Business owners have no choice but to increase the prices of their products and services which of course will hurt our pockets. Amid all these things, it's still politics as usual for the so called honorable (a word that never fails to illicit giggles from the Filipino people when used in conjunction with our politicians) public servants in congress. It really baffles the mind that prices are now higher compared to the time the peso dollar exchange rate was 54 pesos to a dollar. A 10 peso reduction overtime is extremely significant for a country who greatly relies on oil and petroleum imports and who's international debt is in dollars. Some businessmen who are in the exporting business have warned that they are already in danger of closing due to the pesos continued appreciation. Looking ahead, if the strength of the peso will continue to rise, it must also be accompanied by the drop in prices of basic commodities to even things out. It is ironic that the ones who are helping our country the most by their dollar remittances and are called bagong bayani (new heroes) are the ones suffering the most due to the peso's appreciation.

Philippine High Yield Investment Scam

Recently a company called FrancSwiss made headlines in the Philippines after being exposed in the media offering a fantastic investment return of 4.5% daily for a minimum investment of $1,000. Whats more, for each person you have recruited will earn you an additional 10% of the amount your downline has invested. Currently, FrancSwiss has already shut down and is now being investigated by the SEC and arrest have been made for the recruiters of this company. For those of us who are familiar with pyramid schemes this is another variation called High Yield Investment Programs or HYIPS which rely on new money coming in to pay their existing investors.Typically these program will claim that they are into forex trading and will offer an incredible amount interest for you money that no real business model could sustain. At first, the program will religiously pay their investors and offer big commissions for each person you have recruited. When word gets out that the program is consistent in paying their investors, more and more money will come in from people because the trust level has already been established with hundreds or even thousands of people offering convincing testimonials. The cycle continues until there no more people to recruit and the whole thing collapses. But before that happens, the owner of the program will already have disappear along with the millions of pesos leaving their investors devastated and empty handed especially for those who have invested their life savings into them.

With scams like this popping up all over, how can people tell which companies are offering legitimate investments opportunities? First and foremost we must remember the golden rule, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Like the case of Francswiss, there is simply no business model that can consistently net you an ROI of 4.5% daily . If there is, you will see business tycoons like Henry Sy and Lucio Tan investing in these programs, why bother going all through the trouble of building a mall or running an airline when you could pour in all your money here and earn 4.5% daily without the hassle of labor and operational problems. Conduct a through investigation of the background of the company. Is this registered in the SEC? Who are the incorporators? How can I get hold of them? Every precaution must be taken before sinking our hard earned money because times are though and money is not easy to come by these days. It really saddens me to see people who have invested their life savings into these programs with the dream for a better future for their family, only to turn those dreams into nightmares. The government must use the full force of the law to run after these crooks who scammed people out of their life savings.

Philippine Identity Theft

Identity theft is fast becoming a major problem in the world today, and the Philippines is no exception. Although Pinoys seldom buy things online using credit cards or conduct business and banking transaction via the internet compared to some of our Asian neighbors, the number of people doing so will continue to rise. For business owners, securing our online site will prevent unnecessary loss arising from fraud. We live in an age where everything from our tax record, social security number, bank account and credit card information can be hacked or phished by individuals with the intention to steal from us. Those of us who open our emails everyday are greeted with spam messages from people who have claimed we won something, inherited a fortune, offering us a great job or saying that our bank or credit card records needs updating or there has been a suspicious transaction and they need to verify some information with us. Take caution, these are design to get our personal information so its best to delete these types of email as soon as you receive them and do not bother opening them if you don't know the person who send it to you.

The sad thing about this is identity thieves will not stop thinking of new ways to scam us because there is a lot of easy money to be made and people need to be more aware how to secure their computer. Installing security software like anti virus and firewalls and update them regularly and install a pop up blocker. When purchasing in the store using your credit card, never let it out of your sight and watch out for skimmers where you use your card. use debit cards that uses a signature rather than punching in a PIN code. When shopping online, shop only on secure websites by looking at the padlock or https in the address bar. This is very important as you will need to enter your credit card details. Another scam that has been wide spread in the Philippines is the text scam where the victim will receive a text message that he or she have won a certain amount of cash but they must first deposit money in a bank account or give them load money for taxes. Be aware of this scam and remember the rule that if you did not join any contest in the first place then be on your guard and report the suspicious activity to the proper authorities.

Appearances count in Business

In business, it’s not only how competitive your prices are or how great the service you provide. Equally as important is how you and your staff look. Some may argue that doing a good job satisfying your clients needs is more important than looking impressive. While this principle does make good sense, customers have a greater sense of confidence if you and your staff look the part. When dinning in restaurant and being served by not properly dressed member of staff gives the impression that they don’t take their job seriously and, by association, your business does not take it’s customers seriously. Looking and dressing the part shows that you want to impress your customers. You care about your appearance and you want your customers to be impressed.

But physical appearance does not just mean the human factor behind the business. If you are into the manufacturing of consumer goods like canned or processed foods, detergents plus others must be also packaged very nicely. Bright and colorful packaging will entice consumers to choose your products over your competitors. The same guidelines are also applied to company vehicles, the business establishment, even advertisements and promotional material being shown or handed out. The customer’s impression of your business does not just come from having superior products, competitive pricing and service. It also comes from the appearance or image projected by the company and its staff as well as all things that has something to do with your business. In today’s business environment where there are lots similarly priced products and services competing against each other. The ones that leave an overall good impression will always have customers returning.

The Economics of Holiday Economics

Ever since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued a proclamation of moving the holiday to Friday if a holiday falls on a Saturday or to Monday if a holiday falls on a Sunday for the purpose of enabling government and private employees to enjoy a three day weekend holiday, has been met with mixed reactions from the different sectors. While holiday economics has been praised for boosting domestic tourism, more retail sales due to people going to the malls to shop and for encouraging more quality time among members of the family, Some businessmen are complaining over lost productivity and having to pay their employees sudden overtime pay and having to re adjust their schedules to due erratics declarations in the past. Although this problems have been addressed by the releasing the schedules of holidays in advance this year. But not everyone pays attention to the schedules released ahead of time.

And according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), figures showed that business in tourism and retail industries increased by 10 percent as a result of the long weekends, our economy would actually experience a 3.5-percent growth, in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). Those are pretty impressive stats if they are to be believed. As a part time employee and business owner in the manufacturing sector myself. The employee part of me love the long weekends since it gives me more time to relax and spend time with my family. But the businessman in me also finds it hard to suddenly adjust to the schedule of moving the holiday from June 12 to June 11 for the celebration of Independence day especially if there is a scheduled delivery already planned weeks before. Suddenly finding myself having to pay overtime salary just to keep things on schedule. There are also gainers in the long weekends. Long holidays means more employees will go back to their respective provinces thus resulted in a marked increase in inter regional travel and stirring economic activities in the countryside. The long holidays also means big business for players in the transportation industry especially provincial buses and ferries which have reported significant increases in trips.

Feeling the Economic Boom

Despite all the great news we have been hearing this past few weeks on how our peso is gaining ground against the dollar and the historic highs of the Philippine Stock Exchange, I cant help but wonder why haven’t I felt its effects yet on my pocket? The peso to dollar exchange rate has already breached the 45 pesos to a dollar level as of writing. Good news for our country's economy. But the BIG question is are we feeling its effects? The peso has been constantly gaining ground against the dollar since December of 2005 but the price of basic commodities are basically the same? Oil and gas prices are not falling as fast as we would like it to be and the opposite is actually happening as gas prices are going up again. Is it because elections are over? Oil and gas is especially important because lower prices for these two will have a snowball effect on prices of commodities and transportation fares. Jeepney
drivers are now demanding a fare increase back to the minimum of 7.50. Even if world oil prices are rising, a stronger peso should lessen the impact.

Another indicator that the economy is doing well is the stock market as the key index has already climbed to historic highs which is good news because there will be lots of money pouring in from foreign investors as well as local players. But aside from investors who will profit from a robust stock market, when will the benefits trickle down to us average consumers. A strong peso and a robust sock market looks very good on paper, but when it comes to actually being felt by the consumers it is another story. I am tempted to say that you can’t eat a GNP growth statistic or a 3500-point stock market index, but I know that it does have a profound effect on our economy that will benefit us in the long term. But for the meanwhile, I hope prices of basic commodities and utilities will go down for all of us to fully enjoy the benefits of an economy that is finally moving forward.

GoNegosyo

I recommend to anyone who is planning to start a business or already has a business up and running to go to your favorite bookstore and pick up a copy of GoNegosyo. Inside you will find inspirational stories on how some of our country biggest names in business started. I was fortunate enough to have bough mine at the National Book store in SM mall of Asia where there was a book-signing event where I was able to meet face to face with our countries top entrepreneurs. Needless to say, the feeling of meeting the industry leaders of established brands and businesses in the Philippines made me instantly daydream of joining their ranks someday I asked for their autograph.

This book is what the entrepreneurial spirit within all of us needs to be inspired to go out there and start our own business despite pessimistic views and comments you might hear from your friends or even family members that is usually associated when one is bold enough to venture into business. You will hear the usual negativity when starting a business like its already crowded, competition is fierce and cutthroat or madami na meron yan wag kana makisawsaw pa. But all this criticism should serve to inspire us more rather than to discourage us from achieving our dreams. The Philippines needs more entrepreneurs to help create more jobs and to be more competitive in the global market. Go Negosyo, Go Pinoy!

Changes in the Retail Business

Most traditional retail business owners in the Philippines are satisfied about how their businesses are run especially if they are at the top of their field. Pinoy and Tsinoy business owners who have been running their family business for decades are the slowest to adapt to change. Some business practices that have been working for them through the years may no longer be applicable in today’s business environment. Advancements in technology also opens up doors to new ways of doing business.

Take for example the traditional location of retail business compared to today. Before, when a person wants to start a retail business, places like Divisoria, Raon, Quiapo, Baclaran are the top choices where you want your business to be located. Most buyers who are outside of Metro Manila are willing to travel a few hours via bus or jeepney just to go to these places to buy their goods. But in present times, when people want to buy something they go straight to the Mall. Big malls like SM, Robinsons, Trinoma are the places where you want your retail business to be located. Big malls are now all over the Philippines. Even those living outside Metro Manila have access to Malls and are not willing to travel a couple of hours going to Divisoria even if its cheaper there but its still the place to go for some great bargains.

Another modern location of doing traditional retail businesses is via the internet. The Philippines, sad to say has been quite slow in adopting online retailing. Items sold online are usually cheaper than is stores because of lower overhead cost. But for most Filipinos, shopping the traditional way is still preferable to the virtual way because you cant touch, feel or smell the items you are buying online. For the smart retail businessman, having an online retail store in addition to the store located in the mall is the best way to go because whether we like it or not. The future of retail is online.

Advertising in the Philippines need not be Expensive

Branding and the right media mix is important in reaching the target market for your products and services. Going to a professional advertising agency that makes use of research data in planning and choosing media with impact and allocating budgets for a brand's media mix has become beneficial for many marketers. But having access to a reputable media agency is prohibitively expensive and not everyone has the funds to do so. Unless you have deep pockets, access to television advertising, buying radio air time and placing your product on the huge billboard in EDSA is out of the question for most marketers particularly TV advertising from our country's top two local networks GMA and ABS CBN. Even purchasing advertising from cable TV is also out of reach for most. But there are some alternatives to TV and print media that does not cost as much for those who are on a tight budget but if properly positioned, targets your intended audiences.

There are some newspapers and magazines that offer free ad space which does not cost you a peso. Although its not going to be favorably positioned, its free and at that price you could not go wrong. Even if it brings you just one sale its worth it. Advertising with posters and flyers is also a cheap way to bring your message across. Place your posters near high traffic areas and distribute your flyers with lots of human traffic like LRT or MRT stations. You do not have to spend much on posters and flyers since you can do it by yourself with the help of a computer, proper designing and viola, instant advertising materials. Another medium gaining popularity is the Internet. Advertising in the Internet cost significantly far less than TV, radio and print media but delivers just as well if you properly position yourself to the right market. Creating a free website with free hosting will cost you nothing and would give your company a website which interested clients can visit to learn more about your company.

The Business of Marriage

Despite the rise in broken marriages, single parents who prefer to stay single, the growing number of couples who prefer to live in rather than to tie the knot and not to mention the fact that getting married is prohibitively expensive these days, whether its a simple rural wedding or a fairy tail wedding in the most expensive of hotels, weddings will never run out of business and style. A quick check with several churches in Metro Manila shows that they have bookings of up to one year in advance, very good business for the church. The same is true of hotels and restaurants. My friend who has her heart set of getting married at Fern Wood Gardens will have to book a reservation one year in advance! Not to mention the amount of work organizing a wedding. With this much buzz of activities and money thrown around in weddings, some entrepreneurs have cashed in on this business called marriage.

With the proper motif and theme, entrepreneurs can created a niche market as small and medium enterprises. The church, the government, the florist, wedding gown designers, wedding coordinators, hotel and restaurant and even the travel agencies who book honeymoon packages all benefit from the wedding business. No matter how big or small the wedding is, there is money to be made. Of course the grandest weddings will cost more than what a typical clerk will make in several lifetimes. Some entrepreneurs are providing complete wedding packages and all the bride and groom have to do is just show up. Modern wedding planners are finding new ways of making each wedding ceremony and reception unique and memorable, even the use of fireworks and laser lights with an illuminated dance floor to to enhance the romantic atmosphere of the occasion. The Wedding Expo in the Philippines will also provide wedding ideas for both the soon to be couple and the aspiring entrepreneur looking for fresh wedding ideas.

Business Opportunity In Medical Tourism

Getting tourist from other countries to visit the Philippines for medical treatment is what medical tourism is all about. Countries like India, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are already at the fore front of this kind of tourism. In the Philippines, medical tourism is still at its early infancy stage. Some well known hospitals in the country are attracting patients from the Americas and Asia as well as expatriates familiar with our local health services. St. Luke's Medical Center and Asian Hospital are envisioning the Philippines as a medical care destination for Asia and to solidify this. Both have invested a significant amount to obtain international accreditation, opening the doors for international HMO portability or the ability to tap the medical insurance systems of foreign countries. Opportunities in specialty clinics are abound, particularly in eye, dental and cosmetic treatments. Most customers are foreigners, including resident expatriates, Micronesians, Guamanians, Indonesians and the rising Korean community. Overseas Filipinos are prime targets. Most eye specialty clinics concentrates on lasik treatments and cataract procedures. Philippines to exploit the full potentials of medical tourism. These include investing in facilities and equipment that meet international standards.


But Philippine hospitals must endeavor to become more price competitive because countries like Thailand and India are relatively less expensive in the field of medical tourism plus a major cost disadvantage of the Philippines is the price of medicine, which comprises a substantial percentage of total costs. Government must require drug manufacturers to produce cheaper generic medicines not only for medical tourism but particularly for the masses so medicines will be within their reach. Also, the country must improve its tourism infrastructure and support services. The quality of education for doctors, nurses, therapists and technologists must be raised significantly and assessed regularly and must require to to render at least a years worth of service in our country instead of the all too familiar going to another country to find a job. Dedicated facilities for long term patient care and recuperation must be provided. The business opportunities for medical tourism are there for the taking but Philippine hospitals and specialty clinics must also internalize strict international standards by which the country's global and Asian competitors go by.