I Need HELF!!

I’m back with yet another reflection and a whole lot of learning from our discussion last July 08, 2014 on our subject Technopreneurship 1. As I said before what’s not to like about our discussion? So I’ll be sharing with all of you what we had talked about last meeting that will guarantee to feed your brain with more knowledge (?). Well as what ka Ernie Baron always says “Kung walang knowledge, walang power”. So power up, roll up your sleeves, read and comprehend, and be ready to take on the path of a technopreneur. (Yeah you should just go ahead and attack if you have the courage.)

First off, we continued from where we left off last meeting. For a brief knick-knack, it was about the Technopreneurship Ecosystem. Well before we actually got on to the discussion, three pictures were shown to us by our facilitator: a woman who is somehow cooking, a man constructing a hut or, a more appropriate term would be, a “bahay kubo”, and a geek nursing his computer to health (I’m not kidding! LOL Well okay the picture was a metaphor of a man repairing his PC). After observing the images, our facilitator then asked us what did they need or have in order for them to fulfill what they intend to do. A cook without his pan or ingredients cannot cook, obviously. A carpenter without his tools cannot build a house and the same goes for the guy who is trying to repair his computer. So what does this tell us? Simple, most of the things we do, if not all, have its pre-requisites for the tasks to be accomplished. In the given example, a cook first needs to prepare the ingredients and all her needed cooking wares in the kitchen in order for her to cook what she intends to. The ingredients and her cooking wares are her resources while the kitchen is her environment. Similarly, in order for a technopreneurial venture to start, grow, and succeed, it must also have its required resources, environment, and support. So what are these things? This equation will serve as our guide: Successful Technopreneurship = HELF. Wait, did I just spell “help” wrong? Nope it’s not help, it’s HELF, an acronym per say. So in order for our techno venture to succeed, we need HELF! Getting curious now ain’t ya? LOL Anyway, so what does HELF really mean? HELF: H – for Human Resources; E – for Environment; L – for Laws and Policies; and lastly F – for Financial Resources. That’s all? That’s all! These are the things you need to prepare for a successful techno ventures. Are you up to the challenge? Wait, you’re still confused? It seems like you still need to grind for gears and armors for the upcoming battle so let’s elaborate these things further. The Human Resources Component, well this kind of self explanatory but okay. According to Wikipedia human resources are the set of individuals who make up the work force of a business sector, an organization, or economy. "Human capital" is sometimes used synonymously with human resources, although human capital typically refers to a more narrow view (i.e., the knowledge the individuals embody and can contribute to an organization). Likewise, other terms sometimes used include "manpower", "talent", "labor", or simply "people". In a technopreneurship venture there’s also a set of human resources that you need, or simply its components. First off is the Researcher. The researcher is the one who thinks. He is the idea generator, the innovator. He must have a vast view of how things work out and of course, what we always say, one who thinks outside the box. Another one is the Developer. The developers are the implementer. They are the technical people. They will be the one who will make the ideas, which the researchers came up, into reality. For short, and the word itself, they are the ones who will develop. Next up is scanner and the marketing people. This people are really important because they the one fuelling this business (sort of). A perception of the concept of market scanning can be very helpful to any business managers who will be involved in the innovation process of the techno venture. Market scanning refers to recognizing up-and-coming or future markets, probing your own target market for amendments and looking for commercial prospects. Market scanning is not only beneficial for the marketing people to identify potential prospects, but also it will help them recognize the potential threats to your techno venture. Their ability to recognize an emerging or potential future market can provide your venture with a considerable competitive lead. It can provide you with the opportunity to be first to market with an innovative product and allow you to take advantage of a new market. The best way to do this is to look for new and emerging trends. Did you get all that? Well let us proceed then. Next up is also a very important human resource in a techno venture, the financers. If the scanner and the marketing people are the one who fuels, the financers are the one who provides the fuel, or maybe they are the fuel themselves. Without them the whole project would not be possible and I know that you know why, right? No? Well to keep it short they provide the $$ for the project and that’s that. And yes, without money a project would not be possible so get yourself one (or more) and impress him (them) with your innovative ideas. Next will be E in HELF as in Environment. It’s pretty much where we should work. Science parks, incubation centers, name them all. A place with internet access, communication, and other support services. We should also keep in mind the geographic accessibility. Laws and Policies have to do with the licensing of the technology you are venturing. The commercialization and other legal services for your invention is a part of this sector in HELF. Last one is the financial component, can’t really explain this in much detail but it has something to do with investments, your business sector, funding agencies, and of course financial services such as accounting.

So that’s about it. We still had one more activity after this discussion but I’m gonna leave it with that, sorry! I hope you got something off from my reflection. If you are ready to venture into technopreneurship then what are you waiting for? Roll up your sleeves and go out there and innovate!

The Upcoming Interpersonal Skills Seminar

Just last Wednesday, June 16, 2014, we had our fifth meeting for our subject Field Trip and Seminars (FTS). Our president first discussed about the booking strategy of our tickets from which they will first book the tickets with regular price then just rebook it if ever there are promo flights which is good because if they'll just wait for promos, that may or may never come, tickets will eventually get costly as the day goes by. Next we discussed about Interpersonal Skills Seminar which will be held on Monday, July 21, 2014. We just talked about what to bring and what to prepare...nothing much to say actually. 

ReflectiOOOn No. (count the number of O)

Hey! Me again who else? So the I.D.I.O.T. is back and is now kicking! Ehem let us go straight to point, or not. So here I am again with yet another blissful reflection (or not) about our discussion last June 24, 2014 on our subject Technopreneurship (just go back a few pages to know what technopreneurship is or heck just search the internet but to just give you a brief idea, if you did not know yet, it is basically just the combination of the two words "technology" and "entrepreneurship") And yey! Guess what? Contrary to the two previous meeting, this time I did my best to come on time and it bore fruit. I’m not late! Yahoo! Let us celebrate! LOL achievement unlocked! Anyway again first things first, the ritual for all the late comers and the so called "virgins" (first time being under our facilitator) were performed xD. Well there were still a lot of them (even though it's already our third meeting and that they already know what the consequences are) so the performance goes on for quite awhile but hey it's fun! And gosh it’s more fun if you are not one of them (hahaha nagsalig!). And because of that... tenenen... the consequences for being late on the next meeting has changed. Late comers will now treat the whole class, and of course including our facilitator, breakfast. Gosh! (in Goofy's voice). I did not agree to this! Joke! Well I think there is no other choice it's either say yes or YES! And hey this is quite reasonable because I myself skipped my breakfast just to arrive in class on time. But I wonder what kind of breakfast would the late comers feed us (assuming I am not one of them xD) because imagine feeding almost 70 people even if they are going to budget at least Php 10.00 for each of us it's still going to cost more or less Php 70.00 (obviously) and imagine if you are the only who is late. Yikes! No, just no. That is going to cost me so there is no way I'm going to be late next meeting and I can assure you that and that’s a promise. Believe it! (I’m actually referring this to Naruto’s famous English dub quote hehe) There is still the Field Trip & Seminars to worry about and don’t get me started on “it’s only Php 10.00 or Php 70.00” because remember a thousand would never be completed without a cent. And the same logic could be applied for the payment of our FTS. So I really need to save especially for the packet money. This is getting really unrelated to the actual topic so enough of that ludicrous chit chat and let us head down and discuss what happened or rather what we discussed during our meeting proper.

(I know that I am supposed to point out what I liked and what I least liked during the discussion with 2500 words each respectively but I just have to say that “What’s not to like?” so I will just be kind of “storytelling” what happened and give my point of view and opinions about all of it so here goes nothing)

After discussing the new consequences for the tardy people, for starters, well, we continued our discussion last meeting which is the SEED model. So now let’s talk about the SEED model. S – stands for “Self-Mastery”. First E – stands for “Environment Mastery”. The second E – stands for “Enterprise Mastery”. And last but not the least, D – which stands for “Development”.  Based on what our facilitator discussed, Self-Mastery is a passion that comes from knowing yourself. Discover your weaknesses and strengthen your most valuable skills and capabilities. Knowing yourself better before anything else is very important. This is like mastering your skills and talents and taking it to the next level and the same time strengthening your weaknesses to decrease you vulnerability when a problem comes. Knowing yourself much better can help you, as an individual, determine your skills and how far your creativity takes you in innovating something new, something original with a purpose. As I said before (in my previous reflections), I did have regrets choosing this line of course. I could have been an artist, a detective, a technician because I know I have the passion for arts, and even though being a detective is not a game I think it’s fun and sort of entertaining in a way, and most of all I have the knack of tinkering through broken things and fix it so I could have also been a technician. And now I’m thinking why not bring those passion and talents to the IT industry? It’s all about how you handle yourself in different situations with the best of your abilities. This is a very big help for me and for us to discover what will be our possible future in this area of Information Technology. In order to be a good technopreneur, you should master and know yourself better. So how can one master oneself? There are a lot of ways to know yourself much better. One of this is the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test. While your IQ does not really determine your success it’s still essential to know your brain’s limits and thinking capacity. To be honest I was actually planning on taking up Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (in UP because I just want to be boastful xD) but well I did research about it and thought that it’s beyond what my mind could comprehend LOL. So I decided to take a little (just a little) precaution and ended up with Information Technology here in USeP which is still ah no comment. With that, knowing your brain’s thinking power could also help you make better decisions and could help you especially in analyzing and taking up risks (Risk Management). How so? This is just my opinion but think about it, you determine risks and spotted one. The first thing you need to do is analyze it and if you know that the problem is beyond what you could solve you can come up with more alternatives. There are always ways right? Knowing yourself is not just about knowing how smart or intelligent you are but also on how emotionally stable you are. There are Emotional Quotient (EQ) tests for this matter. Knowing your emotional stability or firmness is important because it helps you determine or on how you react on certain situations. It helps you manage your stress when something out of your control went wrong. And remember stress management is very important because if all your stress builds up it might lead to depression and we all know where depression goes as far as I know a lot of them ended in suicides. Well that was completely unrelated to the topic but I added it because I think it was worth mentioning. There are also these what we call personality tests. These tests are the best way to determine who you really are and also with these you can improve your overall personality by developing your negative sides. I don’t intend to push anyone to change their bad personalities but still it could help you become a better person as a whole. I’m not saying that we should negate all our negative attitudes and does not recommend because sometimes it is already part who we are as person and a man who is too good is just too good to be true and it might label you as a hypocrite and make you a bit of dull or shallow person. Perhaps just balance all positives and negativities because as the old text I happen to stumble upon before in a book or video game I guess - light would not come without darkness and chaos would not come without peace, they can’t stand alone which means they coexist with each other. And that were just ways on knowing yourself much better but how do we practice self mastery? When you say self mastery it means to master yourself which means you need to acquire complete knowledge about yourself. Become proficient, know your insides and outs, your frontwards and backwards. Understand yourself and set your goals and envision them to make a clear view of what you really want. Know your strengths, your weaknesses. Polish those and success may come and shine brightly to your tomorrow. Knowing yourself means knowing you really want to in your life and the things that you really don’t want to achieve. It will simply guide you to your true happiness. Isn’t that right? With all of that, what really is a self mastered person?

A self-mastered person, according to our facilitator:

·                        does not need high IQ

·                        does need high EQ and AQ

·                        is naturally a/an:

  o performer – competitive and efficient

  o epicure – sensual and cheery

  o boss – takes charge and loves a good fight

·                        is whole-brained

·                        has a personal vision and knows strengths and weaknesses

Once you overcame and answered all that you will a step closer to mastering yourself and the SEED curriculum. If you got all of what I was trying to say then I guess it is okay to move on the next letter. The first letter E in the SEED model refers to the Environmental Mastery. It usually involves generating business ideas, plans, and seeking for opportunities out from our environment through different style like serendipity walks, crisis, trends and anything under the sun. Just like what we did in our previous activity, we visited business establishments, observe these places, look for flaws or rather any inconveniences, and think of something we can innovate to simply business operation and make the customer’s life easy and comfy. What can we do for our environment (referring to the surroundings or conditions in which we live in not the natural world)? What can we change in order to change our way of life for the better? We have a lot of crazy ideas but which f it would guarantee a change? Those wild and creative ideas are just examples of what could do to contribute in today’s technological era if we ever manage to pursue it and if, of course, our idea is actually pretty decent, original and full of purpose. Every one of us has experienced crisis and hardships. From that, we could make it a motivation to create and innovate ideas pertaining those hardships we encountered in our life. We need not to be afraid of failures. Instead use those failures as fuels to light up your burning desire to succeed. Take it as lesson learned, never make it happen again. Move forward and dream high. Our own hobbies could also help us think of a playful, unique but also an idea with a lot of purpose. Just open your imaginative mind to create something new which could progress the quality of life. Another input to Environmental Mastery is the awareness towards our environment. What issues or problems do our country or simply our community is facing right now? Which problems needs urgency and is also timely to be solved right here right now? Think  of ideas that could help solve those problems and it should not be a temporary one but one that may change our way of life because that’s what technology brought to us: it changed our lives for the better. Imagine without Microsoft Word or simply a personal computer I would be writing this reflection on a typewriter or even worse on a sheet of paper and manually counting the words from one to 5000. That would be such a hassle and it might come true if can’t finish this on time lol. Well that was just one of the many scenarios we can visualize on how well the technology changed our lives. Some may say it only made us a lot lazier, that would be a bit true lol, but that is the point right? No? Well let us just stick to the fact that the technology made our lives much easier (Hayahay!).

An environment-mastered person

·                        understands the industry he/she is in

·                        sees the opportunities, not the problems

·                        is on top of the situation instead of being under  the situation

·                        is the organization/industry innovator and strategist

And I think that wraps up the E on SEED which is the Environmental Mastery. Let us now move on to the next letter in the SEED model. The second letter E stands for Enterprise Mastery. This mastery covers how to (or you should) run a business. Our facilitator stated that this mastery pertains to the knowledge of the different enterprise disciplines such as creating the business, marketing management, operations management, financial management, and lastly the risk management. The word itself describes an idea on how to run business operations such as companies and marketing, and other business establishments. Mastering this mastery would be the easiest one out of all that was mentioned (at least for me). Why? My only reason is that mastering this, unlike self mastery which you need to master on your own, you can master it together with the team mates or work mates in the industry you decided to venture into. A lot of people in the same industry can guide and help you through your adventure and some may even fight and come along with you. Like how you started a Role Playing Game (RPG) alone with a Non Playing Character (NPC) guiding you until such time you met friends along your journey who will also fight with you side by side until the final boss and complete the game. The only difference is that in real it does not end that short or simply put not until you are dead. True story bro. Anyway the Enterprise Mastery mostly deals with the industry you want to take as a path to your success. In this phase mastery you also need to master or know about what kind of industry you put yourself into. What does it sell? Who are your customers? What is its aim? How would you sell your product? How would the people know your product exists? There are a lot of questions that needs to answered in this phase that pertains to the industry you will take on and because this is a technopreneurship subject let us say that that industry your taking on is an ICT or other technology related business. You need to have a vast knowledge regarding the technology or the technological product you are selling and the people who might use it or your target and possible audiences because it will give you an edge on how you plan your resources and helps you move your pawns in a strategic pattern (metaphorically speaking). This will help you plan out your next actions. In an online game they tend to test things out release a patch, receive feedbacks, implement yet again another system or redo the previous one in order to make their gamers happy and contented for the game to live and survive. That was just an example of how you model your development cycle (and base on my example they were using spiral model just search it up on the internet if you are curious as what that is).

According to our facilitator:

An enterprise-mastered person:

·               understands and integrates the functions of management (marketing, human resource, operations, and finance)

·                   understands and integrates the process of management (planning, organizing, directing, and controlling)

·                   leads and inspires rather than manage

Mastering it would be a very step closer towards completing the SEED curriculum (obviously) and will head down to the last phase. The last letter is the D which stands for development of business plan.

Our facilitator told us and discussed to us that:

Business plans covers:

·                   writing the business plan

·                   presenting and depending the business plan

·                   adding refinements to the presented business plan

Who wants the D? This phase may be last stage in the curriculum but remember that after this is the real start of your journey. If we reference it to movies and tv series the SEED was just the prologue and what comes next the real chapter where the plot explained in the prologue will be put into use. Which means the masteries you mastered in the SEED curriculum will really be helpful in the upcoming challenges you may face in the industry you got yourself into. Anyway, the development phase refers to the development of the business itself. Planning the business starts here where you need to brainstorm with your team mates, write your ideas, present and defend it. This is where you put all the masteries you had just mastered to use. Refine those masteries through development. From the word development itself, you need to develop your idea. As they say it all starts with an idea. With that idea in mind create a business proposal or any sort of proposal pertaining to that idea. Gather all of the relevant information like how can you handle this, do your risk analysis and management, its feasibility and usefulness, and especially the revenue rate of the business. This might be the most rigid phase in the entire SEED curriculum because as I said just a little earlier it will use all the masteries mentioned before. This phase could also refer to the actual development of the project or business proposed. So can you or rather can we do it? Are we up for the challenge and master each one of it progressively? If I am to be asked then I think I will pass… joke… I will definitely take on the challenge, master all of it to the best I can, and let the SEED sprout and maybe sometime in the future it will bore a fruit, no not just a fruit but fruits… the fruits of my labor. I will accept the challenge so will you?

After the discussion of the SEED model or curriculum we went ahead and discussed the four types of entrepreneurship. The four types are the Incremental, Imitative, Rent Seeking, and Innovative entrepreneurships. Let us first discuss the incremental type of entrepreneurship. The incremental type is a routine business which is a business wherein operations are daily repetitive tasks that keep the business going; such as general accounting, customer service and technical support, coffee shop and anything that has (from the word itself) routine. For example, the accounting department must keep track of all incoming payments from customers and all outgoing payments for expenses. Common operation expenses include rental fees for an office building, salaries for employees and utility bills. Continuous production of products and output of services are also part of operations[1].  So it is also safe to say that Incremental entrepreneurships are businesses which modest novelty such as the new Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) businesses. Incremental are also the common type which we can find everywhere. Sari sari store, car wash, carinderia, and a lot more common businesses we see today are all incremental. If you already got what an Incremental entrepreneurship is then let us move on to the next one. Another type of entrepreneurship is the Imitative one. The concept of this type of entrepreneurship is simple, from the word itself, to imitate. It is the imitation of business venture, business model, and business template. Entrepreneurs who adopt this kind of entrepreneurship are called imitative entrepreneurs. Imitative entrepreneurs are characterized by readiness to adopt successful innovations inaugurated by successful innovating entrepreneurs. Imitative entrepreneurs do not imitate the changes themselves, they only imitate techniques and technologies innovated by others. Such entrepreneurs are significant for under-developed economies because they put such economies on high rate of economic development. Entrepreneurs prefer to imitate the technology already existing somewhere in the world. However, the talent of imitative entrepreneurs should not be under-estimated. Even imitative entrepreneurs are revolutionary and agents of change. They have ability to do things which have not been done before even though, unknown to them, the problem may have been solved in the same way by others. Innovative entrepreneur is creative, while imitative entrepreneur is adoptive [2]. Examples of businesses that adopts this kind of entrepreneurship are another branch of a specific business and franchised operations. We can also see a lot of businesses with this kind of operations such as Minute Burger, Burger time, and lot of our favorite (?) and famous fast food chains like Jollibee, Mc Donalds, KFC, and many more. Although these can still be considered as Incremental since they are routine business but they are still considered imitative since they are just branches who imitate the business plan, model, and template of the very main branch. Imitative is really easy understand I think since you can already define it from its name alone which is imitative. And to add a lot of the successful entrepreneurs out there are imitative entrepreneurs. So now let us discuss about the third type of entrepreneurship which is the Rent Seeking. Rent Seeking entrepreneurship are businesses that utilizes standards, regulations and laws to share in value of enterprise. A business is rent seeking when a company, organization or individual uses their resources to obtain an economic gain from others without reciprocating any benefits back to society through wealth creation. An example of rent-seeking is when a company lobbies the government for loan subsidies, grants or tariff protection. These activities don't create any benefit for society, they just redistribute resources from the taxpayers to the special-interest group [3]. A good example of this kind of businesses is the Coca cola export which was also mentioned by our facilitator. I hope you get what a rent seeking entrepreneurship is with that explanation so we could move on. Shall we? Okay so we are on to our last but not the least type of entrepreneurship which is the Innovative type. Innovative entrepreneurship are businesses based on an innovation. A new kind of business that is proposed and later imitative entrepreneurship will copy it if successful. It is base on an idea, idea that is centered with a revolution in mind. Entrepreneurs who ventured into the world of Innovative technopreneurship are called Innovating entrepreneurs. Innovative entrepreneurs are generally aggressive and possess the art of cleverly putting the attractive possibilities into practice. An innovating entrepreneur is one who introduces new goods, inaugurates new methods of production, discovers new market and re-organises the enterprise. He arranges money, launches an enterprise, assembles the various factors, chooses the competent managers and sets his enterprise go. Schumpeter's entrepreneur is of this type. His entrepreneur belongs to that nation which has wide industrial base, modern banking facilities, rich infrastructure, up to date technology and the like. Innovative entrepreneurs do not exist in developing economies where lack of capital, technological know-how blocks the path of innovativeness. In developed countries, people are highly developed and consistently look forward for change. They want to consume such products which do not commonly exist in the world. They want progress as they have achieved high level of development. Innovating entrepreneur played a key role in the rise of modern capitalism, through their enterprising spirit, hope of making money, and ability to recognize and exploit opportunities [2]. From all of the four kinds entrepreneurship we discussed (there are actually many if you look up and search the internet, as they say, go Google it!) in my own personal opinion, Innovative entrepreneurship is the most promising one. It is really hard to come up with a unique, awesome, and full of purpose and especially business oriented ideas (base on my experience) and it amazes me how they can come up with such. They think really vast and wide, extending outside the box and I do not know if I could become one of the innovative type because I really doubt I am. I am only an artisan, not an artist. What is the difference between an artisan and an artist? An artist creates his own masterpiece base on his ideas while an artisan draws or creates art with the ideas of others. So if ever I become an entrepreneur in future (which would not happen because I do not intend to) I would be the imitative type well I already why, it is because I am only an artisan. I am not bringing myself down I am just evaluating myself base on my capabilities because I do not really have a creative mind. I can say I am a bit smart, average but that are not enough to be innovative but I am still going to do my best in this subject to submit the best of the best innovation which is kind of unlikely but who cares I can dream and I want to dream right now because I am getting a bit tired and my English is kind of sucking too hard now LOL. What does that even mean? Anyway the innovative entrepreneurs are really something ad I really simply admire their vast and wide thinking capacity. I wish I had. Oh and haha I was kind of practicing Self Mastery there for a while. Calculating my capabilities and coming up with what I want and do not want to do. I do not want to write anymore LOL jokes aside I really do not want to be an entrepreneur hehe. The only thing that is present inside my heart pertaining to entrepreneurs is admiration and nothing more. Enough of that I do not want to be an entrepreneur and that is that. Case closed. So let me share now the activity we last meeting.

So last meeting we had this certain activity where there are three situations or cases from which we need to draw of conclude our own opinions on what should we do if we are on those situations. We were divided into three groups and were asked to get a bond paper which is very rare and ugh I really just did not have a bond paper and most of my classmates if not did not have also so we were forced to buy and what is worse is that one sheet cost us Php 2.00 ugh such a waste. Anyway the first group was asked to share their opinions, ideas, or what they need to do in the first situation but first they need to write it down the bond paper of course silly me. The first situation is that if the father of the family does not have a job and the family does not have any kind of business and you are just there watching your father hopelessly searching for money to feed your stomachs. There answer was not what I expected and it was not what our facilitator wanted to hear either. Well for me I do not really know what to do if I were on that situation. First of all I really can’t relate if it is between a father and child since I am really that close to my father. And second I just did not really know what to do LOL. But one thing I thought was why not start a business of some sort. I mean I am (in the situation) is educated from what I have remembered and I could use what I have learned in school to teach my father the same thing I have learned in school but of course it should be business oriented since my family needs money. Start small and you will end up big. Our facilitator also quoted that “Give a man a fish and he will live for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he will live forever (or until he dies)”. And that is really true especially for those beggars on the street we see everyday who still has strong bodies. Why not work rather than beg? Well it’s their choice but I hope their mindset would change though but enough of that let us move on to the second situation. I am on group two by the way so I am also part of the sharing of ideas in the second situation. The second situation is that a person is a graduate of any degree course but do not have the “pleasing personality” (and most of them regard this as looks) that companies usually look for an employee. If am actually in that situation I could really be frustrated I mean I have the brain just don’t mind the looks! If face with that kind of situation then why not just find a job online? Isn’t that more convenient? No boss to boss you around ain’t it fun? LOL but still you need to be competent even if it’s online and then when you earned enough money why not start a business of your own? Become a the boss instead of just an employee! Show those who rejected you who’s boss! But no revenge cause that will only mean trouble lol. Then the next and the last group were to present their ideas about the third situation. I did not really remembered what they shared that time so I’m just going to share my own opinion. The third is that the people have jobs, however the payment is not enough to sustain their everyday needs and are striking out or what we call “nagwewelga” for their wages to increase. For me they don’t really have the right to do that. I mean they chose that job so they have to live up to it. I remember the time when there was a factory for Tupperware here in Davao. Then because of the workers insisting that their pay should increase instead of fulfilling their request they closed down. After that they were unemployed. They should have think as one as the company. What effect would the company suffer if ever they increase their wages? They should have thought more not just selfishly thinking on what will be best for them. If they don’t like the pay then simple just resign and find a better job or better yet start your own business and discover how a pain running a company really is.

References:

[1] Mary Jane - The Difference Between Projects & Routine

Business

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-projects-routine-business-21340.html

[2] HRITESH D - What are the

different types of business entrepreneurs ?

http://www.publishyourarticles.net/knowledge-hub/entrepreneurship/what-are-the-different-types-of-business-entrepreneurs.html

[3] Investopedia.com

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rentseeking.asp

It's Official...

So our trip to Manila is now official approved! Yay...? LOL I'm not really that excited but yey! Now comes the harder part... the money collection :P So we discussed the deadlines of the payments and some other matters. Oh and about the Toshiba forms, which we are required to fill up as a requirement of Toshiba (one of the company were going to visit there), there was a bit of misunderstanding regarding the slipper size LOL. Regarding our minor field trip we were supposed to visit the Public Safety Comand Center (PSCC) here in Davao but because, contrary to the previous batch, they won't let us in the control room (which is our actual reason or intention we want to go there), it's postponed until we find another company. We also had our groupings for our room assignments and we are seven in one room tsk2. We are also reminded to post our reflections every after meetings and hehe I forgot and I'm only making it now xD. Bye bye.. :D

Pirates of the Silicon Valley...

1. What are the factors that contributed to the success and failure of Steve Jobs as a technopreneur?

Steven Paul Jobs or best known as Steve Jobs is an American entrepreneur, marketer, and inventor. He was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the infamous Apple Inc. He, through Apple, was known for his enigmatic appeal as a pioneer in personal computer revolution. His influence in the field of computer and electronics has transformed one industry after another and brought about innovative inventions from smart phones and computers and to music and to movies. Steve Jobs also co-founded Pixar Animation Studios and also became its CEO, and became a member of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company.

While watching the film, Pirates of the Silicon Valley, I can’t help myself but to be amazed and at the same time a bit disappointed on how the characters achieved what they had accomplished now. We can’t deny the fact that their technological revolution made our lives much easier and, until now, is still continuing their legacy but this movie somehow spilled their dark and trick little magics. Like any other individuals, I suppose originality is important to ensure one’s success but with this eye-opener I guess someone just have to be an effective speaker to get what he/she wants. It’s kind of about the Game of minds where the wisest of should I say the trickiest thought will win it all. The conflict between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates is stunning in a negative but awesome way. In this movie there is neither a protagonist nor an antagonist. The two main characters have flaws and imperfections. They we’re kind of funny because they kept each other’s secrets in order for their secrets not to be spilled. They both knew they we’re thieves, idea thieves, con artists if I may.

Steve Jobs is a very successful man indeed and if we point out the factors that made him successful and what made his failures it is that he did not succeed in spite of his failures, he succeeded BECAUSE of his failures. His work epitomized perfection. But it wasn't always like that. The path of success was speckled with failure. And it was out of the ashes of epic failure that Steve Jobs' life took a turn toward bring a legend. When it comes to Steve Jobs’ success, there are a lot of contributing factors that made him achieve what he had accomplished. He experienced ups and downs in his life from a company that did not start well, to losing his job, and then back again to a company that did not sell very well until his time came. Despite of his success, he encountered these failures and faced his supreme ordeal. Failing twice, thrice, who in the world would not lose confidence after that? But then again an event occurred that offered him redemption and his failures only made him stronger.

There were a lot of factors that contributed in his success as a technopreneur. One of it was because he was Steve Jobs, err I mean because of his innovative and logical mind. Unlike most technological company employees, Steve Jobs did not study engineering nor had any business training but his thinking capacity was superb and very well crafted. He made simple stuffs into more amazing and useful tools and made complicated stuffs simpler but sleeker. Steve Jobs has a bright and great mind.  He is a great inventor. Every little thing he saw, he transforms it into a bigger and much better one. Steve Jobs had a lot of new, great, and innovative ideas that can produce or create new technological innovations and all that somehow were turned to reality. All of the ideas that roams around his mind, he puts them to the physical world. In other words he most of time, if not always, turns his dreams to reality. His great and bright mind is persistently working. After putting his new ideas into the physical and material world, he would persistently think of new and awesome ideas and would not stop at anything, even if there is a great barrier blocking him, making ways to make his inventions successful and known all throughout. His strategic plans and techniques in his life and in business made him wore the crown and became an admired inventor in the entire world. He believed that a good artist copies but the great artist steals. (I don’t know whether that factor contributes to his success or to his failure but then again maybe both) Other than that his innovations were probably the one that contributes to most of the success he achieved. As I mentioned earlier on the paragraph he has a broad thinking capacity and he has great ideas which were most of the time game makers against his competitors. Back then, Steve Jobs was a small time computer entrepreneur and would not stop at nothing to invent something fresh even though he would always fail. In my point of view, I know that he knew that one of these days he would become a successful technopreneur and his inventions will be known to the entire world. He also has a strong and very high self-confidence because he believed that he can do everything and anything and that and he can make a lot of innovations to the whole world. That was why he became a successful technopreneur. He believed in his self and that he can do everything at almost perfection and was not afraid to commit mistakes because mistakes are just lessons and with that he was not afraid to take the risks. (Well that one, referring to taking risks, also contributed to his failures as a technopreneur) His passion towards the technological revolution was boiling. If he did not have passion back then, I bet my bacon that Apple Inc. would not be seen anywhere or known to the world. Steve Jobs was a competent man. One of his greatest competitors was IBM. With his success, he became well-known and popular personality in the whole world. Jobs have this passion on making Apple Inc. the best. He aimed to bring down IBM because he hated it at some point. He was strong-willed and was always persistent in everything he did. Jobs never thought of quitting, like that time when he tried to sell his first computer, the Apple I, made by Woz to the businessmen. He was always turned down by the companies because of his shaggy look. Just when he realized that the businessmen didn’t like beard, he decided to shave it. Wearing corporate attire, a venture capitalist went in their garage/office offering them quarter of a million dollars for initial funding for Apple II. You could see the great passion of Jobs when he totally shaved off his beard and wore a suit in the Computer Fair just to be presentable to his few expected guests but amazed when the doors opened and saw a bunch of people racing just to see their computer. It is clear that Woz is the genius in making computers and Jobs is the genius in dealing and convincing people to buy their stuff. Success is easy for Jobs because he puts his full attention in everything he does. He plans everything carefully before doing it. He takes everything a venture, a key to success; he never misses a chance to attain success. He always aimed for success and perfection.

Along with his success is his failure. Some of the contributing factors that made him successful were also the factors that contribute to his failure as a technopreneur. He overestimated everything too much which resulted to a saddening failure. Being too full of ourselves is not good and will often, if not always, result into failure. His bright mind, for me also contributed to his failures. He always focused on his hew ideas and new innovations even though he knew that there are huge risks and had always pushed through things even knowing that. He focused more on his new inventions that made him forget the original use of what he innovated of. Even though he is a very known and smart inventor and as a technopreneur, he failed and got kicked-out in his own company because of his pride and attitude. He also became overconfident that lead him to the path of failure. Steve Jobs made a way for his company to fight on its own and compete with one another. He divided his own company that made it to compete with each other. Because of this his friends and employees no longer trusted him and led him to get kicked out of it. He was very confident that he thought no one and nothing can compete against him and beat him. Lastly, one of the factors that contribute to his failure is his temper.  He often blows a fuse to his manager throughout his life. And once the employees commit mistakes even if it is for a very small reason he will automatically fire them out and I can say that his mercilessness made him both successful and a failure. And this is one of the hundred reasons why he lost some of the business partners.

2. How do you see yourself as a technopreneur? 

 “A technopreneur is an entrepreneur who is technology savvy, creative, innovative, dynamic, dares to be different and take the unexplored path, and very passionate about their work. They take challenges and strive to lead their life with greater success. They don't fear to fail. They take failure as a learning experience, a stimulator to look things differently and stride for next challenge. Technopreneurs continuously go through an organic process of continual improvement and always try to redefine the dynamic digital economy.” – Rajesh Shakya.

As I was reading the question “How do you see yourself as a technopreneur?” well to be really honest, I find this question really hard to answer. To tell you the truth I really can’t see myself as a technopreneur in the near future or at least in my current state of mind now. Knowing myself, if ever goint to take the path of technopreneurship, I think I am the type who will not make a good technopreneur, first, because I don’t know how to socialize and social meet ups and activities drains a whole of my energy. Just thinking about it makes me tired and sleepy. Even now, I’m still having a hard time making new friends and it’s mostly due to my shy and a bit hesitant type of personality. I am also the type who can’t communicate effectively (but I’m not saying I’m not good at talking it’s just that..) I don’t know how to properly talk and convince the people that my idea is worth their precious time. I also had a hard time relaying what really is on my mind so yeah. I also can’t think of new innovative ideas because somehow all my ideas are all cliché and somehow magical ;). My ideas are way too unoriginal and others were very much impossible.

From the author Rajesh Shakya from which he defines the key essence of technopreneurship:

The key essence in such technopreneurship programmes is creativity. Creativity is breaking the conventional mental blocks and playing with imagination and possibilities, leading to new and meaningful connections and outcomes while interacting with ideas, people and the environment. However creativity alone, without technoprenuer skills and competencies, is not viable to sustain a business in a digital, knowledge-based economy. You need an integrated collaborative approach in turning an idea into a viable sustainable business in a digital economy.

An approach that encompasses the 5Cs strategy:

Culture: The need to nurture a culture of innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity.
Concept: Incubation concept of role-modeling, research and development, IP creation and Knowledge Acquisition.

Capability: Build capability through training and awareness programs, industrial attachment and provision of financial and support.
Collaboration: Foster multi-prong collaborations with local and international industry partners, tertiary institutions and other ICT technoprenuers and start-ups.
Connection: Build association with strategic Multi-National Corporations in ICT areas in order to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to local technoprenuers, and support structures.

I lack creativity. I am an artist that lacks creativity, oh the irony. And with the statement stated above I don’t think I am up to the challenge of becoming a technopreneur. But looking at myself becoming one, I really can’t imagine all but I think I could become at least a decent one I suppose. I have this kind of attitude that what life will give and gave to me; I’m already satisfied and contented with it and would not thirst for more. I do not like breaking walls just to achieve what’s not truly in my heart and being a  tecnopreneur is one. I am already satisfied in my little own on ways like making simple programs or making a small systems that may or may not even benefit the public as long as I am enjoying what I do. I don’t think outside the box, that’s for sure, and I will most probably gratify the box if it would think outside for me. Still though will never what’s to come so we better envision everything and then decide after whether it is going to be good or not.

If ever, in the near future, I will become a technopreneur, I would firstly change my current state of mind. I always think of the standards and if it happens I think outside the box the idea is cliché and well that idea may just have been an escapee of the box which I caught and put back to the prison it belongs. Second, I will practice and attempt to handle and take charge of a bigger and greater responsibility. I’m actually doing this right now with no luck. Still as lazy as ever well at least I’m trying. Third, I would improve and enhance my skills, especially in the field of technopreneurship (duh!), which are to be more creative and have a strategic way of thinking which is also innovative so that I can come up with better and unique ideas. Lastly, I would raise my self-confidence even higher, to highest, (which is a bit impossible if I should say) in order for me to discover and innovate something new and amazing which I think would be useful to everyone and become well-known and also never forget to have a passion in my work so that I can do my job very well. If ever I can achieve all of this, maybe soon I will be the top employer not only in Davao but the entire Philippines or much better in the whole Asian Region (dream on!). I hope someday that I can do all this and has determination to build my own business and become well known as an employer and as a technopreneur someday. I think being a technopreneur is difficult yet exciting job, difficult because you have to think of new innovations for your product to click, your product must have an essential purpose, a purpose that could simplify life (hayahay!). Anyway, if given a chance to be one would be great, creating new innovations to help people make their lives easier and handy. I want to picture myself as a very successful and happy technopreneur. I want to be a technopreneur that would not easily give up to the problems and challenges that will arise. I want to see myself as an effective leader as a top employer. I will treat my employees with care and see them as a family but of course just like how a parent scold their children when committing mistakes I’ll do the the same with my employees. Maybe I will be a bit of a tyrant technopreneur and I will share what I know to the vastest of my knowledge to my employees to be able to help them learn and grow. Maybe I will be a bit hard on them and pressure them but still I will make sure that I have a basis on why I am doing it them for them to do their works efficiently. I want to be set as a good example of a hardworking and creative technopreneur. I want to be an effective technopreneur. I know that it is not easy to be a technopreneur, you should be a business minded person like Steve Jobs. For me there are requirements to be a technopreneur. You should be a person that don’t easily quit because putting up a business is a gamble. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose. Business is like that and not all the time luck will be on your side. To be a technopreneur you should be an innovator with great mind that thinks for an alternative solution to a problem and also you should be patient (low fuse please). I don’t want to be like Steve Jobs who’s bossy. Well I’m quite bossy in my imagination myself but well I have this attitude where I don’t like asking people stuffs so that’s really a no no for me). I want to be a technopreneur that listens to the suggestion of other people. If you have become successful in life I know that it is hard to manage your time especially making time to bonding in your family. If I will become a technoprener someday, even though I am so busy I will make sure to have some time meeting with my family and friends. If there are arguments and misunderstandings in the company I will solve it, but it can only be done together with the cooperation of my employees, so that it won’t affect the business. I want my business to be known not just in the Philippines but also to the whole world. I want my company to be the good example in putting up a business just like Apple and Micosoft. I’ll start a new era of technology. I want to develop technology that is useful in the country. I will start a new revolution. (This essay is rate SPG, all of it was produced through the dreams of your dear author so laugh all you want LOL).

After watching the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, I realized that nothing is impossible if only you believe in yourself that you could do it so my dream might come true then? Nope? Oh well.

3. Would you take the same career path that Steve Jobs took? Why or why not? 

As I’ve said earlier in my first answer to the first question…

…Steven Paul Jobs or best known as Steve Jobs is an American entrepreneur, marketer, and inventor. He was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the infamous Apple Inc. He, through Apple, was known for his enigmatic appeal as a pioneer in personal computer revolution. His influence in the field of computer and electronics has transformed one industry after another and brought about innovative inventions from smart phones and computers and to music and to movies. Steve Jobs also co-founded Pixar Animation Studios and also became its CEO, and became a member of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company.

The question might look simple at first glance but then again seeing how Steve Jobs did it to become successful makes you think otherwise. If the question is simply “Would you like to become just like Steve Jobs?” then I would probably just say with enthusiasm a big YES! Who wouldn’t want to be like him? Successful, bright, smart, wise, rich, anything. He’s like the very epitome of perfection (not quite but yeah you get the point). I want to be just like him! But no, that’s not the question and it’s not an option either. It is very east to say but deep inside it’s very hard to be like him, it’s hard to follow his step or his path career and it’s hard to attain success. If ever I would be like him, I would learn more first on how to become an innovative person because I think this is one of the factors that contributes Steve Jobs success. Would I take the path Steve Jobs took? Now that’s hard, a very strong one!  I don’t know to be honest. I want to be successful, I want to be rich, known, but is the path he took really is the right way for me? I mean I don’t have his bright mind, his passion boils unlike me who’s just getting warmer. He was competent and just comparing the two of us is… well I’m not going to say it; I’m just going to let you guess. So I’m just going to leave my answer like this… I will carve my own path, not replicate what someone else did.

One thing that I admired and liked most about Steve Jobs is that he was really determined, his dedication and passion towards what he was doing was going ablaze. These characteristics of his made him successful in the career path he walked through. Even though there were times that he was experiencing a lot of failures, it only made him stronger and worked harder in order not to repeat the same mistakes again – a true characteristic of technoprenuer. I also want to have these kinds of characteristics so that one day (in my dreams) I will be the next Steve Jobs standing in front of you. I want to be like him, to be a remarkable man in IT industry in my own little ways with cheap but tricky ideas. We are not perfect and of course we encountered failures in life once but thing is that only made us stronger and made us strive harder to correct the mistakes we did. Steve Jobs’ failures made him a better man and with that he was able to wear his crown. He had a clear vision because of his goals – change the world and change the lives of people. And I believe that due to his failures, he was able to stand up and prove to the world that failures is not a hindrance to success rather it’s because of failures we achieve success.

I also envy his innovative and vast mind. Steve Jobs has a great and bright mind that he can think of a lot of ways in order for a small thing to turn into a big one. Magic? No. It’s because he was Steve Jobs. Because of this, Steve Jobs became more clever that he could create and develop of new things out of his imagination and passion that can be useful and helpful to us. Steve Jobs did not stop learning and his mind continually working to develop more new things. Like him I would also like to learn continuously about all the things that surrounds me.

As we all know Steve Jobs has a lot of bright ideas and innovative inventions in his life. Because of this, I would also be like him inventing new extraordinary things and that one day I can make history like what Steve Jobs had done so that people will recognize me as a great inventor. I also like the trait of him which is he made all his ideas into reality and that is really something even if it means it would lead to failure he made but then again it was maybe also due to his pride and arrogance.

Steve Jobs is a person full of eagerness. I also want to think of new innovative ideas just what he did. I will think of many or much greater ways to attain and achieve my goals and make my vision a reality in the near future. I have to do all things and work hard for it to craft out the things in my own ways and out of my imagination. I want to be passionate enough to do all things I want to so that I will come up with a better product.

Steve Jobs has a great role in the advancement of technological development today and counting. Taking  the path that Steve Jobs took would be great and something to be really proud of but is not a choice rather will be an inspiration to all of us who’s aiming to become just like him (I said earlier that I would say yes if I would become just like him but I think that’s just a typo cause I really don’t want to). What if I have the idea and contribute new gadgets to make life comfortable, the one who sees things with great value, the one who thinks everything is essential. If only I have the strong determination just like what Steve Jobs has, why not? Steve Jobs was a great man with a bright mind. Assuming I have that kind of knowledge Steve Jobs had, following Steve jobs footstep is a great pathway to drive or walk through but if I we’re to take the same career path as Steve Jobs took I will guarantee that it’s my own and not someone else’s. The quote, “Good artists copy, Great artists steals” puzzled me. I’m not saying that Steve Jobs is not worthy of the praise he gets up until today even after his death because Steve Jobs is without a doubt a bright person but stealing is kind of hard for me to imagine even if it’s only ideas not material things. Being original and unique is something you can brag about and be proud of but I also believe that no one in the business industry is reasonable so it would also help to do dirty but strategic tactics sometimes. Also there are actually no unique ideas in these world just ideas that got improved to the point it looked like original but yeah you get my point right? Yes I know you got it. And I would choose to whom I will give my trust to because it might be my greatest flaw. Steve Jobs’ greatest downfall was when he couldn't do anything to sue Bill Gates for stealing his computer because Bill Gates knew that he also stole the idea from Xerox. The quote, “Bring your friends close but your enemies closer” really is quite scary, one would become a paranoid with this quote but this quote sets as a warning for everyone to know your true and loyal friends and companions are. I’m not that kind of person who trusts people too easily because I always get to know that person very well first and whenever a person I trusted betrays or lies to me it will be very difficult for me to forgive him or her because I just don’t give my trust to anyone. And with that trust is a fragile word; once broken, it can no longer be fixed and that is also one of the many reasons why I don’t give my trust anyone. I would be very careful in everything I do if I would to follow Steve Jobs in the future.

I am still carving my own path as of now. I don’t know where I’ll end up to with these footsteps of mine but rest assured I will carve my way of success. And if failure comes and storm my way, then this is the reason why erasers exist right? I will erase my existence, my shameful existence. Joke LOL I’ll erase those mistakes and start a new journey towards the heavenly call of success.

The Alternative Mindset

The alternative mindset: “Go to school, get good grades, and create and own a company”. Who doesn’t want to be a boss? Well surely, it’s me. It’s kind of ironic how I don’t like getting bossed around at the same time does not like the feeling of ordering anyone around. I’m pretty submissive and to tell the truth, I’m a no go in becoming a leader. In fact I’d rather let someone decide for me rather than me deciding on my own (I’m a bit of a masochist). Yeah you could say I’m pretty bad at decision making just like how I decided to study Information Technology in this University with a blank face not knowing what I’m up to. I could have pursued an art career but seeing my father (a Fine Arts graduate) penniless, it made rethink of what to do in my life. I did have regrets, yes, but that’s what also kept me going because if and only if I become successful in the near future (roughly 2 years from now) those regrets would turn into gratitude.  What now? I don’t want to become a boss nor do I want to be bossed around. Would it be possible to do it alone? Or maybe with a partner? Or my group? Hey! Why not? An independent worker is not that bad. I’ve seen so many great indie games that are created by only one or two developers. All we need are collaborations. I also dreamed way back on becoming a game developer myself. I may not look like it but I’m actually pretty hard on video games. Still I don’t think games would be a good start. I want to start up with a more creative, useful, wowing kind of innovation that could go “BOOM!” in everyone’s mind. Contributing in the technological development here in Davao is what our facilitator told us after we graduate. Fair enough since this is the city where we grew and learned everything we had until now. This is the alternative mindset our facilitator proposed on us. I don’t think I could grasp the idea fully yet but for safety assurance I’ll always keep this in mind and always make it a part of my decisions whenever I need it.

It all starts with an idea right? What if we pursue this idea and somehow someone is willing to support you making that technological idea to reality? We accept and start our own startup company using the idea we had. Invest and pretty much win win if successful. Starting your company is bit scary. You may end up bankrupted but that’s the challenge we need to face! We need to start from the bottom and if we successfully climbed up the top, our IT industry will might as well blossom but still it is a steep road up ahead full of high level monsters so be warned and bring and wear your best weapons of war and excellent grade armors. But still there are a lot of factors that hinders this way of thinking. Just like what was said earlier in my reflection, a lot of big companies sought the best graduates in town and offers a lot of big special packages and compensations that you or even I can’t say no to. Work outside the country is also one the big factor that affects this mindset. As we all know money makes the world go round and of course we tend to choose works with higher salary and we know works outside the country gives you double, triple, or even five times the salary of normal employee here in the Philippines in particular. Let me give you an example. I have two sisters; one is a college graduate, a nurse, and one who stopped and now, just like what I said earlier, residing and working in Japan as a factory worker. My sister here who currently works at Davao Doctors Hospital (DDH) as reliever roughly receives 10 thousand per month and my other sister who is a normal factory worker in Japan receives at least 20 thousand per month depending on her work hours. See the difference? The pay was doubled and to think my sister studied four years just to get a degree in nursing as oppose to my sister who stopped and became a factory worker in Japan. Work wise it is my sister, who is a nurse, gets the easier way of working but that’s not the point is it? Also there are a lot of job openings in other countries as oppose to here that pays you more than you can imagine. They are going for the sure win win rather than gamble everything and start up their own company. Going back to the possible implications, if the IT industry blossoms here in Davao, a lot of graduates would probably stay, work, and build up their own IT careers and families here in Davao. And maybe, just maybe, those graduates who left Davao would decide and start going back to take root here. Then Davao becomes the starting place and quarters of most highly competent IT professionals with sound social and ethical standards. Schools here in Davao pertaining to IT becomes renowned not just locally and nationwide but worldwide! Wouldn’t that be amazing? Just one key and it will open up a bountiful of opportunities not just for you but also to Davao. But of course these are all just implications but still we’ll never know. But still though, we can’t change the fact that IT businesses here in Davao are quite low and we can’t deny the fact that, and blame, the graduates that supposed to be the key of changing Davao’s IT industry that is one of the reasons and factors why they are seeking a place with a lot resources to pursue their IT careers and leave Davao for their own purpose in life. Everything that you have read here is actually for the sole purpose for the development of Davao and the ambition and maybe a dream of our very own facilitator that Davao will become the IT hub and capital of Mindanao - and possibly the Philippines, BIMP-EAGA, Asia Pacific Region. They even already thought of a name for it which is “The Silicon Gulf” of the Philippines or rather in the Asia Pacific Region. “Technopreneurship programs should be added as an integral part of the education offering an entrepreneurial culture by planting the seeds for new ventures, preparing entrepreneurs through technopreneurship education, and providing the infrastructure to perpetuate and support new start-ups and ventures. The program should integrate value chain of enterprise creation; one that encourages start-ups, tolerates failure and rewards well” –Rajesh Sakya. This is just what our facilitator did and it amazes how Rajesh Sakya accurately defines in that paragraph the intention of our facilitator.

"Harnessing the Power of Me"

“The biggest IT congress for the Filipino youth (and for the young at heart) is tapping into the limitless potential of the individual. The Youth Congress on Information Technology (Y4iT)'s theme for 2014 is "Harnessing the Power of Me". The theme revolves on the insightful use of IT with the goal of giving back to society. In the fast-paced and ever-changing world, IT plays a critical role in enabling individuals to realize their aspirations and commitments. As such, these individuals inspire their communities to be ever vigilant in the midst of environmental and developmental issues.” –Y4IT

“Harnessing the Power of Me” what would that power be?

Youth Congress on Information Technology (Y4IT) is the biggest annual information technology event in the Philippines, organized by the UP System Information Technology Foundation (UP SITF). It is a gathering for IT students and professionals alike. Its aim is to recognize the power, the potentials of the Filipino as the key drivers in the ever changing and fast phased IT industry. Thrilling waves of IT topics and subjects are presented each year and a lot of inspiring speakers shares their knowledge and experience in the industry. There is so much to look forward to and tell you what: this year, together with my friends and classmates, we are going to be a part of it (at least as participants and some as competitors).

Speaking of competitors, ah the competition, I was kind of looking forward to the competition myself (I’m quite competitive myself) but unfortunately I or should I say we haven’t passed anything for the competition. I lack bright ideas. I’ve been thinking a lot and came up with nothing worthwhile. A lot of magical stuffs keep roaming my head LOL. I’m guessing that maybe this kind of competition is not for me but anyway there is no point in moping now, is there? There will always be other competitions to look forward to.  Better luck next time I guess? Well with that, I remembered what my father told me when he entered a painting competition and lost (he is an artist by the way). He said that he did not lose just because other paintings were better but also because the judge who will see his art as a masterpiece has yet to come. I always keep this in my mind when entering competitions especially concerning art. To tell you the truth I’ve joined a few (very few) poster making contests during my high school days and lost it all. Frustrated? Yes you could say that and somehow I lost some (if it can be counted) of my confidence. Well I hadn’t been studying and practicing art at all so that’s pure talent for you! (just being optimistic) Anyway enough of that bullshit, let’s get on topic now shall we? Well no more competition to look forward to but hey I’m still looking forward to the competitors themselves or rather their “bright” ideas. Who’s idea is going to top it all? Who’s going to reign and get all the glory? Let’s find out when the time is right :P.

So what is it that I’m expecting to learn in this youth congress? Well for starters I don’t expect to learn anything here. I’ve already had enough learning at school and as much as possible I want this to be less educational (technically) but more like motivational, inspirational, and somehow encouraging. The last conference I’ve gone to, which was Graphicon, really inspired and motivated me. The speakers did not teach us how to do digital paintings, animations, or even a simple vector tutorial but they thought something even better. They thought us to dream and make it a reality. They stirred up my mind on what I really want as a goal after I graduate in this University. It did not focus entirely on how they did it to reach their goals rather on how we make ours. I want to experience something similar in the upcoming youth congress. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten really motivated and inspired. Rather than learn, I want to experience something really incredible that might change my life forever. Experience is the best teacher as they say. So we can as well conclude that experiencing is learning. Ain’t that right? Oh the irony.

Ideas will be the turning point of this BIG event so at the very least I’m expecting a lot of ideas come and go as they please. This event is going to be a great path for people to innovate and develop unique and interesting ideas, ideas that someday and somehow will be freed from its jail inside our minds and roam our physical world. I am really eager to hear something that will very much interest me to the point it will make me add another goal to my long list ambitions. (I’m quite ambitious actually) I’m the type of person who’s a pessimist but pretty much optimistic so no matter how negative I thought the road I’ll take on come to be I’ll always counter it with “I can do it!” but still in order to survive that road, the things the school thought me won’t really save me if I ever stumble upon a big unbreakable wall so I need to go out there and experience and learn on my own. The experience I get from this event will surely get me somewhere and with that I hope it will somehow create a path for me not necessarily straight but a path that I can overcome on my own and together with my team mates.

Different people, different personalities, and different ideas - all in one room. Just the thought of it makes me a bit tired. The crowd drains a whole lot of my energy but that’s not my point. In this room, all ideas unite. All thoughts will be recognized. I want this room to be one of the most unforgettable rooms I’ve ever been to, filled with inspiration and a huge brainwave. In this room I will seek and discover my power, harness it and make it bloom. The power to make an idea become a reality.

The I.D.I.O.T. Strikes Back!

So I said I’ll be continuing next time but it looks I should be continuing it right now because I forgot this was supposed to be a 1,500 word reflection and I have only written 1k so far. So okay let’s talk about Rancho again one more time. I said I hated him yet at the same time admired him. He was really different from others, always curious, studying for his passion, and his positive attitude really gets me. He thought how not to chase success but instead “Pursue excellence and success will be the one chasing you”. This just made me realize never to seek success but work FOR it and it will eventually seek you. There is also another reason why I chose Rancho among the three. I’ve actually met someone like him but in a different light. It’s my “kuya”, my cousin who never actually finished school. He’s actually a smart man, a bit lazy yes, and one that really have the passion of tinkering. I can’t really say he’s successful right now just like Rancho at the end of film and it may be because of his lack of degree which hinders him in this cruel society to get a high paying job or a company of his own (Well the lack of degree of Rancho didn’t really get on his way to success). Anyway I’ll just share a bit of his story and relate it to Rancho. Rancho really did enjoy studying and because he was poor he slipped in at school with the old uniform of Ranchoddas. Contrary to that my cousin is the lazy type, quit school during high school and continued pursuing what he does best – tinkering. When he was still young he always has itchy hands and when I say itchy it does not involve stealing rather he’s hand always itches trying to crack radios, televisions, phones, and other devices open just to see the inside, test it, and see how it works. He was always curious just like how Rancho was. He was still a kid back then and I was really surprised when my mother told me that at the age of 10, or was it 11, he could already fix a broken television. At that age he already earned money through tinkering. My mother even said they sometimes borrow money from him at a young age. That really surprised me and my view of him really changed. If he had just continued studying he might as well be an engineer, specifically electrical communication engineer. He’s still earning money now through small scale businesses but I don’t actually know his real work right now but I guess he’s earning a lot, since he has a lot of connections, to be able to afford her daughter’s tuition fee in Ateneo. These two may have a different point of view but for me they are somehow similar and that they both inspired me.