CEBU CITY – “Make your dreams come true,” seemed
to be the vibes of the MSME Week 2024-Entrepreneur Summit and Induction
Ceremony of the ExeCom and new members of the Filipino-Cebuanos Business Club,
Inc. (FilCeb) on July 20 at the Golden Prince Hotel & Suites with the
theme, “Empowerment for Success: Helping MSMEs Grow Their Business.”
The event was hosted by FilCeb, a group of
young Cebuano entrepreneurs who are MSMEs whose advocacy is to promote and mentor
new breed and start up entrepreneurs. It
was a day of inspiration, learning and networking where incredible lineup of
speakers inspire and empower more than 50 MSME-participants/members that
listened intently to the talks and presentations of their leaders who have
wealth of knowledge and experience in business.
“Develop that billionaire’s mindset coupled
with hard work, more hard work and trusting the process that God provides us
wealth,” Rey Calooy, founder and president of FilCeb passionately shared the values
he lives by and citing some Bible verses as his guide to succeed in business.
Calooy revealed how he started small, finding
his way, falling and making mistakes, but never give up to seek opportunities
and seize that perfect time when and where all resources align for business
success. These are all found in his
talk, “Success starts here: Developing the Entrepreneurial Mindset.”
Calooy today is a multi-awarded entrepreneur, an
inspiring and passionate leader and a successful businessman that believes and adheres
to the tenets of good, kindness, gratitude, the importance of family and nature
and the supreme God that provides humanity with abundance and wealth. Calooy owns several MSMEs in food, beverages, organic
farm products and the like.
The presentation and business narrative of the
Summit’s keynote speaker was one for the books.
Cordova Mayor Cesar Suan, owner of a chain of “Mr Liempo” outlets
throughout the country, shared his business success through a series of story
telling that awed the audience with an unbelievable charisma.
Suan told of story of a young boy that grew up
among the piles of garbage in Inayawan, Talisay with bosom friends, all of whom
survived from these mounds of wastes.
Suan proceeded to narrate about his many adventures to find ways to go
to school, to finish college, to work as an employee in business, in sales and many
more.
Suan said, that boy ventured into small businesses
knowing the scarcity in capital money.
He tried and shifted from 15-20 small businesses, failed some, win some until
he established his first Mr. Liempo outlet and the rest is history, as they say. These were all included in his talk on “Mr. Liempo: Small Beginnings to Big Success.”
“I cannot count on my fingers how many times I
failed, came back, and survive the tests of my strength and character to defy
all odds to be successful, not only in business, or in politics, but more so in
life, in our relationships with the family, the community and to God. I believe that for every penny we receive, we
deserve and that we have to give back that kindness from God, to those who
deserve it,” Mayor Suan said in Cebuano.
Mayor Suan today owns fleets of cars, houses
and condo units, more than a-100 outlets of Mr. Liempo, giving employment to a
good number of people and families; travels around the world with his family,
takes care of the myriad needs of Cordova as its mayor, and builds a community
of young scholars that he sends to schools, now more than 150 of them.
Suan capped his storytelling with some of these
nuggets of wisdom and lessons he learned along his journey— “Never quit. Never
afraid to fail. Never be afraid to commit mistakes, because mistakes don’t
diminish your worth, they enrich your journey and they offer lessons that add
to your personal values. Every failure
brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.”
Both Calooy and Mayor Suan are living examples of
humility, resilience, hard work, down-to-earth individuals that believe in the
goodness of humanity and preserving the soil, the environment and the planet as
they manifest in the way they do business and help communities to grow and
prosper.
Mayor Suan also officiated the induction of
FilCeb’s ExeCom and new members followed with the lineup of other speakers that
included, Nicolas Baguio Jr. on “Discovering your Why: The key to Business
and Personal Success;” Dr. Romy Paredes on “Health is Wealth: Maximizing
Productivity through Wellness;” and Michael Paredes on “Unlocking
Potential: The Attitude for Success.”
Knowing
FilCeb
The Filipino-Cebuanos Business Club, Inc. (FilCeb)
is an exclusive organization of Filipinos who are Cebuanos from all over the
country. It has 200 members now composed
of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and professionals. The
organization does not accept large companies as members.
On March 6, 2008, a group of Cebu-based young
entrepreneurs founded FilCeb, inspired to organize themselves for the common
goal to have voices among and in the MSME Sector. Calooy revealed that one of its features of its
advocacy was the 8% total loan portfolio of all commercial banks to be given to
the MSMEs.
“Under the Magna Carta for MSMEs, we were able
to lobby for the Negosyo Center under the leadership then of Senator Bam
Aquino. The Small Business Guarantee Corporation also actively supported us especially
the non-bankable businesses which are mostly MSMEs,” Calooy bared.
Those were some of FilCeb’s advocacies and it
continues to assist, empower, inspire and mentor the new breeds of MSMEs and
start-ups in Cebu. The organization is
more than a business club. It is a
vibrant platform for collaboration, uniting MSMEs as powerful force for economic
development, Calooy added. (Photos: MBCNewman)
Many Sillimanians wanted to join this cruise
but the yacht capacity is very strict with 60 including the crew members of 10. Dela Fuente thinks, there could be more of these
cruises in the future and even more events and activities for the Sillimanians
in Cebu.
