Feature: FilCeb hosts "Entrepreneur Summit" with inspiring biz narratives

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)