It is the young entrepreneurs of Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore who created the dynamic businesses that have propelled their countries to the top.- John Gokongwei
It’s hard to imagine a First World Philippines without entrepreneurs. The scarcity of new local business brands is one of the reasons why our country lags behind our neighbors despite having a high literacy rate and intelligent citizens. That’s because most Filipinos prefer employment rather than spend time developing skills in creating business systems and growing it.
Having more job seekers than available jobs create many problems. People either become unemployed, underpaid, work in a different field, or trade his time and skills abroad far from their families for better pay. With thousands of new graduates, how many will seek job & how many will create it?
I recall a graduating student being asked how many nursing students like him that he knows will graduate that year, his answer, about 30,000. He was again asked how many new hospitals he knows where built this year? He said he knows none.
Having more job seekers than available jobs create many problems. People either become unemployed, underpaid, work in a different field, or trade his time and skills abroad far from their families for better pay. With thousands of new graduates, how many will seek job & how many will create it?
I recall a graduating student being asked how many nursing students like him that he knows will graduate that year, his answer, about 30,000. He was again asked how many new hospitals he knows where built this year? He said he knows none.
While many people hope that the government will find a way to solve this problem, waiting for this to happen will just be a dream as the government cannot do it by itself. It needs people who are creative, brave enough to take risk, and can make things happen. We may have an abundant pool of talented people in our country today but they usually lack the interest, motivation or courage to become entrepreneurs.
For our economy to grow, we need people to create jobs. Any economy would collapse if everyone’s looking and no one’s creating it.
It can be noted that it is the young, brave, nationalistic youths of Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore who created the dynamic businesses that have propelled their countries to the top.
But how can shifting from one’s profession to becoming an entrepreneur make a difference? To illustrate, if you are a doctor, you can serve a number of people in a day. But if you are a doctor/entrepreneur who owns a hospital, you can serve many times more. Same with a technician/entrepreneur who owns an equipment supply company, a technical service, a consultancy, a technology or a manufacturing company. This is the same in the case of a nurse, teacher, engineer, mechanic, or a carpenter.
Of course, many will choose to play it safe rather than take the risk. That’s true because entrepreneurship is not for everyone. But as one great man puts it: “There’s no passion to be found in playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one we are capable of living”. – Nelson Mandela
