Man of the future
Credit to Author: LOUISE NICHOLE LOGARTA| Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2019 16:20:31 +0000
Individuals growing up in traditional Filipino — Chinese families often have only one path laid out for them: taking over the family business. That is what it looked like for Bryan Yap, chief executive officer of Republiq Group of Companies (RGC), at least in the beginning.
Coming from a family that deals in food manufacturing, distribution and real estate, he gained experience in traditional business by being involved in product and research development while still in school.
“It was more of the environment that I was in, given that all my family are entrepreneurs,” Bryan explains.
Since his youth, he says, he was not made for formal education. “I was one of those kids who never really valued school. Parang wala rin naman akong natutunan (I didn’t really learn anything),” Bryan recalls, laughing. That extended into his college years at the University of San Carlos in Cebu. He shifted from course to course, but never really got past the first year.
“I was more into the practical side of things,” Bryan says. “I grew up having no clear direction or goals — I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I ended up not finishing college.” His parents accepted this easily. “They told me: ‘H’wag ka na lang mag-college, magtrabaho ka na lang (Don’t continue college anymore, just start working).”
Bryan’s turning point occurred eight years ago when he met people from Silicon Valley, one of whom was technology entrepreneur Bowei Gai, who later became his mentor. “They really changed my view on what was going on in the world, what with the advent of technology. Tech start ups actually become the biggest companies in the world.”
This change in perspective led Bryan to his first tech venture called “Snappd,” a location-based coupon generation company. It ultimately
failed, but taught him valuable lessons in understanding tech start ups.
When asked how he acquired the technical knowledge to create apps, websites and start a tech development company, he says: “Ever since I was young, I was already interested in technology. I had the first Palm Pilot. I had computers and such. But I never really had a deep understanding of how they worked. When I met the guys from the Valley, they coached me on what websites to read and what videos to watch. I did go to some conferences, but really it was surrounding myself with the right people.”
He goes on to share that he studied business models of tech start ups like Facebook, and read up on the founders and their beginnings. He used Google and every other imaginable social platform to learn. “I’ve always had an attitude of grit,” he says, joking about how he would have graduated from college had he focused this on school.
In founding Republiq, the Cebuano executive says: “I believe that a lot of traditional companies should start shifting. We are in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where things experience hypergrowth due to the internet. Business models have changed. This is the future — it’s going to happen, whether we like it or not.”
RGC, a full-service digital transformation agency, helps companies do this. With three branches — Code Republiq — Creative Republiq and Entertainment Republiq, it handles everything from market research strategy to tech solutions, design content production and analytics.
“Whenever companies are urged to go digital, there’s always hesitation,” Bryan says. “This hesitation is actually fear because they don’t fully understand it yet.”
Potential clients are given free social media service for one month and presented with key performance indicators (values that measure how well a company is achieving its objectives), such as number of engagements, likes or shares. “If we hit those numbers, then they will sign a contract with us,” he explains.
It took Bryan and his team four years to build a solid portfolio. Republiq now services companies like Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Bo’s Coffee,
Tanduay Distillers Inc. and UnionBank.
Republiq’s niche is new media. Bryan says: “We’re trading attention. Traditional media is in the form of TV and newspapers. New media is creating content–attention — on Facebook and YouTube. We work with influencers and content creators.”
One of the challenges that this tech CEO encounters day to day is managing people. “One of the most important things we instill in our company is mindset and culture,” Bryan states. “There’s a gap among employees and peers in terms of the mindset toward technology. I always tell them to think about scalability. The mindset I learned in Silicon Valley is that you have to be scalable — you have to be able to grow 10 times, twenty times in the coming years. I encourage them to focus on creating smart instead of extensive content. If all of my employees had the same mindset as mine, we’d be moving so much faster.”
He also promotes risk-taking. “As Filipinos, we have this culture of fear because we’re told to do things a certain way. But I always say: ‘You’re not going to get fired for making a mistake; you’re going to get fired for not doing anything.’”
On the other hand, what drives Bryan is seeing his team grow.
He cites an example: “We have a media channel called BaiTV. We had one talent who used to work in a bank, but she was so talented that we gave her a show and in less than two years, she’s on ‘Eat Bulaga.’”
This talent was Malaya Macaraeg. “It made me realize we can actually change people’s lives and make money at the same time,” Bryan says. “We ask our people where they see themselves in five years and 99 percent can’t answer. We help people identify their passion and we try to put them in that position.”
His own five-year vision for the company is hard to tell, but he can say this: “In the next year, we’d be able to produce more talent and export talent outside the Philippines. If Korea was able to export K-pop, why can’t we do the same?” He plans to achieve this through BaiTV
Academy, a small school that will teach content creation of any form.
On weekends, Bryan spends time with wife Mabel and kids Amber, 7, and Daniel, 10. “I’m still trying to learn how to interact with my kids,” he says with a laugh. “My wife says: ‘Bryan, you’re very good at mentoring, but you don’t actually talk to your kids!’”
When he’s not with family, he enjoys looking up the newest trends online, meeting people and picking their brains.
Bryan shares some wisdom with aspiring entrepreneurs: “Change your mindset. Don’t give yourself excuses, like no money or no connections. If, for example, you want to sell bags online, but don’t know if your stock will sell out if you buy in bulk, create a page or website and ask people to preorder.
“It’s all about taking that first step. Learn how to fail — it’s part of being an entrepreneur. Embrace it.”
About me
ROLE MODEL
Jack Ma.His boldness and fearlessness in facing failure and leveraging on it to achieve success resonate with me. I had my own failures with initial business ventures, but with that experience, I gained knowledge and a better understanding of what didn’t work and what I could do better moving forward.
GOALS
Be a catalyst of digital transformation in the Visayas and Mindanao.
FIRST PAYING JOB
I worked for the research and developement department of our family business in the food industry.
MORNING ROUTINE
I’m a social-media addict. First thing I do when I wake up is to connect via Facebook and Messenger.
SPECIAL SKILLS
Connecting with the same mindset for technology and innovation
TIME SPENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Four hours a day
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