Women of impact in entrepreneurship
Credit to Author: Lee-Anne Tobias| Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2020 16:54:56 +0000
Around the world, International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8. In the Philippines, reasons to commemorate this day are timely and socially relevant — women empowerment.
The Philippines currently sits at the top spot, outranking 31 other countries surveyed, in having the most number of women executives in top leadership roles. This was reported by Grant Thornton International’s 2020 Women in Business report.
Another very good example of this is the large number of women who have successfully managed their own businesses. In fact, the majority of the 99.6 percent of micro, small to medium enterprises (MSMEs) present in the country are comprised of women. MSMEs are of great significance to our gross domestic product, which makes the roles of female entrepreneurs crucial to our economy’s growth. As these women continue to take our economy under their wing, what can we do to support their rise further?
Go Negosyo, a non-stock and non-profit organization that advocates entrepreneurship in the country, celebrates women entrepreneurs annually through a summit that aims to gather entrepreneurs to broaden their awareness, skills and network through the help of well-established entrepreneurs. On March 3, the Women 2020 Entrepreneurship Summit that will be held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City will roundup the most-seasoned all the way to up and coming female business owners to share their expertise and experience.
Best practices in running a business
Women are said to have a natural inclination for entrepreneurship because of their attention to detail and ability to multitask. Running a business from ground up requires just that much focus. For the women who have been in the industry for decade, it also took hard work, perseverance and confidence to get to where they are today.
One of the most accomplished female entrepreneurs in the country today is Mica Tan. Mica is just under 30 and yet her private equity firm, MFT Group, has a net worth over $61 million. What makes her CV even more impressive is that she is the chief executive officer of a company that operates in nine countries and 18 cities around the world. The MFT Group has investments that cuts across various industries like real estate, pharmaceuticals, finance, lifestyle products and more. If you’re intrigued to read more about this young millionaire, you’ll find out that it was her grit and passion for learning about finance that catapulted her to where she is today.
Abba Napa, co-founder and creative director of The Moment Group, is another notable entry to the top female entrepreneurs in the country. Many know that maintaining a restaurant is high maintenance, what more growing a successful chain of restaurants specializing in various cuisines? Through her big imagination, love for restaurants, and the help of her partners, Abba was able to sustain and build on the momentum of popular restaurants like 8cuts Burgers, Ooma, Phat Pho, Mecha Uma, Manam, Bank Bar, and Mo Cookies.
At First Circle, we too have many women on top in our client list. One of such caliber is Josephine Talorong, the president and chairman of JPT Pro-Earth Services Inc. She has many years of experience in the hazardous waste management industry. In 2009, motivated to provide a local and ethical waste management service, she launched JPT to serve the entire Philippines.
JPT has since earned international accreditation from the United Nations in recognition of its environment-friendly services. Josephine ensures that her company remains service-centered, and its contracts practice a give-before-take routine. Materials, labor and services first – then payment collection afterwards.
Collecting payment after providing services, however, created financial difficulties. JPT’s financial partnership with First Circle helped Josephine address these challenges. Project execution would not be as smooth and efficient as it is today if it weren’t for the leeway provided by having First Circle as a financial partner. Josephine intends to focus on the cultivation of her business, and with that growth also comes her plans to continue partnering with First Circle for many more years to come.
Providing access to working capital financing
For all businesses, they share the same hurdles when it comes to access to credit. Just when they’ve broken into their industries and have made a name for themselves, customers are quick to commission well-regarded businesses. The usual scenario that follows after is that these businesses are unable to fund the opportunities that come their way because their working capital cash is simply tied to current projects or have not been paid for recently completed ones. Fortunately for Josephine and the 1,000 other business owners who partnered with First Circle, they were able to find the best business financing solution at the time they needed it.
What is working capital financing? It’s loans for businesses’ everyday operational expenses.
Widely known as business financing, many MSMEs need access to this kind of loan especially when they encounter negative cash flow spikes. Banks are the typical answer to cash flow problems but they usually take time in processing and approving your documents. They would also tend to cap the loan amount based on the collateral you can provide and that’s if you even have any collateral to give.
First Circle offers fast, fair and flexible business financing options like invoice financing and purchase order financing. It doesn’t take very long for us to approve applications given that all interested clients provide complete and verified documents, which means you can be right on track with your business growth and expansion plans. To know more about how First Circle’s funding services, visit our website at www.firstcircle.ph.
Lee-Anne Tobias is the senior communications associate for First Circle Growth Finance Corp. She has ten years of experience in digital media, business communications, corporate social responsibility and qualitative research in the energy and market research industries.
To get in touch with her you may email her at lee-anne.tobias@firstcircle.com. To know more about First Circle and its financing services please visit their website at www.firstcircle.ph.