Gaining trust, balancing school work
The University of San Carlos held its Enrepreneur’s Fair at the Ayala Center Cebu, promoting small enterprises by their own student entrepreneurs.
Through the three-day exhibit, third year students in the BS-Entrepreneurship program displayed their products and services as part of their practicum.
The fair consisted of 13 booths, each aiming to showcase a unique concept.
These enterprises are Kairoos Creamily Co. featuring a line of sandwich spreads; MVM Co.’s Danggit, a ready-to-eat dried fish in three flavors (spicy, sweet and spicy, and sweet) packed in a resealable bag that can be carried anywhere as a snack or a meal; Monggo Avenue selling its flagship product the MongCha chips with original cheese sauce and sweet salsa using mung beans as their base ingredient; Kubu Cuisine offering a variety of sauces that emphasize the taste of Cebu; Nutricenter producing homemade products for a healthy lifestyle with an in-house nutritionist for consultation of the products; Snack Lab selling pizza tarts filled with classic pizza toppings; and, Kopuklu Beverage Enterprise selling carbonated water-based drinks.
Non-food enterprises were also promoted like the social enterprise Daijon Creations, which aims to provide a viable livelihood program for less fortunate families; Serra Company offering photography services; and Good Mourning Funeral Organizing Services.
For student entrepreneur Eunice Valeroso, offering a service that helps others pushes her to do better.
“(Being in business) is not easy, but the things that you get like, from the family nga naka help ka, mao ra jud na ang (from a family that needs help, it drives) drive and passion that we are doing what we are doing right now,” said Valeroso, general manager of Good Mourning Funeral Services.
She admitted they encounter a lot of challenges since they still have to comply with schoolwork.
“One of our challenges is dealing with school work because we are still under USC, so we’re also dealing with paperworks, business reviews, and also giving attention to our clients...we are trying to balance it out,” Valeroso said.
She added that the most challenging part of their business is gaining the trust from people. She said it takes awhile for clients to trust them because they doubt they are able to deliver because they are still students.
In spite of these challenges, many have already reaped profits and hope to continue what they started after college.
“I believe in them...I hope they will pursue the business they have started since the intention of the program is to really make them become the entrepeneurs, to also help the society,” said Maria Angelita Ramona Libre Valles, business practicum program coordinator.