A budding young chocolatier
THE youth of today’s generation may choose to see the impermanence of life and thus live according to a Yolo (You Only Live Once) mindset.
However, it is in the impermanence of everything, that young entrepreneur Al James Dubuozet chose to anchor his future decisions and the acknowledgement to learn new things. Dubuozet is the youngest son of Capt. Alexander Dubuozet and Judith Camello Dubuozet and to whom the family business venture Capt. Du’s Cacao Manufacturing Company had been named under.
Because he is still also studying, he is assisted and guided by all their family members in whatever help he would need especially in the marketing and promotions aspect of the business where he is currently hands-on. He said his brother Roy, a 4th medical student, had been helping him with packaging designs while Andre, his pilot brother, had been bringing home different chocolates from across the globe for them
to compare the taste of. He said he finds promoting their products online through Twitter and Facebook a much easier task than promoting and selling them in-person or faceto-face.
“This is a mountain for me to climb because I know to be an entrepreneur you need to bring the confidence so that you can ensure the quality of the product. I believe that “when the product is exquisite, there’s nothing to be shy about”…I still need to learn to be more confident as an entrepreneur to be able to fully maximize the marketing side of the business,” said Dubuozet who added that on top of his early exposure to the business, he also does self-study efforts through conversing with adult businessmen. Through this, he said, he is learning a lot from their experiences as well.
“On my free time, I am delighted in observing the classes of society in how they would behave in spending for their ‘wants’ or ‘needs’. Understanding these behaviors would allow us to properly price our current products, or even plan to introduce a more saleable product,” he added.
Dubuozet is very much grateful that his early experience as an entrepreneur is with the guidance and assistance of his family. He realizes that as he continues to immerse himself in the family business, he is still in need of more mentors to be fully ready whenever the business is fully turned over to him but that he is very much willing and ready to take in all the lessons to become a first-rate entrepreneur in the future.
As young as he is, Dubuozet has learned the value and importance of money. He said he agrees that it is fun to play around, travel, and experience life however all of these are fueled and made possible also by money and the wise use of it. Because of this realization, Dubuozet had learned the more proper way of handling money which would ensure his better judgment and decision-making when it comes to handling the business.
“My father’s life story taught us that money is supposed to be used for needs and not simply wants. The idea of owning a business would also jumpstart a behavior of saving what you have…Though others may view experiences and memories as more valuable, I learned to treasure the security of tomorrow and of the future family,” he said.
Capt. Du’s Cacao Manufacturing Company is one of the newest cacao and chocolate brands in Davao City whose products were processed from cacaos harvested from Tugbok District. Their products include Pure Tablea (with taste of Mayan), 65 percent Dark Chocolate, 72 percent Dark Chocolate, Capt. Du’s Berry Nut, Capt. Du’s Cacao Crunch, and Cacao Vinegar.