AS EASY AS ABC…
highfalutin terms for the common SME, so the first step for Acudeen is to educate SMEs on the product. In over a year, Acudeen has processed over P200 million in receivables. That he processed over P200 million is not what’s interesting. It is that he did not even need to have the money to convert them to cash.
“Can I pay all my bills in a “one stop shop,” in my house clothes?”
This startup’s fast-growing enterprise serves the Filipino masses, both the banked and unbanked, with their most common financial transactions – utilities payment, money transfers, mobile load purchase, even travel ticketing and courier services. But, Allen Mascenon did not only serve the masses. He created entrepreneurs, leveraging on the power of franchising for ExpressPay Inc. and the technology of electronic fund transactions.
Growing more than 200 percent year-on-year, Expresspay now has over 1,000 outlets nationwide with the ambition to grow his network to 10,000 outlets in the next four years. Expresspay’s bold growth targets will allow it to bring financial inclusion to the country’s 7,100 islands and its barangays that do not have easy access to financial services, or the resources to own smartphones. Expresspay’s success story may just be starting as it is may soon shed off its startup label with its application with the PSE for initial public offering of its shares.
“Can I construct an awesome-looking house with a mid-size budget, four times faster, and 100 percent more beautiful?”
Dream on, you may say. But Robbie Antonio, founder of Revolution Precrafted, would say “dream no more.” That reality is here, and can even exceed your wildest dreams.
Very little is startup anymore about his enterprise, and Robbie is an entrepreneur with a truly big-time mentality, and a great idea to back it up – so great that he was able to now get 61 renowned architects and designers internationally to back him up (via exclusive contracts!). The idea is to build designer houses, made to order, then ship them – done in about 90 days, at a fraction of the cost it would take to have these constructed the traditional way. “Democratizing design,” as Robbie says, and breaking the privilege of the elite few with a business that brings great architecture to people.
Now present in six different countries, and targeting 18 countries his company identified, he has closed deals to supply more than 12,000 units. He is reported to be the country’s first unicorn, which is a startup valued at least $1 billion. (How proud, I wonder, his father is – Jose Antonio, founder and chairman of Century Properties that developed Trump Tower, among others.)
My two Sundays were devoted to some of the country’s very own startups. They see pain points, they don’t complain. Instead, they find their passion, do something to solve it, and make an enterprise out of it. A truly admirable bunch, aren’t they?
* * * Alexander B. Cabrera is the chairman and senior partner of Isla Lipana & Co./PwC Philippines. He also chairs the Tax Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP). Email your comments and questions to aseasyasABC@ph.pwc.com. This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.