Former Pinoy Big Brother champ goes for business, not showbiz
CEBU CITY, Cebu — Former Cebuano Pinoy Big Brother Grand Winner Jan Slater Young is fast carving his name as an entrepreneur, developing his brand of walling system made from lightweight concrete.
"My inclination has really been into entreprenuership. I simply gave show business a try but I think I am really meant to be an entrepreneur rather than as a celebrity,” said Young, who comes from a family that runs a construction business. Still, Young acknowledges that his “stint in showbiz made it easy for me to be easily recognized.
Young is the current president and chief executive officer of LiteCrete Philippines, a company he founded just this month that manufactures "Liteblock," a greener, affordable and just as sturdy alterna- tive to the regular hollow block.
He explained that Liteblocks's green technology, which took him two years to develop, infuses micro air bubbles to make it lighter, providing six times more insulation than the regular hollow block.
Young also said that in because it is twice as big in size as an ordinary hollow block, it takes lesser time to install.
"Liteblock is also 20 percent cheaper," Young said in an inter- view.
While a regular hollow block would cost P1,100 per square meter when installed, including labor and steel reinforcements, he noted that Liteblock, would only cost between 900 per square meter.
He has a team of masons and contractors ready to conduct halfday training on the new technology as well as assist in its installation.
Liteblock is currently manufactured within a 2,000 meter square facility on AS Fortuna St, Mandaue City producing 1,000 to 1,500 blocks a day on test capacity. Young is optimistic that once business perks up eve, he could double his capacity to 3,000 blocks a day.
"What I hope to achieve is for more people to appreciate Liteblock as an affordable and greener alternative lightweight concrete,” said Young who is a licensed civil engineer, and pointing out “although this concept is not fairly new to local contractors.”
He said the use of lightweight concrete similar to that of Liteblock has been used to rehabilitate houses of tsunami victims in Phuket, Thailand.
He also said Liteblock follows international standards set by India, the world's number one user of lightweight concrete.
"When I introduced Liteblock in the local market, I had to restudy everything because the raw materials and water here are different in quality to those in other countries like China,” Young said.