Divine Providence and Entrepreneurship

This photo was taken from one of my most memorable beach trips in
the Philippines. The beauty of nature is truly a reflection of God's
presence and love.

It is Holy Week and I am glad that I opted to stay in Manila and join a retreat to reflect.

During the talk yesterday at the retreat, a priest mentioned that God supplies us with what we need and that we must just have faith. I  certainly agree with him.

The more that I am able to meet people and hear their stories I would say that the more I get to know that Divine Providence is truly part of our lives and sometimes God leads us to people who may become a blessing to  us.

I believe that I was able to reach where I am now in life because of Divine Providence. My mother passed on when I was a kid and my father never remarried. He opted to just take care of me and my siblings, worked to be able to provide for us and ensured that we all got a good education from top schools.  In addition, God blessed us with a kind, nurturing and loyal nanny who took care of us since we were born and treated us as if we were her own children.

As a kid, I was also entrepreneurial. I also believe that the God had provided me with opportunities and creativity as a kid that has helped me become what I am today.

During my grade school days, I already knew how to earn money through business and I also learned about the value of saving since I was encouraged to open my own bank account at a very young age. I still remember how our nanny helped me get the fruits from our macopa tree at home and I would sell macopa fruit to neighbors from our garage.

In school, there was a time when I sold posters and photos of famous foreign bands such as Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet to my classmates in school.  My dad supported me in my business endeavours as a kid. He would go with me to the shops where I would source and buy the posters and photos and I would use part of my savings as capital for my small business.

Our family had a movie rental business also and apart from working at our shop at night after school, I would also bring video tapes to rent out to classmates and teachers. I even offered a 5 +1 promo where they can get 1 free movie video if they rent 5 videos. I value the experience I had as kid helping out my dad with our business. It exposed me to talk to different people, learn about the types of films they like, recommend films and be able to upsell new releases too.  My experience in our family business was my early training on marketing, communications and customer service.

When I was in college, I also had a t-shirt selling business. My cousin is a flight attendant and she would buy a lot of Giordano classic type round neck shirts in different sizes and colours and I brought them to school and sold shirts to my classmates. I still remember that there were times when my dad wondered why I was not asking for money from him for the other things that I need to buy and I would tell him it is okay since I have some money saved up which I earned from my business.

Today, I mentor young kids from ages 10-13 years old from a public school about Entrepreneurship through a foundation. I feel that it as a good way to give back and help others to hone their entrepreneurial skills and encourage them to be creative too.

Below are some photos of the kids preparing chocolate truffles and selling the products at the Kiddopreneur event:

I noticed that the kids that we are mentoring have gained more confidence as they got exposed to learning more about entrepreneurship. 

I am happy that I am able to volunteer and provide service to others. The joy of being able to help others and see them grow to become better human beings with hope and dreams is simply fulfilling and priceless. I feel truly blessed that I am able to use my talents, skills and resources to help others and help make a difference. Cheers!