How to start your business in the Philippines when you are an OFW and away?

I am sure many of our OFWs wanted to put up their own businesses back home while they are earning somewhere else (overseas), at the same time. This is what I did. I had been a "little bit" successful on this, so I want to share some of my first hand experience. You can check them out and tweaked them for yourself.

Benefits of putting up your business back home while working overseas are as follows:

1. It educates and teaches your family members to earn a living by themselves, to help you out, and to reduce the need to send monthly allotments, whatever.
2. Once you decide to go home, there is something waiting for you.
3. In my case, the business I put up in the first year, cancelled out the need to send money - monthly, as the earning from the business was enough for my family monthly needs, thus increasing my power to save.
4. It enables you to earn money and create employment back home.

But in doing this, you have to be careful, or you are just putting money down the drain.

OK, here are my tips:

1. Do not do it alone. Do not let your family members do it alone. Get somebody outside who knows how to do it, its details, the tricks.

In my case, somebody asked me if I could finance a business, I said yes, tell me more about it. I asked him, can he put 100% of his time on it? Does he know about the business, economics behind it, management system needed, etc. Get a partner that know the business (his only problem is capital). So we agreed. I made a family member involved in the business by way of a helper, treasurer, and overseer (limited capacity) rolled into one. Listen to your partner, and let him run things.

2. Before you agree to a business, evaluate it first. Do your own evaluation. Ask others who had been into similar business - everything: market, mark up, problems, pitfalls, etc.

3. Be open. Listen to your partner, listen to your family member. Be flexible and adapt to market situations. Change if needed.

4. Put everything on record. Agreements, sharing system, receipts, deposits, etc. Most importantly, do not mixed up expenses for your business, and personal/personnel expense.

5. Communicate. Ask you family member to email you weekly, details, and everything else. Monitor it.

Good luck.

Source: Pinoy sa KSA ; photo courtesy of ocw.mit.edu

Lapulapu (Grouper) Culture

Grouper or Lapu-lapu or inid (Epinephelus spp.) is one of the most economically important cultured marine fish species in the Philippines, Australia, Japan, Hongkong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

The grouper has light yellowish, to grenish to brown body with unequal spots scattered on the head, body, and fins. There are about 40 species of groupers found in tropical waters. Two species, the E. coioides and E.malabricus, are the most preferred for culturing in ponds and cages.

According to the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), the estimated income from a hectare of grouper pond is P640,000 a year. The remarkable increase in domestic and export demand of Lapulapu year after year, can make grouper culture boost the country's fish production.

Culture of grouper in net cages and brackish ponds, however, failed to reach large-scale levels due to shortage of fingerlings and trash fish as feeds. This situation drove SEAFDEC to develop strategies and techniques in making grouper culture produce optimum return and benefits for local farmers.

Culture in net cages

Choosing the site for net cages culture is the foremost consideration. The most suitable sites provide good water quality and adequate water exchange. They should also offer protection from predators, strong winds and waves.

In constructing the floating cages, one can use bamboo poles and polyethylene netting materials at 25-50 mm diameter to build 4-side panels and one bottom panel. Secure the net to the raft structure of bamboo poles using a rope. The stocking density for grouper fry (2.5-7.2 cm) in nursery cages should range from 100-150 per square meter. A 2x2x2 net can hold 400-600 fingerlings. Sort the fingerlings every week and perform stock sampling every 15 days. Hold them in nursery cages until they are about 16 cm, after which transfer to transition nets is necessary. A 5x5x5 transition net can hold 1,100 fishes. Transfer the grouper to the production net after 2-3 months.

Feed the grouper juveniles with chopped trash fish once or twice daily, in the morning or towards the evening. The recommended feeding time is when the tides are slack to minimize feeds swept away by water current.

Culture in brackish water ponds

The pond used for grouper culture is at least 1-2 meter deep. Tilapia fingerlings can serve as food for grouper juveniles. Stock adult tilapia (5,000-10,000/ha) in the pond and allow spawning for one month. The stocking density for grouper fingerlings is 5, 000/ha. Feed grouper juveniles with chopped trash fish twice a day, half of the feed requirement in the morning and the other half in the afternoon.

It is also important to have constant monitoring of water conditions (water depth - 1.0-1.3 meter; water temperature-24-31o C; salinity- 21-41 ppt; and dissolved oxygen- 4.9-9.3 ppm).

Harvest mature groupers (400-600 grams) in the morning using a drag net. Transfer the fish in holding nets for easy sorting and grading.

A farmer can harvest 4,000 pieces of lapu-lapu per hectare and sell them at P200 per kilo. The estimated net profit is P267,930 /ha for the period of eight months.

by Mary Charlotte Fresco. (Source: "Grouper Culture" published by the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), Tigbauan, Iloilo); photo courtesy of alibaba.com