Month: November 2010

Jamie Oliver is one of the most innovative chefs I have ever known. His career began through his television show The Naked Chef, and because of its success, he began writing his own cookbooks, developed more TV shows, and even opened his own restaurant. But what else is unique about Mr. Oliver? He’s not just a man with an ambition, he’s someone with a vision. A vision to promote healthy eating, especially to children, and provide opportunities for young people to tap into their cooking skills. He is a social entrepreneur.

A social entrepreneur is someone who uses entrepreneurial principles to make social changes and help resolve social problems in the world. For Jamie, it was the opening of Fifeteen, a restaruant designed to provide young people the opportunity to learn about cooking, how to eat healthy, and to teach others what it’s like working in the restaurant industry Furthermore, most of the profit garnered by Fifteen is contributed to apprenticeship schemes, which is part of  the Jamie Oliver Foundation, a foundation he had established to raise awareness on the importance of nutritional food.

In fact, one of Jamie Oliver’s series follows his journey through various schools in England, where he attempts to create awareness to children the values of eating healthy, and implement a change in the school meals provided. What moved me the most was his passion to make a change, and create a difference to the community no matter how small.

Jamie Oliver isn’t just a normal chef nor is just a TV personality. He is someone willing to contribute his skills and talents of cooking for a good cause It’s not everyday you see  someone use cooking to make a social change. For Jamie, it’s a vision. No doubt, he is my favorite TV chef!

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. There are various challenges and risks in starting your own business, such as lack of resources, capital and of course fear of the unknown. An overwhelming feeling amidst the very competitive business world. Some stay away from entrepreneurship exactly because of this but there are some that are willing to accept the challenge and strive for success. Thus, this blog entry will be about a person in my life that has shown to me how being an entrepreneur is possible, my aunt, one of the most influential entrepreneur’s in my life today.

She started with a small idea of serving Mediterranean cuisine to Filipino customers, something that was very rare throughout the Philippines. In 2005, this idea became a reality, when my Aunt launched her restaurant, called Cafe Mediterranean (Cafe Med). Today, she is able to expand to various parts in Manila.

She began working at home to plan out the business and then set up a small office in the restaurant itself so she could oversee her implementations and development of the business. It wasn’t easy. The investment she and her family had placed in this venture was high, and thus the pressure for the restaurant to succeed was high.

The risk of opening a restaurant is extremely high in the Philippines because the industry is highly competitive. There are already several outlets that have gained costumer loyalty, which makes this venture difficult. That’s why an entrepreneur needs a unique value proposition or have a unique selling point. For my aunt, it is mediterranean cuisine. Although the growth stage was particularly slow, Cafe Med was able to establish a loyal customer base throughout time

In class, Entrepreneurship was described as “a puzzle in which each piece is constantly changing and effecting the rest of the puzzle.” My Aunt’s venture was this small piece and throughout time, it will not only grow but develop and change. In fact, my aunt is the one who has influenced me to be part of the business world because it is my ambition to be an entrepreneur. I know how risky it can be but if my aunt can do it, so can I.

What is an entrepreneur? An entrepreneur is basically someone who starts a business using their own resources and become significantly accountable for their own risks. Entrepreneurs start of with an idea and then try to start a business that revolves around that idea. So let me introduce you to Jeffrey Church and Michael Stone, two entrepreneurs with a goal to help impoverished communities in their world countries through selling purified water.

The two founded Nika Water in March 2009, a bottled-water company that donate most of its profit to organizations that provide people, especially less fortunate ones and who come from poor environment, clean drinking water. Last year, in fact, the sales generated from Nika Water provided relief to villages across the world such as in Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Uganda. Furthermore, they have also set up a recycling program in schools, where they provide dumpsters that collect water bottles that can be recycled.

Stone and Church believe that this entrepreneurship can help make a difference in the world, and their goals doesn’t revolve around money but through contributing to the resolutions of various global issues such as the water crisis. As Church says, “It only costs $20 to bring clean water to someone for the rest of their life.” (1)

(1) http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217454