What small business would work in PI?

I spent a fair bit of time thinking on the same thing trying to think how to turn a profit while living here in the Philippines.

In the end I couldn't come up with any feasible ideas that would turn any sort of profit worth doing for small end business. Its all been done if its something that would interest the community and overdone.

The best cheapest ideas I could come up with is pig farming the more proper way. It would take 100-150k peso's to start up and take 1 1/2 years to turn a profit (more money and could turn a profit in 6 months). The risk however is that just a bad rain or bit of sickness, or even a sow who bites their own young and everything is down the drain.

Internet cafe business is always a solid win with a decent location but start up costs minimum 700k peso's needing at least 20 computers in a decent location. But need a building to rent that won't cost you an arm and a leg which is a problem finding in the decent locations.

 

Larry, good info, didn't know that, how long ago was that.

CL, if you read my post again, you may find out that I never wrote about copying a business but covering non existing niches, talking about ideas and sharing info.

There is a lot of "wildwest-fantasy" behind your last sentences. there are hundreds of competitive businesses in Dumaguete with a foreigner managing it in the background and enough with foreigners known as owner and well respected as that.

Another idea for people speaking two languages is tutoring or teaching. While there are plenty of Korean schools popping up in Dumaguete, other languages are not that common. More and more counties in Europe require for the visa a accredited test and certificate about the basic knowledge of a language.
For visa to Austria and Germany a so-called "A1 -certificate" is required.The exam is held in Manila or Cebu but the preparation course can be done here. No accreditation required, no investment other than a few hours weekly for about 8 - 10 weeks per course, revenue not bad for little effort even with 2 students. The knowledge needed for this exams is not taught in Universities here, even the foreign language courses are really expensive there without students can use that for anything.

Next idea, a 24/7 regional booking service for most hotels and tours with people to chat or talk to. commission based (10 - 20%) requirement 4-5 staff, training, internet connection and the right channels to the hotels management and staff. Would need a good concept, a few month hard work to establish, but will create very good revenue.
It actually has been tried and started to take off, until the local lady who started it "felt in love" got a Visa and left the country, leaving the staff behind, who of course (uncontrolled) messed all up in a few weeks.

Most foreigners here simply think about copying already existing business and won't think anywhere outside the box or what is in demand.

 

How about sending a few of your brother-in-laws to mechanic schools so that you can open a good auto repair shop. A big investment up front and an open mind but if it works out the rewards will be exponential. I am actually trying a variation on this but the model can be applied to many different fields.

 

It takes more than a couple of years in a trade school to train a good mechanic, nothing beats hands on experience of 10-20 years. On a good day our shop would earn P1000, usually not. Parts availability and the lack of quality thereof is a major issue. Parts purchased locally often do not last a month of rugged use. Ordering anything not in stock is a major pain, as theree being no parts books everyone relies on the availability of a "sample" to get the right part. We set up suppliers in the US who would ship to us, at a major cost, of course. There are no parts books, no repair manuals, no access to information. In order to set up a shop decently best figure on quite a few million pesos at minimum if you expect to work on modern vehicles.

I don't know of any trade school here that teaches the basics of troubleshooting a modern vehicle driveability issue, emission controls, reading an oscilloscope, or even carburetor theory. Now throw in electronic fuel injection, automatic transmissions, and antilock brakes you will find that someone graduating from a 4 year Philippine trade school is completely lost in the real world of modern vehicles.

So best figure on P20-P50 million startup cost, and ten years of being up and running, before it starts to pay off. Then how many years would it take to pay for itself?

If one has that kind of money to invest here, better to buy a bank and run ponzi schemes.

If you're talking about setting up for a monkey to work on multicabs with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver, there is one of those kind of "shops" on every corner.

Larry

 

Thanks for mentioning the pitfalls, Larry. Maybe my post sounded overly optimistic but running a good business in the PI is definately not for the weak or impatient.

 

U-Boat Worx mini submarines - U-Boat Worx

Might work well around local reefs or even better...Apo Island....Wouldn't have to worry about any competition for a while....

 

Before Robinson's opened up, I had thought about setting somebody up in the Market with a couple juicers, selling a variety of fresh juice, buying up the over-ripe or bruised fruit and vegetables right in the market. If they could make their own yougurt, you could add a blender and could also sell smoothies.

Another idea in the market is one of those restaurant stalls, cooking up the food you bring in from the market. They do this in the market in Boracay and it works well (of course, there are lots of people eating out there). You go to the fish market (or other area), pick up your food, and bring it to the restaurant to cook. They have standard prices per kilo and will seel you side dishes and beer.

I had toyed with the idea of making motorcycle seat covers from Tyvek (the weight used for disposable coveralls). Just cut it out and sew in a cheap elastic so it will fit snugly over the seats of most scooters. I had made a couple samples and they work great; keep the seat cool when your bike is in the sun (also keeps it dry in the rain) and prevents ozone deterioration of the seat. You could use the guys parking the the scooters in the city to sell the product and give them a peso or two per sale so you would only act as a distributor. They could also be printed and used as promo items (like TM did one time) or political advertising. The big problem was getting the Tyvek. The Asian distributor is in China and they would only ship 9000 meters at a time. The Tyvek Rep in Manila kept trying to find out what I wanted to do with the material and since I wouldn't tell him, I didn't get anywhere. since the cover would wear out in about 6 months, it wouldn' t be a vertical market. You could theoretically sell them forever and expand all over the Philippines and other Asian countries if it worked out.

 

Another idea. I read an article in the Daily Star this week where the Mayor would like to engage in a public / private partnership to rent sea kayaks at the Boulevard. They would allow using part of the yard of the Dumaguete Press Club. Maybe it could eventually be expanded to small sailboats (like sunfish) and wind surfers. Here is the link to the article: DAILY STAR: Negros Oriental

 

How about a "Big and Tall" clothing store. It is really hard to find "man-size" clothes here.

 

DO NOT come here to make money. It's a loosing proposition overall with many tales of failed dreams.

The old saying "how do you make a little money in the Philippines"? "start out with a lot of it"!