Downturn encourages new grads to start fresh

THE global slowdown of the past two years left economies high and dry, leaving companies with only three choices to survive: (1) to freeze hiring, (2) to downsize, (3) or to sell out.

For thousands of students who have spent the last decade or so completing requirements for a piece of paper that’s supposed be their ticket to a “good job”—hence a “good life”—they are left hanging.

“No one’s hiring,” “People are getting laid off,” “Be thankful you have a job,” are the phra­ses commonly exchanged among the Millenials of Generation Y. But Luis Dangilan and Jun Galvez took a chance and determined to make something of themselves.

An Idea = A business opportunity

Fresh graduates, Dangilan and Galvez took the entrepreneurship route and established “Freeform Creative Solutions Inc.” and “Kourtyard Caffe,” which are both located along the Katipunan strip.

Freeform Creative is primarily a digital printing company dabbling in creative conceptualization for print materials, while Kourtyard Caffe is a coffee shop that serves Filipino dishes.

“I wanted to be a Filipino coffee shop offering more healthy Filipino favorites to debunk the misconception that Filipino food is unhealthy,” Galvez said.

Kourtyard Caffe was meant to be a business among friends who didn’t want to part after college, but ended up being a Galvez family venture.

“My mom has been into cooking ever since and now that she has retired from her job, I realized she needed an avenue for unleashing her creativity in her passion. Me, after going through a series of interviews in different companies, I realized that business is really what I wanted to do,” said Galvez.

Freeform Creative, Dangilan claimed, is a “simple business”—or so he thought.

“It was a fairly simple business plan. A person comes in your shop, hands you a flash drive, you press print and you’re done. Or someone calls you for a requirement, you compute, pass the quotation, produce, and deliver,” he said. “But it was complicated!”

An Idea + Drive = A start-up business

Dangilan recalled how he and his business partners visited printing expos, joined Internet forums, and consciously sought the advice of those who have been in the industry for a long time.

“The first few months were hard ‘cause we had no clients. We were so scared when the day would end and there would still be no work. We knew that if there were more days with no work, we’d eventually close,” he said.

Galvez adds that locating in Kati­punan made it even more challenging.

“In college we were taught that competitors are those in the same industry as you but it is more complex than that. It comes with the location, the neighboring establishments—that’s why the whole Katipunan strip is our arena,” he said.

“But I never stopped believing and I wasn’t afraid of making mistakes—it’s all part of it,” he added.

Like any start-up business, Dangilan and Galvez learned that it takes time and patience.

An Idea + Drive + Patience = A surviving business

“We thought it would be simple and wanted to take the advantage of having college friends working in big companies. But we were wrong,” Dangilan said. “There were times we barely slept, we worked overtime to ensure high qua­­­li­ty prints, we ourselves had to interact and entertain all kinds of customers. No business is easy. It’s a growing process.”

“If you are prepared for fluctuating demand and you find it exciting to handle people then this industry is for you,” said Galvez. “I think by offering great service through disciplined staff and by uplifting the image of Filipino food, our business will survive.”

Though the economic times have taken a toll on many, a few individuals have remained resilient and took a chance on a fresh start. –Erika Tapalla, Special Contributor, Manila Times