26-Year-Old Filipino Entrepreneur Turns Waste Coconut Shells Into A Thriving Business
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August 18, 2022
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With zero funding, Filipino entrepreneur MJ Loleng built her start-up company, Ecobriqs Charcoal Briquettes, an innovative eco-friendly charcoal business from waste coconut shells.
She was able to attract investors with her idea who also had a passion for sustainability and providing employment to those who are poor in the Philippines, as she said that she experienced being poor herself. MJ wants to show that poverty is no reason to give up on ambitions.
MJ wrote on her Facebook, “For the past 4yrs I was just crystal focus on surviving and making things happen. I know I’ve always wanted to help, and I know that I can do it by building a business.”
When “Samgyeopsal” or Korean BBQ restaurants became popular in the Philippines, Ecobriqs experienced a surge in popularity. Briquettes were the ideal kind of coal to use since they did not produce smoke or odor and could be used more than once.
The pandemic drove several eateries to close, putting Ecobriq into a major setback for half a year, but MJ thought of another idea. She collaborated with her friends and opened their own Korean BBQ restaurant, Umma’s Samgyup Café, with a starting capital of P5,000 ($90).
As a result of MJ’s expanding business portfolio, she is now able to bring in more than P100,000 ($2000) per month, and learned stock trading in order to increase her income.
Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to be persistent in achieving their goals, “I also didn’t know how we got this far. I just keep the faith, believe in my team, took the risk, give it ALL IN, and did my best”
You don’t really need to feel motivated to start — you just need to start! (easier said than done, right?)
While it’s also important to understand why you put off doing something and what causes it, what’s even more important is overcoming it.
Christopher Thang is a medical student at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is also an Online Fat Loss Specialist certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
His current mission is to help busy working professionals lose 15+ lbs in 60 days with his Progressive Eating Strategy and fitness-lifestyle optimization systems.
Read through as Christopher shares how he manages his time as both a full-time medical student and entrepreneur.
The Chronic Procrastinator
Now, I am not saying I have the busiest schedule out there, and I definitely do not. But, I’ve included a breakdown of my time-saving strategies below that help me find time to work on my business, study for medical school exams, and travel across the US to meet clients.
My deep dive into time management started in college. I was a chronic procrastinator and always rushed to meet deadlines the night before they were due. This left me super anxious and my disorganized tendencies, unfortunately, caused me to arrive late to almost everything. It got so bad that I showed up late to or forgot about work meetings, social events, and even important family gatherings.
Eventually, I had enough of winging my schedule every day (some days I didn’t even know I had tasks due). I tried countless things to improve my time management, and after a few years of trial and error (still ongoing), I came up with these 3 approaches that helped.
I was a chronic procrastinator and always rushed to meet deadlines the night before they were due. This left me super anxious and my disorganized tendencies, unfortunately, caused me to arrive late to almost everything.
-Christopher Thang
Strategy 1: Time Block Everything
Simply put, I time block my entire day out on Google Calendar as the day goes along. It may sound intense, and it honestly is… But, after I delegate tasks, meetings, and other life events, I gain structure and peace of mind for the day. I’m also able to look back at each day to see what I can be more efficient on.
Now, I don’t time block out every single minute of each day a week in advance (would be overwhelming), but I plan ahead for important events. By including things such as meal prep, working out, and business meetings, I can make a micro-commitment beforehand to fit these things into my schedule.
On the day of such events, I time block my day in 15, 30, or 1 hour+ chunks. Once I gain control and understanding of my time, I leverage it to do more work in less time throughout the day (of course, I have to be realistic when time blocking out tasks). I’m also able to enjoy social events, family time, and travel without worrying about work which brings me to Strategy 2.
Building off of Strategy 1, I stick to a hard rule of either working 100% or relaxing 100%. I take every effort to avoid the gray area in between, where I’d end up working inefficiently or trying to relax (and failing) because work is on my mind.
So, on my calendar, I include 15-minute blocks labeled “Break” (when I’m dividing up work into several chunks using the Pomodoro Method) and long hours blocked off for “Social Events” or “Family Time.”
Of course, life happens frequently, and sometimes events may take longer/shorter than expected or something may come up that interrupts my entire schedule. This brings me to Strategy 3 below.
Strategy 3: Plan Ahead, But Be Flexible
Whenever something unexpected happens, I time block it out in my calendar and shift everything down (Google Calendar lets me click and drag events around on my phone really easily).
Sometimes I shift down tasks so much that I have to move them on to the next day (if possible), but I remind myself to stay realistic if life suddenly hits on some days.
Connect with Christopher
Now, I didn’t develop these approaches overnight, and they took time to develop into daily habits.
However, I hope my strategies would be able to inspire others to stay mindful of their time and perhaps try some of my approaches to elevate their personal lives and hustles.
Eric Kim has been recently promoted as CBS’ Executive Vice President for Current Programs after serving as Senior Vice President in the same company where he worked for 11 years.
He succeeds Amy Resisenbach who has just advanced as President of CBS Entertainment.
Kim will now be functioning in his new position to oversee the primetime and daytime programs.
Reisenbach mentioned in Deadline that in working with Kim for more than ten years, she has always been amazed by the latter’s remarkable expertise in programming, in working with showrunners, and in dealing with people whom he works with.
While still the SVP, Kim supervised comedy and drama series production in Blue Bloods, FBI: Most Wanted, FBI: International, and CSI.
Kim had a strong background in the field working in live-action series for Nickelodeon and Teen Nick for two years and was the then-VP for Current Programming at the CW for 3 years.
Moreover, Kim has been a part of the creative team that launched the new network when The WB and UPN networks merged as well as the executive at UPN from 2004 to 2006.
Kim entered the world of the entertainment industry by working for Jonathan Demme on the Academy Award-winning Philadelphia.
He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he took a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature.
CBS TV Studios President David Stapf said, “His (Eric’s) leadership has earned the trust and respect of both the industry and his colleagues at the Studio and Network. As Eric steps into this new role, I’m looking forward to seeing the impact he makes both within the creative community and on our series that are enjoyed by global audiences.”
At 34, Tammy Sun went looking for egg fertilizing services as she thought of starting a family of her own someday. But in her quest, she, unfortunately, found out that she has “premature ovarian failure.”
The mysterious disorder indicated negative effects on Tammy’s fertility that she had to go through several egg-freezing cycles which cost her $40,000.
Working in Evernote tech company that did not have fertility treatment benefits, the medication was very costly for her.
With this in mind, Sun put up Carrot Fertility, a fertility care provider, in 2016.
Carrot Fertility partnered with different companies to include fertility services in their health coverage where employees can avail of egg freezing, IVF, adoption, pregnancy, menopause treatments, and others.
In MSNBC, the CEO and founder stated that “The company was born out of a desire to make sure that every single person, regardless of their age, their sex, their sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, race or geography would have equal access to high-quality care.”
Not only did the service provider address women’s concerns but also men’s as according to her, fertility is a human health issue for both sexes.
A year after Carrot’s onset, it has already acquired over $200 million in investments from first-class firms and is now a partner of above 800 companies.
Supporting millions of workers, including their families, Carrot is set to process claims worth $500 million.
Tammy also revealed that 95% of their clients remain in their respective jobs because of Carrot.
Unlike other businesses which declined during the pandemic, more than a three-fold increase in the use of the platform was observed during the time and up until now as many availed of mental and emotional health services.
Many companies partnered with Carrot to encourage employees to stay especially during the Great Resignation period.
Now, Carrot Fertility is the leading global platform for fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits.
Filipino Richie Fernandez, a new entrepreneur, was able to launch a business venture that now generates a five-digit income with the help of $100 in financial aid from the government.
During the height of the pandemic lockdowns, Richie and his family chose to grow the help by opening Manong’s Fishball Sauce, “We thought of how to grow and prolong the money,” Richie said.
With his family’s fondness of eating street food fish balls but at the same time considering the limitations posed by the pandemic at that time, the family decided to sell bottled fishball sauce so people could just enjoy it at home with their own-cooked fish balls.
The modest family business prospered through hard work and perseverance. Not only do they sell their product in the Philippines but they now also export to Japan, Australia, Austria, and the US.
