His Royal Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej promoted the self-sufficiency economy in the late 1990’s. I believe this was in response to the 1997 economic crisis that swept around Southeast Asian. Why on earth do we not have something like this in the Philippines?

Many of us Pinoys would want to engage in a self-help business. Bureaucratic red-tape, however, prevents many of us from applying for proper business permits. Corruption among law enforcement agents also discourage many of us. So instead of become tax-paying citizens, these potential economic powerhouse has remained dormant.

I would like to have SP members to share their thoughts about obstacles and opportunities on this thread.

first of all, what is a self-help business?

is it like creating some nice necklace and sell them in the streets like they do in khao sarn?

making bracelets, earings, rings, ladies shoes, handbags, dresses and sell them like they do in chatuchak?

one thing i observe the thai people are very creative and inspired and imaginative! it is in their culture!

they produce something out of their hands and sell them in the streets. they do really make money!

do we have that creative spirit in our culture to create wonderful things out of your own hands?

is that what we mean by self-help business? or is it more complicated?



fish yo!

my thoughts!

<o)))><

It can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Yes. These examples you mentioned are self-help initiatives.

You identified one of the obstacles to self-help initiatives. CREATIVITY. We do not have that creativity engine that powers the production of new items for sale to Pinoys and tourists alike.

One thing that most pinoys fail to realize is that other Pinoys can be tourists as well. To most Pinoys, they think that only foreigners are tourists.

"...One thing that most pinoys fail to realize is that other Pinoys can be tourists as well. To most Pinoys, they think that only foreigners are tourists..." --- MDN

YESSSSSSS! we should be a tourist of our own country! we have to! that is one of our duties as Filipinos to visit the beautiful places in our beloved Philippines!

someday i will be a tourist of my own country and convince others the importance of that too!

we can go to davao or iloilo or bohol or masbate and buy things created by them. we help spread our extra money to those who need it thus pumping our economy into a productive cycle!

buy things created by Filipino hands!



my thoughts!

<o)))><

This should start from the leaders of our country ( could be a certain politician be assigned on the project), many Filipinos are attached on MEDIA and this can help disseminate the campaign or drive. If we can have PSA's (Public Service Announcements) of this kind for sure this will inspire the rest and the government should also at least REVIEW what should be their roles in helping the people.

Frankly, I see less help from them and rather making people's lives more difficult. I'm not sure again if these people working in the field know their responsibilities and even aware of the definition of SERVICE.

That's the problem and the repairs should start from there.

Ms Demi Noor wrote:
Good points Sir MDM and Pareng ISDA.

Yesterday, I for the nth time, went back to Ayuthaya to tour some friends. I should say that they really enjoyed the place and was awed by the story I shared and the structures of once the mighty Ayuthaya.

But one thing that has been catching my attention since is the number of local tourist such as families, field trips by companies, field trips by students etc...my point here is their local tourism is VERY MUCH ALIVE!

How can others feel the love for our place when we infact don't don't share the love for it. If the love for our place is dead due to many other practical reasons, then you cannot expect for foreign tourist to love them as well.

A thought came to mind just now, why don't we practice or inculcate a tour guide mentality among our kids? Along these will come basic marketing (online and offline), identification of good places near their area, hopitality services, language can follow too what else?

What do you think of this idea?

Metallic_Cotton wrote:
Hello Ma'am, good morning! In my opinion, don't wait for them govt. Just do it, take the initiative, educate our people and work only on those who are interested.

There will be skeptics for sure, but the key is not to mind them. Work on improving your craft and most of the time, when those skeptics see much progress and success from you, the usual response from them would be hindi talaga para sa akin iyan.

My point is, don't wait. Do what you do best and be as successful as you can be and they will come to you, support you, praise you, market you, take pride with what you do dahil ikaw daw ay Pilipino.

Like Manny and Lea, they both took the initiative to improve their craft. Manny was rejected several times in the states by different trainers until Fred saw the gem in him. Lea did the same thing of not wanting or expecting from others. She love her craft and when the opportunity came to audition for Miss Saigon, she just did her part.

So when they were building their careers to become who they are now, was there any point that the leaders came to their aid? Correct me if ever there was an instance that I am not aware of.

Sorry I am just an advocate of taking matters in your own hands whenever possible. Of course I also believe that your success depends on the number of people that supports you.

@ Metallic_Cotton and Isda, this is why this room is very exciting for me. It gives me an opportunity to share information with other people back home on what they can do. There are 8 to 10 million Pinoys living abroad. Many of these pinoys have the capacity to go online. Many of them have digital cameras. If they can do something like what we are doing, can you just imagine how much information could be passed along back to our folks in the Philippines? Just think of the possibilities.

Oh, and I am not even thinking that the government would do something about it. Although I hope that some media service would pick this up. That would be very good advertisement for this site wouldn't it be Master J?

@ Master J, The Philippines lags behind in several areas regarding tourism infrastructure such as the ff. transportation service, lodging services, information, toilet facilities, professional guides (licensed by the DOT), site development, product development.

Site development refers to improving accessibility to areas with tourism potential.

Product development refers to activities or locations where tourists can go to. Some examples are bungy jumping, hang gliding, hiking or trekking,

Then there are peripheral industries that feed into the tourism engine.. e.g. food, souvenirs, services like massage, spa and wellness industry (which on its own could be a product). Outfitters could also come in here selling boots, camping equipment, kayaks, mountain climbing gear.

Endless possibilities... (hinihingal na ako...)

@ Master J, you know what would be nice to do? Have a sort of online workshop on several topics that would help our folks back home. People that could come and contribute to the workshop are people working in certain industries or people who have an interest in those topics. The objective would be to provide options for Pinoys. Who knows? Some of the Expat Pinoys might even decide to come home to the Philippines and become and Entrepinoy?

If only one out of the 10 million pinoys come back to the Philippines to become one - then I could say that I have succeeded. Although I do hope that more than one does that.