Pinoy Business Coach

Economy

Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter

Saturday, 01 May 2010 22:21

JUST like in sports, local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) enjoy the home-court edge in the domestic market so there is no reason for them to cower in the face of international brands.

This is the message of Trade Secretary Jesli Lapus to MSMEs as he urged them to have the courage to meet head-on the international brands, just like Café Amadeo and Café de Lipa, which managed to thrive as producers of coffee blends and coffee-shop operators even in the face of tough competition from Starbucks, Nestlé and other globally known competitors.

Lapus said MSMEs have the “home court” advantage as aside from knowing the taste of local buyers, they can also utilize the support being given by the government.

“Emulate the success of other MSMEs by venturing into strategic partnerships with the government and private sector in promoting products, and by tailor-fitting products according to the taste of customers,” Lapus said.

He cited for instance the experiences of Cavite’s Café Amadeo Development Cooperative and Batangas’s Merlo Agricultural Corp., which used the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) One Town, One Product platform to compete with big global brands.

Café Amadeo, now known for its “Pahimis Blend” of coffee and chain of coffee shops, started with a capital of P15,000 in 2002 and has since grown to P3.9 million.

It is now into massive processing, promotion, distribution, repacking and marketing of especially blend brewed coffee for the domestic and export markets. It blended together Robusta, Arabica,  Liberica  and  Excelsa  green  beans into its very own Pahimis Blend.

Café de Lipa, on the other hand, had the guts to go head-to-head with Starbucks right in its own hometown by putting up a coffee shop in December 2009 in SM-Lipa City.

The other Café de Lipa coffee shops, owned by Merlo Agricultural Corp., are in San Carlos and at Petron Station complex, both in Lipa City, on Macapagal Avenue, Baclaran, Parañaque City, at Mall of Asia in Pasay City, and at Market! Market! in Taguig City.

Merlo is also the producer of the Café de Lipa coffee brand.

Lapus said it has been among DTI-Batangas’s busiest Otop MSMEs.  It is also a major supporter of the Barako Coffee Fest of Lipa City and has participated in the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions International Food Exhibit and National Trade Fair.

“Merlo Agricultural Corp. saw the opportunities brought by the Otop program to position itself more aggressively as a coffee producer initially and now as coffee shop operator,” Lapus said.

"In the business world, Imagination and Persistence are key attributes to starting a business."