The Talented Filipinos (But…)

Everyone is talking about doing business with the Chinese and Indians but they are missing out on one small country that is full of energetic, smart and creative people. I’m talking about Filipinos, of course.

There is, for instance, the recent story of Gian Karlo Dapul, a high school student who won a public speaking competition in the UK in early May. The fact that he won over college students and native English speakers makes his victory even more important (English is a second language to us Filipinos).

There’s also the sweet story of Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda – two Filipino singers, unknown in the Philippines but skyrocketed into fame, thanks to YouTube. Ellen Degeneris saw Charice singing in a YouTube post and asked her assistants to find her. Arnel is now the new lead singer of the band Journey, after he was discovered in YouTube by lead guitarist Neal Schon.

We do not just excel in eloquence and show business. Dado Banato, a Filipino engineer, opened up an IBM-PC back in the 1980s and realized he can improve the graphics performance through “chipsets”. Thus was born S3 Graphics, a critical improvement to the basic architecture of the computers as we know it today. Dado is now a serial entrepreneur and a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley and in the Philippines (More on Dado).

Filipinos also thrive in contact centers, health care and the hospitality industry. Employers won’t really say it out loud, but they’ll confide that they prefer Filipinos because they are friendly, patient, sympathetic and easy to talk to. 

Given all these, how come our country still lags behind its neighbors in Asia? Pose this question to Filipinos and they will recite this litany of national woes: corruption, irresponsible politicians, unconcerned government leaders, etc. It’s easy to be depressed when brought into this discussion. 

I don’t believe that Filipinos lack discipline and the right attitude to thrive in business. Perhaps our major fatal flaw is we like to complain about the flawed systems that we have, but we never try to do anything about it. 

Just look at the successful Pinoy businesses like San Miguel, Jollibee and SM, corporations that have since conquered other countries (San Miguel now owns major food companies in Australia).

It’s just a matter of attitude. Perhaps if we all look at the bright side and be more positive towards our country, then we will start focusing on making it better, instead.

Written by Ruben Canlas | Leave a Comment