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Jose Agostinho Salvador – Fountainhead Technologies, Inc. (FHT)
In view of his exceptional competencies and extensive experiences in the field of
Information Technology, Jose Agostinho Salvador, or “Jojo” as he prefers to be called, is very
likely to be tagged as an epitome of success.
After earning a diploma in Cobol Programming and Business Systems from STI College –
Recto in 1991, he immediately began his endeavor in the field of IT. Despite being the youngest
among his classmates, Jojo still stood out as one of the brightest. Recognized for his potential, he
was hired by STI as a faculty member. His stay with the institution motivated him to learn the
ropes of running a business in the IT industry.
Through his determination and perseverance, Jojo has definitely made it big in his field
here and abroad. He is currently the President and CEO of Fountainhead Technologies, Inc. (FHT).
FHT was hailed as the Best Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) of the ASEAN Business
Advisory Council Awards 2014 and represented the Philippines in the ASEAN Business &
Investment Summit 2014 (ABIS) in Myanmar to compete for Best SME among other ASEAN-
member nations.
Now that he is also an employer, he looks for more driven, street-smart graduates who are
up to any challenge out in the field. “Right now I would look for graduates who have specific
traits. One is they should be madiskarte. Because what I see in most graduates, everything is spoon-
fed to them. If they need something, they look it up. But if you give them a different problem, it’s
hard for them to solve. So I’m looking for someone who can specifically go around the wall when
they hit the wall, or go on top of the wall. Next, I look for someone ambitious. If you have no
ambition, you are not driven,” he shares.
He adds that setting a goal is an important step to fulfill one’s dreams of success. “You
have to have a vision, a dream,” Jojo says. “Then you should have a plan to execute that vision,
and you should not be discouraged if you cannot achieve that vision in the timeline that you
planned. You have to follow and pursue that dream. And fourth, you should never stop learning.”
In spite of all his achievements, Jojo knows how to value his people. He acts as a
responsible steward in helping and empowering his workforces as their mentor and life coach. He
is not just an entrepreneur; he is an innovative businessman with the heart of a benevolent leader,
a fountainhead of encouragement, and an inspiration for the younger generation.
Source:
Master of his own empire. (2015). In STI Education Services Group, Inc. Retrieved from
http://www.sti.edu/students_alumni.asp?id=18#.WZznRfgjHcs
01 Handout 1 *Property of STI
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Cecilio K. Pedro – Lamoiyan Corporation (Hapee)
“Fighting multinationals was very tough. At first, everyone thought I was crazy. They told
me, how will I survive this? True enough, it’s by the grace of God that I’m still here in the
toothpaste industry after 20 years. God is good,” – Cecilio K. Pedro
Cecilio K. Pedro is another Filipino businessman of Chinese descent but his story is not
the typical rags-to-riches tale but about turning adversity into triumph. He earned his business
management degree at the Ateneo de Manila University, one of the more prestigious private
schools in the Philippines.
He once headed Aluminum Container, Inc. which was the major supplier of the collapsible
aluminum toothpaste tubes that were formerly used by local manufacturers of Colgate-Palmolive,
Procter and Gamble and the Philippine Refining Company (now Unilever). However,
technological innovations and the environmental concerns over aluminum materials prompted the
multinational companies to make use of the plastic-laminated toothpaste tubes as an alternative.
As a result, Cecilio’s aluminum factory closed shop in 1985, but this didn’t stop him from
exploring other ways to put his factory equipment to good use.
Cecilio K Pedro decided to compete with the multinational giants by producing locally
made toothpaste and hit them where it would hurt the most --- the selling price. He founded the
Lamoiyan Corporation, which became the manufacturer of the first locally produced toothpaste
“Hapee” and “Kutitap” (sparkle). They were sold in the Philippine market at 50 percent lower than
the selling price of the well-known foreign brands.
Although Colgate countered by dropping the price of its toothpaste products 20 percent
lower than their original price, Cecilio Pedro came up with another innovation that gave him a
further edge in the local market scene. He developed multi-flavored toothpaste for children that
came brightly packaged in tubes and boxes adorned with “Sesame Street” characters. Today, the
market for the budget-friendly toothpaste brands has expanded to neighboring countries like China,
Vietnam, and Indonesia.
However, the low-priced toothpaste was not the only strategy that took Lamoiyan
Corporation to the pinnacles of success. The company was lauded for having the “Most
Outstanding Program for Equal Employment Opportunity” by providing work opportunities to the
country’s hearing-impaired community members.
Lamoiyan's employment program includes free housing for more than 30 deaf-mute staff,
while the company’s managers are required to learn sign-language as a means of communicating
with the hearing-impaired staff. Since the founding of the Lamoiyan Corporation, about 180 deaf-
mute students have received a free college education through D.E.A.F. which stands for Deaf
Evangelistic Alliance Foundation, founded and chaired by Cecilio K. Pedro and officially
recognized by the Philippine government’s Department of Education and Culture.
Cecilio K. Pedro was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy in Technological
Management by the Technological University of the Philippines in recognition of his corporate
and social achievements. Dr. Pedro ingrained his own belief through the company’s corporate
motto: “Making the difference for the Glory of God”.
Source:
Cantoria, C. (2015, March 1). Inspiring success stories of 10 Filipino entrepreneurs. In Bright Hub.
Retrieved from http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/120553.aspx.
01 Handout 1 *Property of STI
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Illac Diaz – Liter of Light
At 44 years old, Illac Diaz is no ordinary entrepreneur. From Peru to the Philippines, his
NGO Liter of Light has already helped 382,000 Filipinos, and 690,000 people throughout the
world, to get out of energy poverty. Thanks to a clever and environmental-friendly lighting
concept, made out of recycled plastic bottles, this achieves the goal of bringing light to poor areas
while at the same time avoiding to rely on traditional and centralized energy providers such as
coal, nuclear or even hydro plants.
Born in the Philippines in a wealthy Italian family, no one could have guessed Illac would
one day become a social entrepreneur. In parallel to completing studies in economics, he then
worked as an actor and roamed the city’s nightlife. But after an early career in advertising and a
Master’s degree in entrepreneurship, he decided to give a new meaning to his life.
His first social project, Pier One, was designed to help sailors between contracts get a bed
close to the harbor, in an area of Manila were the housing crisis was particularly harsh and decent
accommodation for a reasonable budget, scarce. With a dormitory gathering 40 beds at the
beginning, the project is still alive and now offers over 1,500 beds. This proof of concept gave
birth to the Centro Migrante initiative, which teaches sailors between contracts how to build their
own home. Illac quickly became renowned worldwide for his action in social entrepreneurship.
He gained support from MIT and Harvard to improve his projects, before founding My Shelter
Foundation in 2006, the organization operating Liter of Light today.
A liter of Light was born from an original idea by Alfredo Moser in 2002, and consists of
giving plastic bottles full of water and bleach (to prevent algae from growing in the water) to
households and schools in areas without access to electricity. This method can also be of use in
areas where the regular network is faulty, or where being connected to the grid is simply too
expensive. One bottle is inserted into a hole made in the roof of the house, and provides the
equivalent of a 55-Watt bulb during the day, with the sunlight refracting through the water in the
bottle and into the house. But what happens during nighttime when kerosene lamps or candles
have to be used, with at times dangerous consequences such as fires, of health hazards?
The village of Rizal, less than two hours north of Metro Manila, in the Philipines, is one of
the beneficiaries of Liter of Light’s solutions. Until November 2015, Rizal and the neighboring
communities of Mabolo, Bagong Sigla and Malasia in the Barangay (the smallest administrative
unit in the Philippines) of Puray, used to live with the sun, as about 30% of Filipinos not yet
connected to an electricity grid, still do.
In Rizal, most men leave the village during the week to work in the neighboring hills in
order to make coal from cutting trees or to grow vegetables. Women stay home and take care of
the household, while kids go to school and help their parents during the weekend.
Their life has changed since Liter of Light has installed the 100 solar lamps in the past
months. Those are complemented by 50 streetlights for the streets of the village. Together, they
allow the community to benefit from an additional two hours of light everyday after the night has
come. This system is a safe and affordable lighting option, made of a small solar panel, a second-
hand battery gathered from partner electronics stores, and a wire connected to a LED lamp,
diffusing the light through a recycled plastic bottle.
After 8 p.m., a lady has decided to install her light above a pool table, and young boys are
happy to pay 5 pesos (0.10€) in order to play pool among friends. Further up the village, a single
mother has been able to open a small shop where the community can come and by essential
supplies, day or night.
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A liter of Light isn’t a traditional company. Beyond the income collected from its lamps, this social
business allows poor communities to create new economic activities for themselves. The initial
installation of the lamps is either financed by private donors, companies or public institutions, or
by the community itself.
In the later case, groups of 5 women are created in the communities that require the solar
lamps. The parts are delivered to them and Liter of Light asks for a deposit, adding a 20% margin
on top of its own purchasing costs, in order to account for administrative expenses. The women
then assemble the lamps and can sell them to reimburse the micro-credits made to the community.
Those lamps cost around 3,900 Pesos (75 Euros) for a solar street lamp or 3,100 Pesos (60 Euros)
for a household lamp. As for the parts, a spare LED bulb that can last over two years costs only 50
to 100 Pesos (1 to 2 euros), and the spare battery about 700 Pesos (13 Euros) and will last over
four years.
By managing their stock, the payback on the micro-credits, the installation and the repairs,
those women become entrepreneurs of their own, while also contributing to the improvement of
the living conditions of the community.
With over one million beneficiaries for the solar lamps expected by 2017 in 15 countries
around the world, Liter of Light shows that a new business model is possible, was ecology goes
hand in hand with the economy.
Source:
Cantoria, C. (2015, March 1). Inspiring success stories of 10 Filipino entrepreneurs. In Bright Hub.
Retrieved from http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/120553.aspx.
01 Handout 1 *Property of STI
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