ZEST-O BY ALFREDO M.

YAO
Most of us grew up drinking a juice as part of our baon
which made up our childhood, the ZEST-O drink. But everything
starts from small things that progresses to a bigger thing.
Along with his parents and 5 younger siblings, Alfredo M.
Yao grew up in poverty where being a street vendor was the only
way to keep his family surviving. He had to sacrifice his youth at
the age of 12 when his father died. As the eldest child, he had to
face the challenges of working to support his family. Fortunately,
he graduated Elementary and High School with the help of his
relative. Alfredo entered the Mapua Institute of Technology for
college but was forced to quit after two years due to lack of money.
Alfredo worked for a printing company and became inspired to start his own so he
learned the ways of a printing company. At the age of 17, he started his own printing company
with a capital of 3,000php. “My mom was telling me, ‘Anak, itong tatlong libo, buhay na natin’ I
said, ‘I’ll try. I’ll do my best.’” Alfredo said. The company was named Solemar Commercial
Press, which he named after his mother. His company was successful and his life began to
improve.
In 1979, Alfredo went to a Business Exhibit in Europe and there
he discovered the doypack, an innovative food container. He
brought the idea of the doypack to the Philippines and thought
of introducing it to businessmen in the beverage industry, but
they ignored his idea. Alfredo did not give up and pondered
about the potential this new technology awaits.
In 1980. He made his own orange juice at his kitchen and packaged it using the
doypacks. Yao called it a blessing in disguise. “Nobody wanted to use that type of packaging.
So, what I did is to produce my own juice. Nando’n na yung makina eh. And it is history now
— it is Zest-O.” His product made a successful debut to the market. In the same year, the
Semexco Marketing Inc. was founded which later became Zest-O Corporation.
These juices were tasty and is appealing to parents, who found the lightweight,
vividly coloured packaging convenient to pack in their children’s lunchboxes. The packaging
also helped the juice to stay cold for longer. Zest-O now owns 80% of the Filipino juice market
and has spread to other markets in Australia, China, New Zealand, Korea, Singapore, the
United States, and other European countries. Yao’s commercial success has resurrected the
Philippines’ juice industry and boosted dalandan orange farmers’ businesses (Future Learn,
2023). His business work ethic earned him recognition in the business community, including
the Ernst & Young Master Entrepreneur in 2005 (Ramos, 2015)
Alfredo never stopped on his 2 businesses. At 2008, he launched Zest Airways
and competed with the airlines in the Philippines. He also Founded Mazy’s Capital Inc. and
Philippine Business Bank.
“I still dream of seeing Zest-O become an international brand like a Coke or a
Pepsi. I don’t stop dreaming.” – Alfredo M. Yao
 MILEA BEE FARM BY EDILEE ROSALES OMOYON

They say a mother’s love to her child is unconditional, this influenced Edilee Rosales-
Omoyon to enter the world of business and started the Milea bee farm.
Edilee Rosales-Omoyon (April 20, 1965- April 3, 2021)
who was on her retirement mode desired to help her son who was
suffering from skin asthma, she decided to created her own
cosmetic products made from Honey and other organic
ingredients. “We went from one doctor to another until merong
doctor na nagsabing sa Australia natural products lang ginagamit
nila. Until I hit a certain combination of oils na nagwork talaga sa
anak ko. So madali kong namanage yung skin asthma niya. So
that started yung ano-yung business,” said Edilee Omoyon.
On Christmas the year the products were made, she gifted them to her friends which
later complimented the products and suggested that she should go sell it.
However, since her main ingredient is honey, she found out that
most of it sold on supermarkets were fake and some were made
from sugar. So, she and her husband decided to take classes
about beekeeping, or apiculture. “We trained here in the
Philippines and also in Australia to improve on the products and
you know to know the ins and outs of the aroma therapy and the
essential oils we need in the ingredients”
“Nag acquire kami ng dalawang colonies ng Italian bees, yun
yung pinag-umpisahan namin.” In 2012, she founded Milea, her
bee farm on a lush hillside at the end of a winding road in
Barangay Balagtasin in San Juan, Batangas. Soon, Italian Honey bees (Apis Millifera) and
native stingless bees filled her one-hectare farm.
“In 2015, when farm tourism started, we opened the one-hectare
Milea bee farm to educate farmers and general consumers on how to
detect real honey and instill the bees’ importance in enhancing fruit
production. I conducted seminars on beekeeping, and one of my seven
staff conducts a two-hour daily tour of the apiary.”
Together with her husband, they created organic
honey products from cosmetics down to vitamins. She
also made lemon grass a source of her products and continued to create
more products from other natural resources.
” We are looking at a lot of other by-products of honey that will target
yung health and sustainable lifestyle”
Even after her death last April 3, 2021, her business continued to thrive.
 AMANDA’S MARINE PRODUCTS BY ARMANDA T. BATTAD

One’s success may start on their own houses or from a small space around us just
like how Amanda’s marine products started from a backyard.
In Balanga, Bataan, after graduating college from a course of BS
in Chemistry, Armanda T. Battad started her business at their
backyard in 1984 with a capital of 3,000php given by her older
sister, but she still does not manufacter her own products but she
would import from her relatives who also had their own tapahan
and from a Chinese vendor from Divisoria. “Yung damit namin
kung nagpausok kami, amoy na amoy yung tinapa kumakapit
kahit anong gawin namin-kahit anong takip ng bintana”
“Unti-unti nung nakakaipon na ako, namili ako ng paisa-isang
lote, yung anong meron ako sa planta namin. Hindi ko yun nakuha ng instant, yung Amanda’s
hindi ko nakuha ng instant na ganon. Matagal ang process”
“Nagagalit ang magulang ko that time, nag-aral ka, ikaw lang sa magpipinsan, ikaw
lang nakatapos tapos dito kalang mauuwi (retailer sa palengke),” however, she sees this as
an opportunity for something greater and that her course can be applied on this field.
In 2002, her company was registered through DTI, she
sells all kinds of tinapang isda, tuyo (dried fish), and bagoong. This
started the help she received from DTI by inviting her to seminars
and trade fares that improved her knowledge about business. She
was later introduced to government agencies such as the
Department of Agriculture, DOST and LGU who she claimed were very supportive of her.
“Lahat ng produkto ko ako ang nagfoformulate niyan, formulation ko.”
Her business continued to thrive but there is always the calm before the storm.
Amanda’s experienced bankruptcy and family issues began to strike Armanda Battad;
however, she did not let it unmotivated her but instead it made her restore her business after
1 year.
Evers since the business started, she said that she does not want her children to
experience her poor life before so she indulged herself to business and did not give much
time for her family.
Up until the present, her business continued to grow,
develop, and her products continued to multiply. They supply
known buyers such as Goldilocks, Cabalem, Chowking, and
even exports internationally.
“Kung ganitong competition kailangan lagi akong one
step ahead sa competitor ko”
 “Hindi ako takot kahit na maraming dumating na katulad ko, pero basta naniniwala
ako sa produkto ko”

GREEN LEAF BAGS BY ZARAH JUAN

“It started when I was still a flight attendant,” shares Zarah. “I

was traveling to Japan in 2005 when I discovered the concept of ‘green’
bags or reusable bags. I noticed that canvas bags and foldable bags were
being sold in supermarkets as an alternative to plastic ones. I really fell in
love with the idea of saving the environment by just using a recyclable bag.
Whenever I would come back to the Philippines, I would go straight to
Divisoria and buy katsa. I didn’t have any sewing machine yet, so I just
rented a sewing machine in Evangelista, Makati for P15 per hour.”
The Katsa Bag she made caught the attention of her fellow flight
attendants. But her journey started when her friends asked her to make
bags for a special event such as a wedding and christening.
“I was over the moon. That was when I started investing. I bought two sewing
machines and converted our garage into a small happy place where I could just be creative.
My husband who is an entrepreneur encouraged me to put up a legitimate business by
getting necessary permits. It evolved from there and with that passion, and with the support of
my husband, in 2007, we finally registered Green Leaf
Ecobags.”
The Zarah Juan collection is an innovative Filipino
artisanal fashion brand that creates one-of-a-kind shoes, bags,
and accessories that expertly weave traditional Filipino
craftsmanship, contemporary and modern design with local
textiles; it is a brand that wants to uphold culture and traditions
of local communities by partnering
with artisans, weavers, and suppliers to create unique and
beautiful items that can be world-class — a collective of Filipino
creativity (Zapanta-Andrada, 2018). Her logo is the Hercules
Knot that means strong knot that represents the collaboration of
the communities.
One of her advocacies is cultural continuity. She
wanted to help the indigenous people to not let their culture and craft die and at the same
time help them live. She also wants to participate on bringing back the tradition of Marikina,
the shoe capital of the Philippines.
By technology, she was able to connect the
communities of different regions on creating a collaborative
creativity of the products. “Gusto namin talaga the collaboration is
not only between us and the communities, but communities
collaborating with each other.” One of her products the scarf is the
result of the lining from Abra and the beadwork is from Davao.
 “At the end of the day pare pareho tayong Pilipino galing tayo sa iisang lahi and I
feel na wala naman ibang magtutulungan kundi tayong mga filipino”
“Bliss of doing this is really in that relationship through the years na nabubuild mo
at marami ka talagang take home na hindi mo nakukuha basta-basta”

NEEM PET CARE LINE BY GEORGINNA CARLOS

Georginna Carlos, a psychology graduate but chose to become an entrepreneur,

is the co-founder of Fetch! Naturals, a premium pet care brand that uses natural ingredients
for its products.
"Fetch! naturals actually was going to be a bit in the beginning an e-commerce for
high end pet care products general" said, Georginna. "Fetch was supposed to be around
2016"
She grew up with dogs and even owned 4 of them
so that is why she wanted to enter that industry. She had one
dog who was allergic to all products available in market
produced locally and internationally and by the vet's diagnosis,
he said that the dog has Skin Allergy due to chemical-based pet
products. His boyfriend now fiancé suggested to use a bottle of
shampoo from Italy and said it was ₱600 for 250ml. Fortunately,
the product reacted well on the dog's skin enabling it to heal
from its Skin Condition. Looking at the ingredients, she saw
Neem Oil and became curious about it. " I googled it, Neem is a
tree that grows in tropical countries like the Philippines. So
parang 600 pesos for this small bottle where the ingredients were here."
She decided to make a product of it. She found a chemist who makes natural
product and teamed up with him and they decided to use neem oil. They came up with their
first product line the Neem Pet Care line.
"We expanded, we researched for other ingredients that are
grown in the Philippines we can use. So, after Neem line we
made our Hikama line, in tagalog it's called Singkamas." "The
Hikama or Singkamas is the first in the world for pet care we're
the first one to create.” " We have been searching other things
that can be grown here and what we can create out of that. " The
Fetch! Naturals was officially launched in March 1, 2017. They
worked hard to obtain the registrations and certifications of their
products from FDA, BAI, and DOST that can prove the safety of
their products.
Georgianna is one of the four Filipinos who were named in Forbes
Asia’s 2019 “30 Under 30”. And last 2021, she was one of the winners of the first-ever Lazada
Forward Women Awards for her own brand, Fetch! Naturals. The young entrepreneur did not
just stop with Fetch! Naturals. She also runs other two businesses: MyOffice Philippines, a
virtual office for portable specialists, and Permitly PH, an online solution that helps
entrepreneurs to register their companies in the Philippines (Telen, 2022).
 From Food Products to Personal Accessories Products to Personal Care
Products and to Pet Care Products, each one has an origin and a tale to tell. The Filipino
Entrepreneurs Alfredo M. Yao, Edilee Omoyon, Armanda T. Battad, Zarah Juan, and
Georginna Carlos had one thing in common: they started from the simplest things in life.
These Entrepreneurs made me realize that everything around us even the
smallest and simple things that we sometimes ignore, consume, or use can be used for our
business, but on the Entrepreneurship world, those simple things we see daily or even use
daily may turn into something new and unique if we want and will make it happen. We would
not know that our misfortunes might be a Blessing in Disguise unless we would turn on the
bright side and use it as a motivation to do something.
Not all the time an individual would succeed if he/she just wants to be an
entrepreneur, some may start from rags to riches while some start from being well-off, some
were college graduates while some were only high school graduates but, being an
entrepreneur does not require our educational attainment or social status, since this is a
gamble on your time and resources and failures would try to stop you in the process. Being
an entrepreneur requires you to be a risk taker and should accept challenges. Georginna
Carlos said “Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, and its okay.”
“If you’re an entrepreneur you have to be all in the beginning,” Georginna Carlos
said. When we start on our own, we do all of it alone even if it means to be the Owner,
Operator, Designer, and Cleaner of our business, having friends and families that are willing
to help is already an advantage. These entrepreneurs’ mindsets were set on how to help
someone dear to them or even other people from different communities. They sticked to their
principles which brought them to where they were today even if it means sacrificing their time
for their families, time for themselves, and even their education just to focus on improving and
continuing this venture.
If someone wants to be an entrepreneur, a lot of entrepreneurs can give
inspirations such as an entrepreneur who wanted to use the potential of something into an
innovative product just like Alfredo M. Yao’s juice drink the Zest-o, providing help to our loved
ones by making something we were complacent for them to use such as the late Edilee
Omoyon’s Honey and Organic Personal Care Products and Georginna Carlos’ pet care
products, creating something out of what we like just like Armanda T. Battad’s marine
products, and creating and innovating products to help relive the culture and tradition of the
different communities in our country such as Zarah Juan’s bags and accessories.
Entering the world of Business and Entrepreneurship does not mean it is only
about selling for the purpose of gaining money all alone but it is about applying the different
strategies to stay on top of the market, and ensuring a stable condition in the company.
Entrepreneurship is about risk-taking on those things that can either capture the hearts of
their consumers or not, and those who give up easily cannot survive this world.
“If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small”-Azim Premji
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