Takeaways from e-Start Your Own Business (eSYOB) Online Course by UP ISSI

October 2020. The COVID-10 pandemic has opened its door to  a number of business opportunities for home-based online selling and also transforming traditional business to online selling platforms for existing businesses. Making sure products and services are available in their communities locally.

To cope up with the limited time and resources to assist the MSMEs, the University of the Philippines Institute for Small-Scale Industries (UP ISSI) has migrated selected regular and special training programs to online courses and webinars respectively. Through the creation of  the Learning Management System (LMS) team, UP ISSI utilizes its website functionalities by developing its Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) accessible at https://learning.entrepreneurship.org.ph/.

This program course is free and self-phase learning, it aims to equip participants with business ideation 101 through video streaming, modules and recommended reading materials, weekly activities, and zoom meetings.

“The Start Your Own Business (SYOB) course is designed for people who want to start their own business but have very little idea on the mechanics of how to go about it. The course provides individuals who want to start their own business with the skills, management tools, and expertise in making the right decisions, planning, and organizing their intended ventures.

The e-SYOB, a four-week online course, is patterned after the residential SYOB program offered by UP ISSI. It guides enrollees through the marketing, production/technical, organization, and financial aspects of setting up a business using modules and learning materials developed specifically for online learners.” – UP ISSI. 2020. https://learning.entrepreneurship.org.ph/

What did I learn from the 2nd eSYOB course?

Business Ideation and Marketing Module. Covers the DNA of an entrepreneur, the journey to discover the entrepreneurial mindset, the process, and the individual qualities to become a successful business owner. The participant will undertake  a self-rating assessment to evaluate his/her Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs). The PECs questionnaire provides a self-assessment tool on how each one sizes up to the common competencies identified by Management Systems International (MSI). Understanding your PECs will support the analysis of your strong and weak points. To balance the risk and failure versus opportunistic mindset. Likewise, these behavioural indicators are said to be useful in strengthening entrepreneurial potential.  How to get your PECs score, take PECs Self-Rating Questionnaire here.  Now that you are aware of your business attitude, part of the course is to make your business plan and do market research in terms of the trends and competition. Learning the 4Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. The four main ingredients often refer to the marketing mix. These are the key elements or the foundation model for businesses, The 4Ps is a set of marketing tools that an entrepreneur uses to effectively foster and promote a brand’s unique value, and help it stand out from the competition.

Operations & Organizations Module. The technical elements of getting into business include more importantly the place of business, the maximum amount of capital you are willing to invest in, and the legality of doing business.. On top of that, forecast how you will make profits while spending for your operational costs. Putting up a business requires manpower. With the business plan in your head, you need to structure your organization. Initial operation needs peopleware that are composed of key persons essential to operating and managing a business.

Financial Module. Every business aims to grow and expand financially. This module covers the broad spectrum of how to start your business with the capital you have on hand. Business accounting involves theory, investment, bookkeeping (financial statement, cash flow, balance sheet, and inventories) and internal control.

I learned most of the financial literacy on basic accounting for MSMEs from the Accounting Talk workshop series which I initially coordinated with the UP Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants (JPIA) for UP ISSI. The workshop discussed topics about the “Basic Accounting Process.” From here you will learn the methods of cash management which includes cash budget; sales to cash reconciliation, sales to inventory reconciliation; cash fraud; financial analysis; basic accounting equations; basic financial statements; sales analysis; operating expenses; and, segregation of duties. The workshop presented a simplified flowchart on how to register a business with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Not that in-depth but actual familiarization of  the accounting process, and discussion about the five types of book of accounts: General Journal; Cash Receipt Journal; Cash Disbursement Journal; Sales Journal; and, Purchase Journal. The classification of accounts has different purposes and meanings according to the JPIA. These cover the profit/loss, equity, and balance sheet according to its category: Asset Accounts, Liability Accounts, Equity Accounts, Profit and Loss Accounts.

Business Plan. The program requirement for the final output is to formulate your own feasible business plan. eCoaches are assigned to mentor participants with their business in mind. The business plan is a call-to-action approach. A proof that this business idea of yours is actually rolling.

From theory, making a business plan is actually engaging. The business model I used for this program is our existing digital services, EchoManila. To date, I already created two more business plans on home essentials  and food related industries, which are both home-based. It was launched last November 2020. We are still in the process of improving the products and eventually will deal with the business seriously in a matter of time.

This article is not sponsored. 

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