Businesses That Last - Planters Development Bank

key participants. Many however say that
going to these job fairs is like digging
exhaustively for gold, in that there’s a need
to carefully screen so many applicants
before you get the very few that will
eventually qualify.
Thus, staff recruitment services will be
a flourishing small business for many
veteran, and perhaps retired, human
resource experts.
Online recruitment companies are also
doing extremely well since, for the price of
their prescribed fees, corporate recruiters
can receive pre-screened applicants that
will fit their hiring requirements. Payment
is rather easy if the head of corporate
recruiting has a credit card.
GERIATRIC CARE SERVICES
The Philippine population is now seeing
more people reaching their senior citizen
age, particularly those who were born
after the Second World War. The latest
NSO statistics suggest that the birth rate
is slowing down while the senior citizen
segment is slowly rising.
Hence, a company that’s devoted to this
health care sector will see good business
up ahead. This in a way will slowly
resolve the glut of jobless nurses as far
as this business model is concerned. This
business idea can also be tied up with
an HMO company that in turn may have
this as a new and added service.
Such a company is a multiplier force that
augments what hospitals cannot provide for
this market segment. Home care services will
also be growing in demand as it provides
the convenience of primary care right at a
patient’s home.
AUTOMOTIVE I.T. CARE
SERVICES
The mechanical performance of cars today
(and in the future) are basically controlled
by computer boxes which activate every
time drivers turn on the ignition key.
Typhoon Ondoy paved the way for a new
business opportunity, where technical
experts who are particularly honed in
automotive computer engineering were
sought out as an alternative to buying
a new computer box that costs a lot of
money. So desperate were some of these
motorists who could not afford a new box
that they would even beg laptop computer
repair shops to have a look at their cars’
computer boxes!
Car tune-ups of tomorrow will include
computer box diagnostics service apart
from changing the oil and spark plugs.
While the major auto dealers have this
as an in-house service, this service is not
yet widely available as an independent
business enterprise.
Automotive repair shops can have
computer box diagnostics as an added
service to their portfolio, or it can
become a standalone service. Location
will be a key business recipe for success,
however. This business idea sounds like a
niche market for now, but not for long.
HOME REPAIR SERVICES
Getting a good carpenter, mason or
even a plumber to undertake general
home repair work is proving to be
more difficult to do nowadays. It’s like
finding a good, honest and hardworking
household help.
There are many blue-collared workers like
these that are now overseas as OFWs,
hence the short supply of talent locally.
A company that has a pool of these talents
is a good business idea particularly where
their services are in great demand during
summer and after every imaginable storm
that hits this country every year.
TAILORING AND ALTERATION
SERVICE
This small enterprise business seems to be in
short supply nowadays.
While there is a dearth of mass-produced
clothes available for sale in many
department stores, there is still a niche
market that is looking for good tailoring
shops. There is still a growing demand for
custom-made men’s pants or long-sleeved
monogrammed shirts, and alteration or
repair services for off-the-shelf clothes
bought from the department stores.
The demand for alteration services includes
short-sizing pants’ waistlines or repairing
the overall fit of dresses, repairing zippers
and re-donning new buttons.
Tailoring shops are visibly found in the malls
and specializes in men’s formal business
attires or barongs with the promise of
24-hour turnaround times. They are, of
course, expensive due to the space that
they rent from the malls. Others are found
in obscure places as these are home-based
single proprietor small enterprises that
thrive on customer endorsements and their
immediate community.
So there you have it. Just remember
the saying, “Necessity is the mother of
invention, and the opportunity to make
money has just begun!”
Think about it.
Mabuhay ang negosyante!
The author has over 20 years of experience in
advertising, marketing, and sales operations.
He owns and manages Market Bridges, Phils.
Inc., a full marketing services company. He can
be reached at mbpidmbc@i-manila.com.ph or at
tel. nos. (+632) 886-4122 to 23.
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