Alternative Mindset & Concept of Job Creation

It has been three weeks since we started our class in Technopreneurship. On our first meeting, we were asked to wander around malls and fast food chains here in Davao City and observe the current processes and the systems used. After days of observing, we must be able to come up with a new technology that we could suggest for the betterment of those establishments. On our second meeting, we watched the movie “Pirates of the Silicon Valley” and reflected on what we had understood and what important thoughts and inspirational ideas we got in the movie. One thought that retains in my mind is that being an entrepreneur is not as easy as what others may think. It has a lot of sacrifices and challenges to take as what Steve Jobs and Bill Gates experienced during those times that they were struggling to be known by everyone. Business also is a great risk that only those brave ones and with courage passed through.

On the following meetings, we took up the lesson about Technopreneurship. During that time, I discover that the word technopreneurship exists. During my high school days, I only knew the word entrepreneur and entrepreneurship but never the word technopreneurship. What is technopreneurship by the way? During our discussions, I learned that technopreneurship obviously came from two words which is the “Technology” and “Entrepreneurship”. According to some books and dictionary.com website, technology refers to the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science and pure science. While entrepreneurship according to the entrepreneur.com refers to the practice of starting new organizations or revitalizing mature organizations, particularly new business generally in response to identified opportunities. It is often a difficult undertaking, as a vast majority of new business fail. To add those two words, technopreneurship simply refers to the entrepreneurship in the field of technology. You can create a business of your skills in programming, designing, networking or even a database administrator.                  

Default Mindset

We also tackle about the default mindset and the alternative mindset. Upon knowing those two terms, I was enlightened and realized that we are the ones who have the will and the power to help the nation, that what we think and what we perceive are the key to a much better society. Most of the people nowadays do have this employee mindset or simply called the default mindset. And there are just these few people who would always go outside box and explore the great challenges of the jungle-like world.   

"Go to school, get good grades, and land in a high-paying job.” This is the default or the employee mindset of most of the society’s living creatures. When we go to school, oftentimes our parents including ourselves do have this default mindset. Parents send their children to school because they want them to learn and excel so that when they would finish their study, they can have those high-paying jobs in the future. But the result of this default mindset may or may not be beneficial. Another is from the schools perspective; those students who graduated with excellence oftentimes were the ones being sought out by companies outside thus making those bigger companies grew even wider. While those average graduates that are not sought by those companies will just be thrown around the city and be employed. As a result, those wider companies will grow even bigger while those who are not will remain. These were the scenarios that our professor discussed to us about having the default mindset.

In the case of Davao City, those IT students who graduated in the University with flying colors are accepted and are now working to larger companies outside Mindanao or even to other countries. Simply because those companies offer bigger salaries compare to the companies offering them here in the city. Due to this scenario, people will immediately grab those opportunity leaving the city with those average graduates that performs only minimal works.  This situation leads to the development of those companies while leaving the city 5 years behind in terms of technological advancements to the other. And this is not so good since we are the ones who mold those young graduates yet others benefit to it. As what the saying goes, ”Tayo ang nagsaing, iba ng kumain.” Unfair as it may seem but this is what is really happening nowadays.

Alternative Mindset

When a problem comes, a solution arrives. Having some negative effects on the default mindset, there exists another mindset called the alternative mindset which states that, “Go to school, get good grades, create own company.” It is also the same that parents will send their children to school, create higher grades but after finishing their courses, will remain to the city and create own company. This mindset leads to a much better society since those excellent graduates will not be working to other companies outside the city instead they will produce their own company, be an employer and help build the nation’s progress. As a result, they can also help the city be more productive in terms of technological advancements. This alternative mindset brought some of the IT professionals within Mindanao who shared their thoughts that resulted to the creation of this so-called SEED curriculum.

As time goes on, our professor also discussed about the SEED model which simply stands for Self Mastery,Environment Friendly, Enterprise Mastery, and Development of Business Plan. The Self Mastery from the word itself refers to how you understand yourself. A self mastered person does not need to have higher IQ or higher EQ and AQ but a person who is whole-brained and knows his own weaknesses and strengths. To be able to know your true weakness and strengths, you can surpass any of the worlds’ difficulties. You can face all of the challenges that may come if and only if you knew yourself very well. Our professor let us discover our EQ/AQ by taking the tests online. To me, it appears that I was average in terms of my emotional quotient. I tend to be good in interpreting, understanding and acting upon emotions. While in my adversity quotient, I tend to deal with the adversity fairly well. Environment friendly on the other hand refers on how you react and generate ideas based on the events happening around you. Idea developed under crisis, trends and may be ideas that pop out your mind during serendipity walks could be one of the foundation to your success someday. An person who mastered his environment are the persons who understands the industry he is in and also be able to see opportunity in every problem that may arise. From the SEED model, one must also have enterprise mastery. In the enterprise mastery, one must have to have skills in management such as planning, organizing, directing and controlling. The last one of the SEED model is the development of the business plan. It includes proposing a business plan, presenting it and then defending it.

Writing or planning a business plan covers larger scope since it has to consider many factors including inner self, environment, management skills, great confidence and bright ideas. As the discussions grew deeper, it I also learned that being a technopreneur is a much better job than just being a salaried employee due to the following reasons:

· A salaried employee has his fixed salary. It would only increase if there are bonuses or if he got promoted while being a technopreneur does not have a fixed salary. Meaning to say, if the business grows, he can have much salary than the boss of a salaried employee has.

· A salaried employee must have to work 8 hours or more a day to complete his salary while a technopreneur may or may not go to office as long as the business is still going.

· A salaried employee can only be promoted if there are vacant positions but a technopreneur can increase his salary by inventing new ideas that would best buy if implemented.

· A salaried employee may be stuck in his position forever but a technopreneur can always give and bring him to another field in the business.

It only proves that having an alternative mindset or being an employer instead of being an employee may lead every individual to a brighter future not only for himself, but being successful means you also take great part in the progress of your nation. It is hard to take risks and to try something you are not sure of – like planning a business or proposing an idea. But those risks always have a positive outcome – make you a successful person or if not, would make you knowledgeable about your mistakes and make that as an inspiration and learning as you stride for your next journey.  

Concept of Job Creation

 Because many of the IT professionals adapted the alternative mindset, they improvise a special concept of job creation wherein those graduates who are willing to do business but are not capable of funding their first trade will be given a capital as long as their ideas would effectively sell in the market. To attain and sustain the purpose, a technopreneurship ecosystem in the region has to be in place. It is composed of Human Resource, Laws and Policies, Environment, and Financial Resources that is centered to the Techno Ventures. The human resource component is composed of those developers, researchers, financers, and marketing people. While the environmental component are those science parks, incubations centers, and other academic institutions and laws and policies is composed of the intellectual property rights, licensing office and other legal service. Those business investors or those funding agencies belong to the financial component. These are the components that a technology venture must have. Twelve schools as of the moment take part in the implementation of the technopreneurship course in their IT education here in Davao City, among these are the following: Ateneo de Davao University, Brokenshire College, Cor Jesu College, Davao Doctors College, Holy Child School of Davao, Jose Maria College, St. Mary’s College, Interface Computer College, University of Immaculate Concepcion, University of Mindanao, University of the Philippines Mindanao and lastly the University of Southeastern Philippines. I learned also that we have one incubation center located in the Brokenshire College campus that would cater those business ideas of fresh graduate students. But the job creation does not limit only on the fresh graduates or for those students who had finished already their degree course in IT education but it welcomes also those students who have brighter business plans or ideas to offer. As long as those funding agencies agreed upon the business deal, one can be a technopreneur no matter what degree he finished.

                There are these basic facts that I learned from the slide of the module 1.2 in the Basics of Technopreneurship of the SEED model:

· “Businesses starts from ideas, but ideas alone do not make business.”

· “Customers do not buy ideas, they buy products/services.”

· “Customers pay the price, value is what they get.”

· “A marketable product may not result in a viable business.”

· “A studied approach to planning the business is needed.”

· “Entrepreneurship is calculated risk-taking, not foolhardiness.”

It is true that everything starts from a simple idea. When enhanced and developed, it may boost to larger opportunities that leads to one’s success same as what had happened to Steve Jobs journey to his success in developing the Apple Inc. It came from a single chip of idea, but because of his perseverance, that idea was built to a larger building that almost everyone knows about it.

The development of the SEED model or the idea of starting to develop IT companies here in Davao City started five or more years before.  Lucky to say, the plan of the IT professionals does have its positive outcome. One example of which is the development of the IT Park at the Damosa property and the NCCC mall’s IT zone at the fourth floor. We also have a lot of establishments providing free wireless fidelity to their customers.  Also, IT companies here in the city were starting to multiply their number and most of the IT graduates start to develop their own company instead of landing to other places and be an employee. If this will continue to happen, Davao will soon become as progressive as other countries around the world.