PEOPLE who built their business from working abroad are moving to form a Chamber of Commerce to lure more overseas Filipino workers into becoming entrepreneurs.

Businessman Miguel Bolos told the OFW Journalism Consortium about the moves to form an organization after a meeting of former overseas Filipino workers-turned-entrepreneurs in early March. That meeting was attended by Filipinos who successfully built a business using what they earned and learned from working abroad.

Bolos believes that an OFW Chamber of Commerce will enable fellow migrants to transact business among themselves. “Instead of going to greedy local businessmen, fellow OFWs can go to themselves and make arrangements to supply some raw materials, or even provide discounts to some of their products to fellow OFW entrepreneurs.”

Chambers of Commerce are organizations that group businesses on a common interest. They could also include economic development groups, as well as tourism and visitors’ bureaus, according to a Wikipedia entry. They are not usually associated with the government.

The benefits of banding together

While Pinoy immigrants in the U.S. have formed their own groups – the biggest being Federation of Philippine-American Chambers of Commerce (FPACC), a network of some 46 chapter chambers of commerce with more than 5,000 member-enterprises run by Filipino-Americans – none exists in the Philippines for returning OFWs.

Bolos hopes to rectify that with the help of returning OFW Francisco Aguilar and fellow migrant workers in Saudi Arabia even if they face an uphill battle. He says that there is no inventory of existing small, medium and large-scale enterprises run by former OFWs who can link up to form a chamber of commerce.

But getting these businesses together can help arm OFWs with skills in enterprise development by providing training and business development services. These can gradually address the failure of many enterprises run by returning migrant workers whose businesses are considered part of their reintegration into the country, he added.
The blueprint for the OFW Chamber of Commerce also includes determining local markets for Filipinos still working abroad

On their own

An example is Donsol’s Motor Works based in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental. It is owned by 16-year Saudi Arabia-based contract worker Vivencia Ellorina.

Based on the place of manufacture, Ellorina has supplied 800 of their assembled jeepneys to clients in Cagayan de Oro City and the provinces of Cebu, Negros Occidental, Bukidnon, and Misamis Oriental. Most of Donsol’s Motor Works’ clients are seafarers and overseas performing artists, according to a brochure.

Similarly, David’s Well Crafts & More, based in Bauang, La Union and owned by Lowell and Eden de Castro Valle, sell their topiaries, wreaths, swags or window curtain treatments, candle holders, wooden clocks and other products at a provincial trade center and to four branches of SM Department Store.

Without a Chamber of Commerce, the couple had to rely on themselves to put up their business. “I design, my husband is in charge of production,” Eden said.

She said an organization of OFWs-turned-entrepreneurs could help since one of the biggest challenges the couple faced in growing their business was penetrating the mainstream market. “If we did not manage to enter the SM malls system, we wouldn’t have a market,” she added.

Indeed, both couples could have learned a thing or two from Alberto and Liza Perez. Alberto used to work as a steel fabricator in Saudi Arabia, Aruba and Malta before going into the garments business with a capital of P100,000 and 17 sewing machines. Today, they say Wal-Mart in New York buys their Apryl and Aira’s Apparel brand.

The same can be said of former Saudi Arabia contract worker Eduardo Callera who owns Canor Express International Brokerage Inc., a customs brokerage firm. Where he used to send boxes of padala transported in trucks to his family in the Philippines, Callera now owns the trucks that move boxes to both domestic and international senders.

More possibilities

There are more benefits to forming a Chamber of Commerce for OFWs, Bolos added. It could also be instrumental in giving OFWs the chance to buy public utility firms like water and power distribution, especially in the provinces.

“There are public utilities owned by the government that can be sold to overseas Filipinos,” Bolos explained. These, he added, could be safely entrusted to a business organization of overseas Filipinos.

All that needs to be done is to get migrant workers together. With their shared experience, OFWs can turn their own Chamber of Commerce into something Bolos believes “can lead to mutual business benefits.”