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Third Blog/Journal

My journey in this subject was honestly challenging. Since I am a biology student, I don’t have a strong desire to create a business in the future since I am not good in handling a business. But, this was also useful to me because, it is true, I am not yet certain if I will continue on to medical school or whether I should look for employment after completing the biology course. And this was an opportunity for me to learn in the field of businesses.

It was challenging to meet the requirements as we continued with our lectures and activities since we were urged to start a firm that focused more on the usage of technology. Personally, at first I don’t have the eagerness of learning about the subject since I don’t have a deep understanding about the technology and even my group mates. We truly struggled with how to present our concepts and build our start-up business. We took a very lengthy time to complete our concept.

When our teacher evaluated our business model canvas, it appeared that there were many factors that would need to be taken into account in order to establish our ideal business. So we decided with the team to change, and validate again to the students and residents in Central Mindanao University.  I realized that starting a business is actually arduous as we changed our business and then took our time creating new plans. In order to address challenges, significant effort and thoughtful conception are required. To complete each assignment, a team must feel united, and more conversation with the team is required.

Moreover, as part of the entrepreneurial mind subject, it was a great opportunity to listen to the lecture series program  held on November 23, 2022 at University Convention Center.

For the first speaker, Engineer Bronson Mabulay talked about the “Start-up Ecosystem”.  What highlights me the most was that when he said “learning by doing”. Indeed putting up a business is not easy, specifically in terms of finance, however as an entrepreneur you have to do things beyond of our own limitations to learn. Citizens should be train to start businesses.  As stated by sir Mabulay, finance is needed, but it doesn’t mean that without that, you can’t proceed.  Why not inquire and look for an investors? Join educational programs, join competitions, join exhibitions.  I’ve also learned that by looking for an investors, making a business should be a team since one man is not capable of doing so. An entrepreneur should compete in a real world problem, a problem with a specific solution and conduct a hundred of interviews to look if there is really a problem because investors invest on tractions, big market size and to the team.

Meanwhile, Mr Arnel Arreglado talked about “Start-up Journey”. In his discussion he highlighted the word “mindset”.  He was full of encouragement and I really learned of his different points. As an entrepreneur, I should not stop to learn and stick to my ideas.  And within our team it is really important to have time to each other, to know each other, so that we will be comfortable and gain trust with each other because as it is said, business must be a team.  Business is all about mindset, teamwork, goals, plans and a strong foundation of knowledge.

Furthermore, Ms. Gamaliela Dumancas discussed about the “Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Transfer”. She quoted the words of Mark Getty “Intellectual property is the oil of the 21st century. All today’s richest men have made their money out of intellectual property.  Intellectual property is a creation of the mind.  It allows to build value as an asset such a patents, trademarks, and copyrights that is to earn financial gains from the aforementioned intellectual properties. Intellectual property protection is crucial for businesses because without it, they cannot fully benefit from their inventions. As future entrepreneurs go, create and innovate.

Thus, entrepreneurial mind subject helps people improve the ability to think critically and discover issues and potential solutions. This is a great help as for us students in preparation to innovate, lead and persevere. Thus, innovation is the driving force of the economy. Failures must be viewed as opportunities rather than as personal failures.

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2nd Blog/Journal

HABLok

After our venture proposal presentation, we as a team decided to change the whole concept of our business. We then have this HABLok business in which an application will be made. This aims to provide convenience and faster transportation of the students and the residents of CMU.

Hypothesis

As defined to the Cambridge dictionary, hypothesis is an idea or explanation for something that is based on known facts but has not yet been proved. In other words, it is a statement about the expected outcome of the study.  We are going to make an application where students can book their rides in partnership with the habal-habal drivers.  Our hypothesis will be: If we can get a positive response from our target market and of our business partners, then this project will be possible and attainable.

Hypothesis Testing

On our market validation, we interviewed random students specifically those who are residing in the vicinity of Central Mindanao University through face to face and google forms.  We asked their current problems and able to gathered information that mostly of them wants to have a faster transportation. With that, we introduced our proposed business and asked if they are in favor of our ways in doing our business.  

What are the results of your interview?

We interviewed a random sample of 100 students, 45% said yes, 22.50% said no, and 32.50% either yes or no.  

Moreover, we also interviewed the habal-habal drivers regarding their problems and of our business.  As we introduced our business to them, they were interested and willing to be our partner if ever this business will be approve.

Team Decision

As discussed by all members, we decided to continue this HABLok business model due to the positive response of our validation.  Also, we found an IT student which is a friend of our team member to help us in making the application. We knew that our business is not the same as everyone, but with our simple problem we come up with a simple solution which we think that this business will be made feasible.

Team options

The team will be having two options, either we will continue or make a new business model after we present our business.

Lesson learned

As we changed our business and then created new plans which took us a long time, I learned that putting up a business is actually arduous. It needs great effort and wise conceptualization in order to solve problems.  A sense of unity in a team is vital to accomplish each task and a more discussion with the team is needed.