Press & Media
Search for the World's Most Creative Young Entrepreneur Begins
CYEA Team18 April 2007
The search for the world's most creative young entrepreneur has begun. As nominations for the JCI 2008 Creative Young Entrepreneur Award are open, members of JCI-Philippines are hoping to prove that Filipino young entrepreneurs are amongst the world's most creative.
"The competition is open to all young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 40", explained JCI-Philippines National President Rip Lesaca. "The nomination process is simple, and anyone can nominate an entrepreneur, and young entrepreneurs are encouraged to nominate themselves."
JCI-Philippines is a part of JCI (Junior Chamber International), a worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs with over a half-million members, JCI Senators and senior members in more than 100 countries and territories around the globe. JCI launched the Creative Young Entrepreneur Award Competition in 2006.
"We're looking for young business people who used their imagination and creativity to start a business, or evolve a business", said CYEA National Chair Jef Sahagun. "That could be any number of things, including using creativity in product development, service development, or even in the way they approach the market. The key is how they have tackled something in a fresh way, using their talent, imagination and ingenuity to drive their business enterprise".
NP Rip explained that nomination process involves the simple completion of an online nomination form. Nominations will be entered into an international open pool competition. From these entries a panel of experts drawn from within the economic and entrepreneurial community will select 3 finalists to move onward to the International 2008 JCI Creative Young Entrepreneur Award Competition.
"I know from our membership and contacts in the business community, that the Philippines is filled with creative and talented young business owners and entrepreneurs", NP Rip continued. "We're excited about these people entering the competition, and their potential to be the international winner".
3 International finalists for the JCI Creative Young Entrepreneur Award will be selected. These finalists will receive a free round-trip airline ticket to New Delhi, India, to attend the November 2008 JCI World Congress. The prize package also includes a five-day hotel stay at the congress headquarters hotel in New Delhi and one free JCI World Congress registration. One finalist will be selected by a panel of international judges as the 2008 JCI Creative Young Entrepreneur - the top creative young entrepreneur in the world.
For more information on the competition, and for accessing the online nomination form, please visit www.jci.cc/cyea or www.cyeaph.org.
For more information:
JCI Mem. Ana B. PistaDeputy National Chair
JCI CYEA/ArdentComm
(632) 812 6902 / 0927 6506797
ana@cyeaph.org / ana@ardent.com.ph
2007 Business CYEA Mirror Article
Jaycees' choice shows the best of Pinoy young
entrepreneurs; up next, the global search
By Marjorie Teresa R. PerezMarketing Editor
THREE of the country's most promising young entrepreneurs have been selected in the first nationwide search in the Philippines for the most creative young entrepreneurs in the world.
The country's top young architect Albert Yu, IT/ teleservices wizard Jun Yupitun and Marikina's emerging shoe designer Brian Tenorio bested many other nominees from all over the Philippines in the recent National Finals of the 1st JCI Philippines-Robinsons Malls Creative Young Entrepreneur Award (CYEA).
Albert Yu is a rare talent in his field whose accomplishments are currently revolutionizing and invigorating Philippine architecture.
As an entrepreneur, Yu has the ability to package traditional architecture in new ways by creating a fresh approach to the conventional design of his projects. In creating design solutions for his clients, he always tries to view things in a different light and solve problems in a variety of ways. He can do that because he thinks outside the box, unlimited by its walls.
Yu clientele include Filipino taipans, such as John Gokongwei and Henry Sy, both included on the 2007 Forbes List of Asian billionaires, and who both became his clients through the years. Yu has proven to his peers that a Filipino architect can compete and beat the best in the world in architectural design.
His firm is also the first in the industry to champion environment responsibility and sustainability by promoting Green Architecture. Yu believes in the bottom line of going "green"—when you build green, everybody profits, especially future generations.
Jun Yupitun is a legend even at a young age in the contact-center industry in the Philippines. His 15 years of solid and hands-on experience in call- center design, setup and operations management are acknowledged in the industry. Established in 2000, he cofounded and up to now oversees the day-to-day operations of the 600 employee-strong Pilipinas Teleserv Inc.
As director for operations of his firm, Yupitun's teleservices solutions have benefited millions of Filipinos by changing how they transact with the government. His company has created a new market space and has proven that government service can truly be made efficient in partnership with the private sector by harnessing emerging technologies.
His creative entrepreneurial spirit resulted in a much easier and less expensive access to government services by phone and over the Web "24x7x365" Among these services are the Birth Certificate Delivery Service (NSO Helpline Plus); and the Express Passport Delivery (DFA Passport Direct). Both benefited over three million Filipino customers since their 2000 launch, and at less than half of the cost of doing these over the counter.
Another innovative teleservice his company recently offered is the POEA Balik-Manggagawa Exit Clearance. OFW vacation can now be more relaxing and fun without the hassle of concerns for exit clearance processing. His company now serves as the outsource contact center for leading Filipino companies in food service—McDonald's, Max's Restaurant, Super Bowl of China, North Park Restaurant, Gonuts Donuts, and Petron Gasul, with more than one million orders processed so far.
Indeed, his approach to problems is to craft creative solutions to popular problems by making things hassle-free for users. These examples of his brilliance, business savvy and commitment to helping the average Filipino gain easy access to vital government services are just a few of his achievements.
Brian Tenorio is an entrepreneur of a promising start-up as creative director, design principal, sales, marketing, and public relations officer of an emerging shoe label from the Philippines—the TENORIO MANILA Bespoke Designer Shoes.
A visionary in the mold of David fighting the Goliaths in the field of designer shoes, Brian aspires to be one of the first global designer labels from the East, following the successes of labels like Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake which were grown and developed in Europe and in New York. He made a good start by becoming the youngest exhibiting company in the 2005 GDS Dusseldorf Shoe Fair in Germany, alongside international labels, thereby promoting a Filipino shoe brand consciousness in the international market.
The maxim of Tenorio's company is "ONLY SUPERLATIVES." He aims to produce the region's most beautiful pairs, made by the finest shoemakers in the shoe capital of the Philippines, Marikina. He intends to give Filipino shoe design a new image to the world by launching designs distinctly Filipino but global in thought and in scheme—like the "Tilapia" (men's shoe with leather flaps cut like scales) and "Sabungeros" (slippers worn by cockfighters). Indeed, Tenorio has not only captured the hearts of shoe lovers in the country, but also the imagination and desire of his foreign clients.
"The Philippines is indeed blessed with a variety of talents, and our CYEA winners prove we are excellent in many endeavors that are on a par with, if not among, the best in the world," said CYEA Philippines chairman and proponent, JCI Senator Marfred J. Pranada.
As national winners, they now go on to compete against the best in the world to see who will be this year's International winner of the JCI Creative Young Entrepreneur Award.
The national competition was operated as part of a global program of JCI (Junior Chamber International), a worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs with over half a million members, JCI Senators and senior members in more than 100 countries and territories.
JCI Philippines is one of the 100+ national organizations of JCI. Leaders in Philippine business, industry and academe comprised the judges and screeners in selecting the winners of the 1st CYEA Philippines. They included George Siy, director of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and president of the Garments Exporters Confederation; and Rodolfo Ang, dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management of the Ateneo de Manila University as chairmen of the Board of Judges and Screening Committee, respectively.
"JCI launched the Creative Young Entrepreneur competition in April 2007, to recognize and honor entrepreneurs, and the important role that creativity plays in the successful entrepreneurial drive. The award is a vehicle to showcase creative young entrepreneurs worldwide," said Pranada.
"The competition was open to people between 18 and 40 years old. We were looking for young business people who used their imagination and creativity to start a business, or evolve a business. Our entries came even from as far south as Mindanao, and we were really gratified by the results and the high quality of our entries. In fact, JCI even recognized our national competition as the most successful and competitive CYEA program this year."
The three CYEA Philippines winners Yu, Yupitun and Tenorio, will compete with finalists and other winners from all over the world. Among them three international finalists for the JCI Creative Young Entrepreneur Award will be selected. These finalists will receive a free round-trip airline ticket to Antalya, Turkey in November 2007 to attend the JCI World Congress. The prize package also includes a five-day hotel stay at the congress headquarters hotel in Antalya and one free JCI World Congress registration. One finalist will be selected by a panel of international judges as the 2007 JCI Creative Young Entrepreneur—the top creative young entrepreneur in the world.
