Periquet champions entrepreneurship in RP
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:23:00 08/09/2008
Filed Under: Economy, Business & Finance
A GOOD PART OF THE day of Anna Marie Kessel Periquet is spent spreading the gospel of entrepreneurship in the Philippines and boosting the growth of small-and medium-scale enterprises through loans and other forms of financial assistance.
Periquet, after all, is chair of the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Asia Pacific (Yegap), Council of Women Entrepreneurs of Asia Pacific and the Enterprise Development committee of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
And as if these duties are not enough, the 42-year-old Periquet also represents the private sector in the Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corp. and is one of the entrepreneur-mentors supporting the Go Negosyo campaign of Presidential Assistant for Entrepreneurship Jose A. Concepcion III.
Periquet was, in fact, the former lead advocate of Go Negosyo and was one of those who helped Concepcion get the successful campaign off the ground. She just left the group for the meantime to concentrate on her duties as Yegap chair.
Given her huge responsibilities in the business sector, one would think that Periquet would have a master in business administration or at least a business or economics degree under her belt.
She doesn’t.
But what Periquet does have are a broadcast communications degree from the University of the Philippines and superior training in business courtesy of her father, the late Aurelio Periquet Jr., who was one of the most dynamic and respected figures in the Philippine business community.
“He was not only my father but also my best friend and yes, the single most important man in my life. We had great bonding. My father has always been my mentor and role model,” she says.
The elder Periquet started her daughter’s training quite early.
“I remember when I was five years old, I had wanted so much to buy potato chips in the store of our village, but I had already spent my entire allowance for the week. So I gathered my mother’s black garden stones and painted colorful art work subjects on them. I put a table in front of our main gate and sold the stones at P1 each to the helpers and drivers of my neighbors,” Periquet shares.
“Obviously, they were just forced to buy these stones out of pity or simply because I was so makulit. Well, I raked it in! Not only did I earn extra money, I learned the value of money and hard work as well,” she says.
Periquet says she had to learn early on to rely on her own resources to get what she wanted because her parents made sure that she and her siblings would grow up to be independent and not used to an easy life.
“Being the youngest of five daughters, I came 10 years after the fourth sibling, I had the power and influence as the baby of the family and perceived to be Daddy’s girl to get what I wanted without having to work for it,” Periquet says. “But at a very young age, I was not allowed to get away with murder because discipline was instilled by my parents. My sisters and I had to study or work hard and deserve what we wanted to have.”
And once she got a taste of earning her own money, she was hooked.
At 13, she began working summers in the Periquet insurance company and then taught some ballet, jazz or aerobics classes through high school and college.
It was not about the money, she says, but more about the fulfillment knowing that she put her talent and time to good use, which was also what her father wanted for her—a desire to put in a good day’s work.
First to benefit from her penchant for hard work and perseverance is Public Affairs Communicators, an advertising agency where she worked as an account executive after college.
“I wanted to experience going through a job interview, getting hired and being employed by someone other than my father,” she says. “And my first job taught me the virtue of humility. I learned how to be a subordinate, to take commands from superiors, to relate with my coworkers and to perform tasks that I would probably not have done if I had worked in the family corporation.”
“It was a rewarding experience and a gratifying exposure to the outside world. It was a very liberating feeling to step out of my comfort zone. It was a stepping stone to becoming truly independent,” she says.
Her entrepreneurial streak would not be denied, however, so she put up her own events organizing company just a little over a year after she started working in advertising.
Organizing events is easy for Periquet as she finds the angel in the details.
She says she must have inherited the trait from the German side of her family—her maternal grandfather came to the Philippines during the war from Dusseldorf)— that valued organization and discipline.
“Those who know me very well will tell you that, perhaps, most of my mother’s German qualities have rubbed off on me,” Periquet says.
“The German Army in parade formation would pale in comparison to the way my shirts are folded or shoes are lined up. And even before MMDA chair Bayani Fernando thought of the color-coding scheme, my clothes were already color-coded—all whites go together, all blues and so on and so forth,” she adds.
Periquet’s career took a sudden turn when she was appointed by former President Fidel V. Ramos as council member of the Presidential Council on Youth Affairs, and subsequently as Youth Sector Representative in the 10th Congress of the House of Representatives.
“Being a public servant fulfilled my dream of serving the country in my own little way,” she says.
She says her proudest moment during her stint in Congress was seeing the Adopt-A-School Act of 1998, which she authored, signed into law on Feb. 14, 1998.
“To date, the Department of Education has generated close to P400 million in donations from adopting entities. And through this law, hundreds of thousands of students have been put to school and hundreds of schools have additional classroom, laboratories and libraries. This is the greatest success of my life because it is the Filipino people who are benefiting from this undertaking,” Periquet says.
To think that there is very little Filipino blood running through Periquet’s veins.
Her father was half-French, three-quarters Spanish and only one-quarter Filipino. Meanwhile, her mother, Mary Anne, was half-German and half-Filipino.
But as far as Periquet is concerned, she is 100-percent Filipino.
“When I turned 18, my mother brought me to the US Embassy to process my papers for my oath of citizenship. At that time, my three older siblings were already residing in the United States,” she says.
“The car ride from Makati to the US Embassy was so long and tiring because I argued nonstop with my mom. I refused to be an American citizen. I cried, and cried, and cried. When we entered the Embassy, I told my mom, “I was born a Filipino, I will die a Filipino. I will make something of myself here in the Philippines. I promise you, Mommy.” It was then that she decided to take me home,” Periquet says.
She has certainly kept her promise.
Aside from her duties in government and the private sector, she also operates a successful home décor business—Anne Marie Home Collection Philippines Inc.—and has done the country proud in a field that has been her passion since she was three years old—dance.
Periquet, who credits her youthful looks to her dancing, is a certified dance sport athlete. She and her partner, Larry Iguidez Jr., are Philippine and International dance sport champions in the Latin American Dance Discipline.
Their latest victory was the gold medal for Latin three-dance and silver medal for Latin four-dance in the 2008 International Millennium Open to the World Dance Sport Competition held last April in Singapore.
And next month, she is taking another leap of faith by opening her own dance and fitness studio—Kessel Dance and Fitness Manila—in Waltermart, Makati City.
“I named it Kessel after my mom who was a patron of the performing arts. I am fulfilling another dream and I have never been more excited,” Periquet says.
Looking back, she can say she has accomplished much. But she is not about to stop dreaming.
“I still have so many dreams to fulfill for myself and others. My sincere desire and passion is to be where I can serve,” Periquet says. “This is what I continue to aspire for—to be able to make a tremendous difference not only in the lives of people I encounter, but also to the growth of our country.”
Periquet considers it her duty to help the Philippines because as she says: “I am proud to be a Filipino. I am a Filipino.”
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