MANILA, Philippines --Filipino micro-business owners face a myriad of problems, foremost of these is the inability to take their businesses beyond the day-to-day peso-and-centavo earning grind.

Too often, they lose sight of the importance of creating a business, growing it and building it, according to Palou Abustan, a human resource consultant at Ka-Entrep, a movement launched in November of 2007 committed to empowering micro- and small business entrepreneurs to become a cohesive force in nation-building.

A typical micro-businessman in the Philippine setting is the owner of a sari-sari store in an urban poor community. He (or she) is mostly contented to wait for the patronage of his neighbors and accidental passers-by.

According to the Center for Small Entrepreneurs, which started Ka-Entrep in 2004 as one of its programs, there are now 750,000 micro-businesses registered all over the country, with 160,000 of them found in Metro Manila. All in all, they make up 91 percent of business establishments in the Philippines.

Micro-businesses, as defined under the revised Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (MSME) or Republic Act 9501, are businesses that have total assets of not more than P3 million.

“When we started Ka-Entrep, we thought of designing a character formation module that would focus on changing our members’ mind-set and habits so that they see themselves as wealth creators rather than just backyard businesses,” Abustan said.

“We want them to understand that entrepreneurs are business persons destined for greatness,” she stressed. The seven-session character formation workshop sessions aim at getting micro-business people to think beyond the limiting confines of their operations.

The archetypal owner of a Filipino mom-and-pop operations, according to Abustan, has no time for visioning. “He is the marketing, production, operations, finance man of the business all at the same time. He is the driver, janitor, order clerk, and salesperson. No wonder he has no time to look for the organization,” she says.

More often, the micro-business operator is hostile to the idea of sharing knowledge and resources with other businessmen. “He regards everyone as a competitor, so much so that he becomes selfish,” Abustan adds.

Fear is also a big problem with them. “They have plenty of fears, fear of failure, even fear of getting rich. This is why they want to avoid taking risks,” she says.

Faced with so much apprehension, the newly formed organization of micro-business entrepreneurs continues to struggle to expand its membership, now numbering just about 200-strong.

There is, however, hope that micro-business persons will be able to transgress the narrow-mindedness of their being small. Abustan says the character formation sessions have opened the minds of Ka-Entrep members to the true essence of being an entrepreneur.

In the various councils that act as geographical chapters binding the budding entrepreneur members, there is a newfound appreciation of the value of sharing and networking.

“We used to have participants before who would be simply interested in pitching their products to the group and making a quick sale. Now, members have made it a personal commitment to attend meetings regularly because they value the ideas of others,” Abustan says.

The Center’s Ka-Entrep movement, which is partly funded and supported by a group of micro-entrepreneurs from Belgium, is all set to take its members to the next level.

“This means helping our members find their unique selling proposition, crafting their company profiles, and drawing up their vision / mission,” according to Abustan.

While the wholehearted support of family members counts a lot in the transformation of Ka Entrep members, Abustan notes that it is the internal change that matters most. “When a member overcomes his doubts and fears, when he develops his self-esteem, he is ready to become a true entrepreneur.