Birth of Bizcool brings cheer to MSMEs

Bizcool cofounders (from left) JJ Ingco III, Marvin Perol and Vincent Velasquez —RICHARD REYES

Resolved to start your own business this 2018–but have no idea how? Three young entrepreneurs may have the answer: an accessible and affordable e-learning platform that they cocreated specifically for the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises.

Called Bizcool

(www.bizcool.ph), the platform offers an alternative approach to a traditional business school.

Marvin Perol, JJ Ingco III, and Vincent Velasquez established it after seeing how expensive universities’ business programs are, having studied in such institutions.

“We wanted to bring it to the digital space, make it more affordable,” says 27-year-old Perol, who took up his Master’s in Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo de Manila University, and runs Open Reel Film Gears, a film equipment rental company.

The trio also decided to create modules that focus on specific businesses instead of general theories, after conducting a year’s worth of research on the kinds of businesses Filipinos aged 18-45 years old wanted to own.

Their respondents identified these as their top five choices: carinderia, or a small roadside eatery, internet shop, coffee shop, grocery and sari-sari store.

“Our content is less academic and more practical because of the profile of our market—we found out that they didn’t exactly love studying, but they were very much into business. So that’s why we decided to put in more practical tools and concepts that they could really use,” says Velasquez, 38, a Psychology professor who finished his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the same field at the University of Santo Tomas.

The courses are indeed very practical—and specific.

Three subjects are now up and running on the site: My Coffee Shop, My Eatery, and My Internet Shop. Nine more are coming soon: My Bakeshop, My Sari-Sari Store; My Party Needs Biz; My Online Store; My Sizzling House; My Makeup Studio; My Water Refilling Station; My Tapsilogan; and My Food Cart.

Each course has around 38 video lectures, 41 modules in PDF format, and worksheets, all designed to give users a comprehensive lesson on how to put up their desired business.

“We wanted to identify the barriers of [MSME] startups, and not just tech. Basically, we’re eyeing people who aren’t necessarily entrepreneurs—employees, for example, who are open to the idea of starting their own business,” explains Velasquez. “So what are the typical barriers? Based on our research, it’s first, lack of capital. Another is the know-how; the passion is there, but they don’t know the specific steps of putting up their own business. Lack of time is also a barrier. When we saw these, we took these into consideration and created one module specifically focused on finding capital.”

Perol makes an example of his experience putting up his film rental equipment business: “There are ways to get capital. When I started my first business, I borrowed money from my sister. She’s my angel investor. When we raised a second round of funding, and we were able to increase the value of the company, we were able to get investors. I was able to pay off my loan. So for small businesses, we want people to know that [borrowing money] is okay—from your parents, your friends—but there needs to be a structure to it, like giving them equity, or 20 percent of the company, if they give this much. So there’s still that business know-how,” he says.

Each course costs roughly P1,200. To make the learning more dynamic, the three also designed workshops to complement the online lessons, each costing P2,500.

“During the course of crafting [Bizcool], the social aspect became an important part. For the longest time, we learned through schools, and that transition from physical to digital is still a bit drastic at this time. The workshops will complement the e-learning products,” explains 28-year-old Ingco, who also took up his Master’s in Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo. For example, [one topic is] how to build your own startup team—it’s not always about being friends. You need the same core values, technical skills; you understand why you need to put out this amount of money.”

Over time, the three hope Bizcool will evolve from an educational platform to a full-blown community for the country’s MSMEs and startups. They also plan to create more products that will cater to the rest of Southeast Asia.

“We also want to be a startup ecosystem builder,” says Perol.