Growing a venture by naming it a vegetable

Creativity and passion are essential ingredients to success in any field. It’s no wonder then that Tomato—the Filipino fashion store chain named after a common, humble ingredient as well—has expanded and grown into a popular and sought-after brand.

Entrepreneur and Globe Business Ambassador Lennie Dionisio’s passion for her business and her keen creativity for developing the brand allows her to fulfill Tomato’s motto: “Be delicious.”

Lennie wants her customers to feel delicious every time they step into a Tomato store and purchase items.

Enabling passion

Lennie relies on modern telecommunications to keep working creatively and passionately. According to Lennie, her postpaid mobile phone from Globe Business is the most convenient and most essential business tool that she uses every day. She can’t imagine running Tomato without it.

This makes Lennie perfect for her role as one of the Globe Business Ambassadors—entrepreneurs who are able to make their business simpler and more efficient at lower cost through the use of modern telecommunications.

“There is so much freedom and efficiency that is given to us by the mobile phone. We take it for granted now but just imagine what it was like before: we needed to stay in the office to make and receive important phone calls. If we need something very important from one of our suppliers or managers, that person would be unreachable once he or she steps out of the office.

Today we can do several things at once when we have a mobile phone. I can go to one of our mall outlets for some routine or urgent business. While I’m there, I can still supervise our main office through my mobile phone. Even if I’m not available to actually talk to someone, he or she can still send me a text message. Nowadays we can even send and receive e-mails on our mobile phones,” she says.

Lennie adds that being able to go to different places while working helps her become more creative in her thinking and more productive in her work.

“It’s easier to come up with ideas when you are able to observe things around you while traveling. The modern entrepreneur would not want to be stuck in the office unless it’s absolutely necessary. You can do more things, you are more flexible with how you use your time and energy when you have a mobile phone to help operate your business,” she adds.

Another communications tool she uses is the Tomato website (www.tomato.ph). The website not only informs customers about the latest items available in all Tomato stores—it also allows them to do their shopping online. Furthermore, the website informs Lennie about her customers’ tastes and preferences through direct feedback or by keeping track of what items are selling well online.

“Our customers have the final say on what items we offer in our physical stores and online. From years of experience in retail and just plain endless observation of what and why they buy, I have—hopefully—ingrained a keen sense of what items they love to buy,” she says.

Based on the information she gathers online through the website and from her physical stores, Lennie personally oversees the merchandising department to make sure they have what the customers are looking for.

More connections

With quite a number of managers and employees to talk to, and with Lennie frequently on the go, she is considering the Globe Business TxtConnect service to help her out.

Interestingly, Lennie was not always into clothing styles and accessories.  Her own personal enjoyment of fashion had to blossom and bear fruit gradually. In the beginning, business came before fashion when Tomato was first started.

“Fashion was not top of mind; starting a business was.  As a kid, I had to spend weekends in the family textile factory. Then, after college, there were forays into garments, direct selling, scrap paper—you name it.

“The opportunity to launch a fashion label knocked on the door and we took it on.  I knew nothing about fashion then. I figured it was just like any other business,” she says.

As she struggled to grow the business in the beginning, she realized how extremely competitive the fashion retail industry is. In her desire to make the business succeed, she had to start educating herself about fashion and fashion retail.

“I had to—emphasis on ‘had to’—take up fashion design and merchandising in the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.  A love for fashion blossomed as I learned how to express some creativity in it,” she says.

Lennie reveals that there was “no heaven-sent” inspiration that came before she decided on calling her store “Tomato.”  She does admit, though, to being fascinated by the fruit and its history.

“I have always been intrigued by the tomato. Botanically, it’s a fruit but is considered by many as a vegetable for culinary purposes. It even had to be declared as a vegetable by the US Supreme Court because of a customs declaration case.  What other fruit can claim as much?

“So I figured, why not?  It was unique, quirky enough and would allow for much creative space. But really, there was no earth-shaking search for a brand name with some deep-seated meaning.  For some inexplicable reason, I always wanted a store named Tomato,” she explains.

Lennie’s wish for a store named Tomato has come true many times over. She now has eighteen Tomato stores and four kiosks to attend to—and she cannot be present in all those locations all the time. This is why she is also considering a Globe Business product called WebEye.

Globe Business WebEye is essentially a video surveillance system that lets business owners monitor the activities in their stores, outlets, warehouse, or factories. With WebEye, entrepreneurs can keep tabs on and run their businesses from anywhere in the Philippines using their laptop, desktop PC, smartphone, or from wherever there is Internet access.

Besides providing round-the-clock business surveillance for security purposes, WebEye also allows face-to-face communication between the entrepreneur and his office managers, making it easier to give them instructions and directions.

Joy in others

For Lennie, running Tomato is itself a source of joy. At the same time, it’s also an “advocacy” in the sense that she is able to make the lives of others better. She says that she finds the creative challenges involved in the fashion business as source of personal fulfillment.

“It’s a different kind of high when I see people wearing or using Tomato, knowing that somehow you made them a bit happier—ust by providing the fashion fix they were looking for at the right price.

“Much joy and fulfillment come probably from the opportunity to change people’s lives, from providing jobs, from mentoring the team to delivering affordable fashion to customers,” she says.

Through the years of doing fashion retail in the Philippines, Lennie has come to the conclusion that Filipinos are extremely stylish.

“Filipinos are both trendy and individually expressive.  A good many have their own distinct fashion statements.  They are brand conscious because of the promise of quality that comes with it but are not price tag enslaved.  It is not a brand-no-matter-what-the-price mentality. Quality at the best price is foremost for many. Filipinos are very sophisticated yet practical shoppers,” says Lennie.

As for her future plans, she dreams for her Tomato store to take the same worldwide journey as that of the common fruit where it takes inspiration.

“The tomato was ‘discovered’ by the Spaniards in the Aztecs.  They brought it to the Caribbean then to the Philippines, from where it spread to Southeast Asia.  My growth dreams are the same for the brand,” she says.