Responding to the Opportunities of Internet-Based Businesses
With the effects of the financial crisis taking its toll among businesses not only in international economic centers but also here in the Philippines, more and more would be entrepreneurs and existing business people are thinking of putting up businesses that are mainly based on the Internet.
Internet-based business is cheaper to put up (mainly, you only spend for a domain name and server space, in contrast to spending for rental of a physical space or constructing your own building), doesn't need to be closed and opened everyday (it is always open once you upload your website on a server); and doesn't need to have sales assistants, store clerks and similar personnel.
A major gap in TVET courses now in the Philippines, especially those dealing with entrepreneurship, is the minimal attention given to competencies that one needs to put up an online business. Partly because of this, most Philippine companies that thrive online are also big mortar-and-glass companies that have the command of IT, marketing, accounting and legal personnel to do the website design and maintenance, online promotion, manage credit card transactions and taxes and do the contracts for large-volume and/or international orders.
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, in cooperation with Mindanao Technical Vocational Education and Training (MinTVET) recently identified Mindanao as "the future hub of technopreneurs" (Manila Bulletin, August 21, 2011) and has outlined strategies for pursuing this goal through 2015. This seems to be a good start. However, for the country to be really competitive vis-a-vis its neighbors that are literally flying in pursuit of capitalizing on the low cost of doing business on the Internet, more obviously needs to be done within its TVET sector.
First, competencies needed to put up internet-based business should become part of the competencies included in the curricula, at least of qualifications (or courses) whose graduates can earn their living online. Concerns such as those mentioned earlier should be addressed and, second, exposure to real online businesses should become part of the training. TVET graduates who want to pursue online businesses don't actually need to be highly skilled in IT. They only need to know where to outsource the technical, marketing and legal aspects of their online business so they can focus on product or service design, quality control and other things that are vital to the business and which only they can provide.
Including online business management as part of the curriculum requires that trainers have at least exposure, if not actually expertise, on this. As with other aspects of TVET delivery, it is ridiculous for trainers to advice their students about doing business online, say, as a fruit tree farmer selling high value fruits online, if they haven't done so one way or another themselves.
Likewise, to cement these competencies in the mindset of the graduates, it is best to include these in the competency assessment. It is a practice among competency assessors to sometimes narrowly focus on the technical competencies and ignore competencies (usually those classified as "basic" or "common" competencies) that strengthen or support the core technical ones.
Lastly, there is a need to include how technopreneur graduates of TVET did fare later after their graduation and start of their online businesses. The Impact Evaluation Study conducted by TESDA periodically can integrate this concern and could also gather ways for improving current technopreneurship interventions.
You might want to read these books from Amazon.com:
Internet Riches: The Simple Money-Making Secrets of Online Millionaires
The Six-Figure Second Income: How To Start and Grow A Successful Online Business Without Quitting Your Day Job
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Web-Based Business
Starting an Online Business For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Internet-based business is cheaper to put up (mainly, you only spend for a domain name and server space, in contrast to spending for rental of a physical space or constructing your own building), doesn't need to be closed and opened everyday (it is always open once you upload your website on a server); and doesn't need to have sales assistants, store clerks and similar personnel.
A major gap in TVET courses now in the Philippines, especially those dealing with entrepreneurship, is the minimal attention given to competencies that one needs to put up an online business. Partly because of this, most Philippine companies that thrive online are also big mortar-and-glass companies that have the command of IT, marketing, accounting and legal personnel to do the website design and maintenance, online promotion, manage credit card transactions and taxes and do the contracts for large-volume and/or international orders.
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, in cooperation with Mindanao Technical Vocational Education and Training (MinTVET) recently identified Mindanao as "the future hub of technopreneurs" (Manila Bulletin, August 21, 2011) and has outlined strategies for pursuing this goal through 2015. This seems to be a good start. However, for the country to be really competitive vis-a-vis its neighbors that are literally flying in pursuit of capitalizing on the low cost of doing business on the Internet, more obviously needs to be done within its TVET sector.
First, competencies needed to put up internet-based business should become part of the competencies included in the curricula, at least of qualifications (or courses) whose graduates can earn their living online. Concerns such as those mentioned earlier should be addressed and, second, exposure to real online businesses should become part of the training. TVET graduates who want to pursue online businesses don't actually need to be highly skilled in IT. They only need to know where to outsource the technical, marketing and legal aspects of their online business so they can focus on product or service design, quality control and other things that are vital to the business and which only they can provide.
Including online business management as part of the curriculum requires that trainers have at least exposure, if not actually expertise, on this. As with other aspects of TVET delivery, it is ridiculous for trainers to advice their students about doing business online, say, as a fruit tree farmer selling high value fruits online, if they haven't done so one way or another themselves.
Likewise, to cement these competencies in the mindset of the graduates, it is best to include these in the competency assessment. It is a practice among competency assessors to sometimes narrowly focus on the technical competencies and ignore competencies (usually those classified as "basic" or "common" competencies) that strengthen or support the core technical ones.
Lastly, there is a need to include how technopreneur graduates of TVET did fare later after their graduation and start of their online businesses. The Impact Evaluation Study conducted by TESDA periodically can integrate this concern and could also gather ways for improving current technopreneurship interventions.
You might want to read these books from Amazon.com:
Internet Riches: The Simple Money-Making Secrets of Online Millionaires
The Six-Figure Second Income: How To Start and Grow A Successful Online Business Without Quitting Your Day Job
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Web-Based Business
Starting an Online Business For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
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