For a long time, the Philippines has been trying all sorts of strategies to boost the economy and catch up in the race with other Asian tiger economies.

But while there are several studies revealing the secrets of success of other countries, we still don’t get. Really, what are we doing wrong?

Renowned educator, economist, and advocate of social development, Dr. Eduardo Morato, Jr., chairman of the Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE), says entrepreneurship is among three major pillars that propel dragon economies.

According to a World Bank study, the factors that enable countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to be so successful are a soft local market and heavy emphasis on outward-looking (export) production and marketing strategy; huge emphasis on education particularly in Science and Technology – and entrepreneurship.

“Akala natin any business or sari-sari store is entrepreneurship, no! That’s not the original definition. Entrepreneurs are not your typical buy-and-sell, magbobote. How come we have degraded the word ‘entrepreneur’ to a mere businessman?

If you’re just making buy and sell, no new product, no new market, no new service, you are a businessman. Never call yourself an entrepreneur.

There’s a big diffference as far as I’m concerned. Entrepreneurs create value, they increase productivity from one level to another. They change business paradigms,” explains Morato in a lecture he delivered during the recent Sesquicentennial Congress at the Ateneo Professional School in Makati.

A function of education

Morato has long been advocating entrepreneurship for nation building to leaders of past governments. Based on his studies in the 1990s, Morato suggested that the country should focus not on its products which are low yielding but on its people who are good servicers.

“We are not an industrializing country but a servicing country. We are good servicers and nothing else. Look at Filipinos all over the the world, they’re seamen, nurses, doctors, teachers. Kaya kung yan ang competitive advantage natin, galingan natin,” he stresses.

However, two separate surveys revealed contrasting results about the Filipino labor force. The first survey listed the Philippines in the competitiveness service of the world as having the third lowest labor productivity. But on another survey, it cited the Filipinos as the most preferred worker in the world.

“Why are Filipinos lowest when they are in the Philippines and highest when they are outside? That’s a conundrum to me. My insight is that in the country, our labor force is using the lowest form of technology. So value added is low. When abroad they are using high tech systems so they’re the top workers.”

So Morato reasons that the country should indeed focus on education to further hone the skills of its labor force, which he says are found to have mostly finished only grade school.

Entrepreneurship for nation building

Following the World Bank findings, Morato thought that the best way to help the country is “by propagating the gospel of entrepreneurship” through education. He introduced a masteral degree in Entrepreneurship in 1999 at the Asian Insitutute of Management (AIM). In less than eight years, Morato says it became the most popular course in the graduate school.

He also democratized entrepreneurship to make it available to the less privileged through the creation of courses geared for small to medium enterprises. More of these grassroots entrepreneurship courses were offered at the Bayan Academy of the ABS-CBN Bayan Foundation where Morato is the president.

The formula he used in teaching the courses was quite unconventional. “This new paradigm hopes to change the way education is done. Entrepreneuship is a learn-apply craft. No exams, no quizzes, no journal articles. But it became the highest rated program.

At the rate of five, the average score was 4.8 to 4.9. The MBA was 4.0. statistically. It was making students do research for their own companies and discuss it in class. Thus, learning has gone up tenfold. Relevance is important,” Morato notes.

Morato is now helping the Ateneo Graduate School of Business in its Mastering Entrepreneurship for Nation- Building program. This comprehensive learning-by-doing program is for entrepreneurs who are not only passionate about pursuing growth and sustainability of their enterprise but who also have the capability and the desire to contribute to nation-building through job and wealth creation and distribution.

This program aims to equip entrepreneurs with management skills focused on innovativeness and creativity that will hone the participant’s ability to seek, screen and seize opportunities. It is being undertaken in collaboration with the ACE Center for Entrepreneurship and Management Education, Inc.

Another program dubbed “One Day with ME” or six transformational enterprise lessons in six hours, is being offered to entrepreneurs. The course includes lectures and case discussions on developing the entrepreneurial mindframe; opportunity seeking, screening and seizing; understanding and delighting customers; enterprise operations and delivery systems; entrepreneurial finance; and managing people in small enterprises.

Dr. Morato is a former dean of AIM and the architect of various groundbreaking programs such as the Masters in Entrepreneurship and the Masters in Development Management. He authored various books in strategy, finance and entrepreneurship including the National Policy and Strategy Paper on Medical Tourism for the Republic of the Philippines.