UPCOMING ENTREPRENEURS. (From left) Bronze awardees Randy Sy, Michael Juan, and Khrisna Domanais of Far Eastern University's Coal Nine Corporation; Gold awardees Marc Cu, Angeli Ko, and Jaime Mendejar of Ateneo de Manila University's Kulay Kultura; and Silver awardees Paolo Cinco, Emil Cuaresma and Martin Dominic Reyes of FEU's Eco Tiles clutch their trophies during the awarding ceremony of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Young Entrepreneur Awards 2005-2006 held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.

But Jaime has always wanted to actually be part of the experience.

Inspired by that ardent desire for "first-hand encounters", Jaime, together with classmates Marc Richmond Cu and Angeli Agatha Ko, came up with an innovative plan of their own, which they entered in the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Young Entrepreneur Awards 2005-2006 and eventually won the Gold prize.

Dubbed "Piyestang Pinoy", under the group’s company named Kulay Kultura, the business idea is "the first online tour operator that offers unique and exciting fiesta packages in the Philippines" which caters to domestic, foreign and balikbayan tourists.

Recognizing opportunities in the Philippine tourism industry, the Kulay Kultura team proposed the creation of the business as a quality tour operator offering high-quality fiesta vacations before the board of judges, composed of Southeast Asia Foods, Inc chairman Jose Campos, Jr; RFM Corporation president and Presidential Consultant on Entrepreneurship Jose Concepcion III; Asian Institute of Management president Roberto de Ocampo; JG Summit Corporation president and chief operating officer Lance Gokongwei; Inquirer president Sandy Prieto-Romualdez; and HSBC Philippines chief executive officer Warner Manning.

The business idea states that Kulay Kultura will offer complete and customized fiesta vacations through the Piyestang Pinoy web site (www.piyestangpinoy.com), including comprehensive, easy-to-use, and updated database of articles, commentaries, photographs of festivals and Philippine tourism-related matter; and an online booking service for Piestang Pinoy vacations.

Considering these offers, the student’s company envisions itself to be the pioneer in its craft, which is to provide local and foreign tourists customized festival vacations throughout the Philippines.

"When this HSBC contest came about, I said, ‘Hey, why not try doing something about it (eagerness in participating in fiestas) and address this need that I personally would like to have’," shares Mendejar, whose passion in tourism gave him and his two team mates special trophies each, a self-development fund of P200,000, a six-month scholarship to the Asian Institute of Management’s Venture Into Entrepreneurship program, a chance to interact with winners from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand in the Regional Grand Finals in HSBC’s Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Hong Kong in June, and a one-week study tour at the University of California–Berkeley in San Francisco, United States.

Mendejar says after the awarding of winners at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel that his team plans to make the project concrete later.

"In our presentation, we already identified that we’re trying to negotiate terms with the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO). We’re trying to make the Pahiyas Festival for some of its members."

The team plans to officially start their business by May.

"It is so nice to just see it happening, that someone already took interest in it. To have a pilot project, hopefully, by May is just too much for us right now… It’s just so surreal!" exclaims Mendejar. "If the EO likes the proposal that we will submit to them and have a contract done with them, then probably, you will see Piyestang Pinoy in action by then."

Asked if any modifications will be made in their business idea, Mendejar answers: "Although the strategy will remain the same, we will try to modify the language in such a way that the international audience could grasp the Filipino culture better. When we go to Hong Kong to present what the Filipino culture is to an international market, we will have to carefully choose better words to capture the right type of culture that Filipinos actually have."

Equally proud of the team’s victory was their adviser, AdMU’s John Gokongwei School of Management dean Rodolfo Ang, who believes that tourism is an important part of the national economic development plan.

"But I think, more importantly, we need to show the world that the Philippines is not just beaches or diving spots, not just coups, rebellions, explosions… We need to show them that there’s something much richer here, so cultural tourism is something we need to do more often," comments Ang.

"When I heard of their plans, I wanted to go on one of their tours. I said, ‘This is something we can work on.’ Everyone who’s heard their plan has wanted to join one of their tours. I think this would be great for countryside development. Although the product itself is for wealthy people, it’s going to increase development in the countryside because as more people go out and see the fiestas all over the country, the project will also help the local economy."

For now, Mendejar and team can only hope for the domestic market’s positive response to their business idea. "Our business is already in the Philippines, so it’s easy for us to deal with Filipinos themselves, to book with them. As the Department of Tourism supports the idea, we also hope that other travel agencies would help us realize our goals."

Ang says: "I think they can be more aggressive about letting more people know about this product, which has modest projections."