16 Entrepreneur Interviews for you to Learn How To Do Business in S.E. Asia

southeast asia entrepreneur advice

BPO

BPO Executive: Stefan Vermeulen, CEO of D&V Philippines

Executive Interview: Horst von Wendorff from VKWInc.com

Executive Interview: Nicholas Sinclair, President of the Outsourced Accountant

Certified Profile: Clare Matchett, ServiceSeeking Manila

Executive Interview: Simon Meers, Managing Director, Wint & Kidd Inc (Philippines)

Restaurant

Restaurant Executive: Karla Campos, CEO of Dell’s Foodhall

Restaurant / Retail Executive: Claudine Chan-Cobankiat, Kichitora of Tokyo and Qrius

Executive Interview: Russell Yu, IKI Concepts – a Singapore restauranteur talks about bringing his brands into the Philippines and is unique take on attracting talent.

Restaurant Executive: Adrien Desbaillets, President SaladStop! – a Singapore chain talks about opening in the Philippines and his restaurant expansion.

Restaurant Executive: Andrew Masigan, The Advent Manila Hospitality Group – a Philippine restauranteur talks about his experience growing restaurants in Manila.

Carlo Buenaflor, the CEO of Bigg’s, Inc. Carlo operates 15 restaurants in the Bicol area of the Philippines and is the honorary consul of Spain in the Bicol Region of the Philippines.

Retail

Joey Qua, CEO, Collezione-c2.com with 25 branches nationwide and a growing restaurant business.

Eileen Grey, The Picture Company a 9 location retail chain in the Philippines

General

Executive Interview: Rob Nixon, CEO & Founder of PANALITIX

Executive Interview: Mike O’Hagan of Mike’s Manila Tours

David Elefant: Doing Business in the Philippines

Carlos Celdran on the Philippine Business Environment

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5 Reasons Why Australian Businesses are Outsourcing to the Philippines

Australian's Opening BPOSOver the last 10 years, business process outsourcing (BPO) centres have cropped up all over Asia. Two countries have emerged as leaders in the BPO sector: India and the Philippines. While Bangalore city in India ranked first in 2014 for top outsourcing destinations, Manila ranked second. The Philippine BPO industry is likely to do extremely well and possibly overtake India soon.

Australian businesses have caught on to the trend. There is a growing number of companies that are looking at the Philippines for their offshoring needs. Australia is in a particularly favourable location because of its proximity to Southeast Asia. There are a number of reasons why Australia gives preference to the Philippines for outsourcing.

Inexpensive Labour

Common knowledge suggests that labour is cheaper in Asia. But to put that in perspective, an experienced BPO agent in the Philippines earns USD500 a month whereas the equivalent in Australia earns USD2700 a month. Back end operating expenses fall by a magnitude of 10 simply by offshoring. With wages rising in India, the Philippines looks like a good candidate for offshoring.

Literacy Rate: 97.5%

97.5% literacy rate is a staggering number. To put this in perspective, India stands at 74% and China at 88.6%. As a leading country in the BPO industry in Asia, this is very suitable for Australian businesses because of ease of communication with locals. The Philippines has the third largest educated workforce in terms of absolute numbers (after India and China).

Close to home, similar time zone

The Philippines is one of the closest countries to Australia.It is just a 6 hour flight away. Australia also enjoys the benefits of sharing a timezone with the Philippines. This wipes out the hassle of a mismatch in working hours for both countries.

Cultural Similarities

The Philippines was colonized by the Spanish for nearly 375 years until the Americans came along and colonized the archipelago for 48 years till 1946. The lifestyle of the Americans left a deep mark on the Filipino culture. Culturally, they are similar to most western nations, which is an anomaly in southeast Asia. The similar background makes for a negligible culture shock for Australian businesses. The friendly nature of Filipinos makes this the perfect place to set up customer service outsourcing.

Strong Government Initiatives

The government has been promoting the BPO sector for a few years now, through training progammes for Filipinos and financial incentives for companies. The financial incentives include Special Economic Zones, tax holidays for 6-8 years, import and customs duty waivers, reduced tax after the tax-holiday ends (down to 5%) and more. The government is also making efforts to improve infrastructure. Although the progress has been slow, internet connectivity is improving. The country does well in terms of office spaces. Around 80% of office spaces are occupied by BPOs.

There are a number of ancillary businesses that cater to Australian businesses that want to outsource to the Philippines. One of them is Mike’s Manila Tours by (you guessed it) Mike O’Hagan. Mike gives tours around the Philippines for businesses who need reliable information from someone closer to the ground. We spoke to Mike and featured him on our blog. You can check out the post here. We have also published a series on Australian businesses that outsource parts of their business to the Philippines. We have PANALITIX, ServiceSeeking Manila and Wint & Kidd Inc telling readers about what you need to know before taking that crucial step of moving to the Philippines.

If you would like to learn more about setting up in the Philippines with PayrollHero feel free to reach out and one of our team would be pleased to speak further.

Planning on expanding to the Philippines? Here are some helpful resources

Are you thinking about doing business in the Philippines? With almost 100,000,000 people, mostly English speaking, a fast growing economy and the worlds largest centre for voice based outsourcing – the Philippines is a hot market.

Many business owners are coming to the Philippines looking to setup their restaurant chain, expand their retail business, outsource some of their operations or getting into the outsourcing business themselves.

I have compiled a bunch of resources that will help you along the way with your research of the Philippine market.

BPOs

Simon Meers of Wint and Kidd, tells his story about how he transitioned his Australian business to the Philippines and eventually opened a BPO. Read more about Simon’s story.

Clare Matchett, another Australian shares her story about human resource challenges in the Philippines, how they recruit, hire and manage their team as well as why she learned Tagalog. Read more about Clare’s story.

David Elefant has worked with tons of business owners wanting to setup in the Philippines. He is a fantastic resource to get your setup questions answered. Read more about David and what he is doing in the Philippines.

If your interested in learning more about setting up in the Philippines then check outMike O’Hagan‘s tours. He brings in entrepreneurs looking to see first hand how it all works. Read more about Mike.

Then of course there are questions about taxes, Government organizations, etc. Here are some resources on SSS, PhilHealth, Pagibig and PEZA.

Restaurant / Retail

Adrien of Singapore’s Salad Stop in the the process of expanding his restaurant chain into the Philippines. Read more about his adventure.

Eileen Grey, a business women in the Philippines who has grown The Picture Company into a multi-location success story. Read more about her experience here.

Andrew Masigan talks about his restaurant chain in the Philippines and how he got started. With 14 stores open and 2 more on the way, Andrew has some great experiences to share about operating in the Philippines.

Here is a video we shot a while back with startup founders and other stakeholders as to why they think the Philippines is a great place to do business.

Your Guide To Payroll In The Philippines

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions that our client happiness team gets asked about Philippine payroll.

What are the leave benefits that an employee is entitled to under existing laws?

How to compute Lates/Tardiness and absences

What do you mean by total working days per year?

How to compute the 13th month pay?

What are the legal non taxable allowance?

What are de minimis benefits?

How to compute Philippine BIR taxes.

What is taxable income?

Are minimum wage earners exempt from paying income tax?

How much is the minimum wage in Metro Manila?

How to compute for Night Differential?

How to compute Holiday, Rest day pay?

How much is my SSS, Philhealth, and HDMF (Pag-Ibig) deductions?

How do I compute my hourly rate?

How to compute overtime pay?

How do I compute my Daily rate?

Why do business in the Philippines, here is a quick video on the topic:

 

 

 

What is PEZA? (Philippine Economic Zone Authority)

PEZA is the Philippine government agency tasked to promote investments, extend assistance, register, grant incentives to and facilitate the business operations of investors in export-oriented manufacturing and service facilities inside selected areas throughout the country proclaimed by the President of the Philippines as PEZA Special Economic Zones.

There are PEZA zones, PEZA approved buildings and PEZA approved companies.  Tax holidays and other special benefits are just part of the program. You can see more about PEZA and how they can help your business here.

In the video below you can hear a bit more about PEZA from Bryce Maddock of Taskus.com (@ 5:00 mark):