Aug 15, 2011

What does it take to become World Class?

Last week’s quarterly GKonomics Forum gathered some 40 social entrepreneurs who wanted to learn how to protect their products and what it takes to become world-class. Lawyers from the Intellectual Property Alumni Association and the Chief Marketing Officer of Jollibee offered their valuable insights and knowledge on how to achieve these goals.

Attorney John Paul Gaba focused on copyrights. He said that anything literary and artistic such as music and stories can and should be copyrighted. After finishing an original creation, the maker can simply place the © copyright symbol on his product alongside the date of completion. By doing so, the creator has successfully copyrighted his or her work.

“From the time you finish your work, you should stamp the copyright symbol and date of completion,” Atty. Gaba said. For Filipinos, copyright certificates of registration may be obtained at the National Library or through the Intellectual Property Rights Office with 2 original copies of your birth certificate, an accomplished registration form and payment of a registration fee.

Atty. Gaba also advised his audience to mail the work they produced to themselves. A self-registered mail of your work can confirm that the work was done by you.

“Copyright protection depends on the lifetime of the owner plus 50 years then it becomes part of the public domain,” he said.

Atty. Gaba, speaking on copyrights warned about piracy. Having helped develop the Optical Media Act, he warned that “anyone who is caught in possession of 4 unregistered CDs of the same content or 6 unregistered CDs of different content are presumed to be in the business of selling pirated CDs,” this is against the law and has corresponding penalties.

Meanwhile, Atty. Divina Gracia Pedron discussed that entrepreneurs need to protect their trademarks per jurisdiction and that enterprises doing business overseas must also register their trademarks in those countries.

“Brands are covered by the trademark law and need to be registered,” she said.

She mentioned that in the past, before 1998, Filipinos only needed to use their products as proof of ownership. However, after the Philippines joined trade organizations, businesses needed to register their trademarks.

“Trademark has value. World famous brands are protected by trademarks,” she said, adding that product packaging including logos should be registered to prevent others from using the same symbol, word or words that represent your product or company.

Atty. Celeste Jumadla, for her part, talked about patents, explaining that the government grants exclusive rights for an invention, utility models, and industrial designs for a limited period of time, usually a minimum of 20 years. These Exclusive Rights mean the right to exclude others from making, using, selling and distributing products just like your own invention without permission.

She advised entrepreneurs to exercise due diligence and to check for the state of your art first at every stage of research and development. “Do your research and check existing patents in the world even though you are not aware of it,” she said.

Dondi Gomez, Vice President and Group Marketing Head of Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), was the last to speak, inspiring social entrepreneurs with his talk entitled “Going for World Class.”

He began with John Maxwell’s encouraging insight:  “Desire reveals design. You’re naturally intuitive in your area of giftedness.”

Dondi believed that self-mastery is necessary to succeed in business, noting that, “God-given desire reveals design. You have a gift, follow it.” He  also advised the social entrepreneurs to “always follow your passion.”

"Identify and commit to your strengths and build that unique skill you possess,” he said. Dondi also mentioned the need for a stretch project - “achievements that prove the relevance of your strength.”

He also noted that successful entrepreneurs have the charisma to sell their vision, guided by their “mission for others,” and are able to share their dream with "authenticity, energy and empathy.”

He said that if you are truly passionate about what you do and are in-tune with your strengths and apply them; you will eventually attract mentors who will open doors for you.  These are “influential supporters who will fight for the success of your mission.”

Dondi shared the example of one of his mentors Tony Tan Caktiong, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of JFC, whose big dream is for Jollibee to become a truly global brand by year 2020 with 4,000 stores worldwide.

He is known for starting Jollibee, now the number one fast-food chain in the Philippines, the undisputed market leader who beat international fast food giant McDonald's.

While proving that David can overcome Goliath, Tony is one who will not rest on his laurels: “If you get distracted by the success of the past, it will get in the way of the success of the future,” he was noted as saying. “If we remain humble and live by the tenets of JFC, we will succeed.”

Jollibee, best known for its Chicken Joy, continuously improves its flagship product which Dondi says as key to their success. He also shared that simplicity must be at the heart of operations.  “If it’s not simple, it can’t be scalable; if it’s not scalable, it can’t be world-class.”

He added that the secret to successful marketing campaigns is to break marketing formulas while following its principles.  Having successfully launched marketing campaigns for Unilever Philippines in the past, he shared that the best selling lines are made with a maximum of seven words. “In three words, you should be able to tell me, why I should buy your product.”

He also shared that challenges are inevitable but they are necessities for innovation. “There is value in failure,” he said. Failures teach us valuable lessons and help us become better once we learn from our mistakes. “The good news is everybody who makes a mistake has to weather it through,” he said.

Dondi emphasized the necessity of courage in order to succeed. “We need to play to win.”

“What will make us win is the courage to win,” he said, “You need courage to focus. You’ve got to know who you are.”

Dondi noted that,  “Filipinos are fundamentally world-class. It can only go as far as you believe it. There’s only an absence of courage. Courage is the difference.”

“It takes more courage to be in your world, entrepreneurs. Believe,” he said.

GKonomist Pinky Velez Poe ended the Forum by reminding everyone to “always keep our poor brothers and sisters in mind” in our journey to entrepreneurship, leaving no one behind in the pursuit of progress.

“Use your time, talent and resources to benefit the community,” she said, concluding a very inspiring Social Entrepreneurs Forum on August 10 at Magallanes, Pasay City.



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