NUKILAN HATI, JIWA DAN MINDA: Building A Social Venture

WE Wednesday: Business for Good: Building a Social Venture
WHEN: Wednesday, November 11th, 12:00 – 1:20 pm
WHERE: SHDH 351

Philip Wilson WG’94, Founder & CEO, Ecofiltro Is a social business a contradiction and a fad that will soon prove to be just a buzz word that never became a sustainable method to resolve the planet’s greatest challenges? The story of Ecofiltro will illustrate how an organization that has the brain of a business and the heart of a foundation can scale, be financially sustainable and create meaningful impact in the clean water space. More info: http://entrepreneurship.wharton.upenn.edu/resources/weweds.html

Assalamu'alaikum dan salam bahagia,

Hari Rabu, 11 November yang lalu, saya menghadiri satu ceramah/talk oleh salah seorang alumni Wharton yang berjaya. Sesi ini dimulakan jam 1200 tengahari sehingga 130 petang, waktu di mana tiada kuliah di bilik kuliah tersebut, bertempat di SHDH 351 (nama dewan kuliah di Wharton). Penceramah slot ini merupakan Pengasas dan CEO Ecofiltro, Philip Wilson, WG'94. Is a social business a contradiction and a fad that will soon prove to be just a buzz word that never became a sustainable method to resolve the planet’s greatest challenges? The story of Ecofiltro will illustrate how an organization that has the brain of a business and the heart of a foundation can scale, be financially sustainable and create meaningful impact in the clean water space (sebahagian maklumat di WhartonEntrep)

Philip did his MBA and graduated in 1994. During his undergraduate study, Philip did his internship at Prague when he was in his second year. Ehmmm, FEP UKM mempunyai program pertukaran pelajar dengan beberapa Universiti di Jepun (Osaka City University), Korea (Ajou University / www.ajou.ac.kr/en/), Indonesia (Universitas Indonesia / www.ui.ac.id/), Brunei (Universiti Brunei Darussalam / www.ubd.edu.bn/), Thailand (Mahidol University / www.mahidol.ac.th), Sweden (University of Gothenburg / www.gu.se/english), dan Belanda (Avans University / http://www.avans.nl/international). Masalah pelajar Malaysia untuk terlibat dalam program pertukaran ini adalah "Masalah kewangan". Belanja untuk terlibat dalam satu semester walaupun 6 bulan adalah agak besar...That's our disadvantages... Umumnya impak program pertukaran pelajar amatlah besar dan mengambil masa sepertimana dikatakan oleh Philip.

His first business was selling a battery. Why battery? Some of advises he received from Professor @Wharton was to get engaged with dull industry as you can do a lot of improvements. Philip didn't has money to start that business but he established a partnership with an investor who was willing to give equity ownership of the business until he owned 49% of the business. He received commission for every battery he sold. After the company achieved millions of sales, few years afterwards, he sold the business. Five years after graduating, Philip has no need to work anymore, has sufficient money already. After that he started coffee farmer, solucionweb.com and then he started Ecofiltro, about five years ago. At that time, he has plenty of money to do everything.

One of his advice is "Learning how to sell is important". Saya berpandangan bahawa beberapa pensyarah di Pusat Pengajian Pengurusan FEP UKM seperti Dr. Hasni, Dr. Aniza, Dr. Maisarah dan Dr. Azuan telah melakukan beberapa perkara yang betul dalam program Sarjanamuda Keusahawanan dan Inovasi (BEI) dan Sarjana Keusahawanan dan Inovasi (MEI). Para pelajar didedahkan dengan kemahiran jualan secara langsung. Ada pelajar yang tidak pernah buat kerja-kerja jualan, buat jualan terbuka, jual di pasaraya, buka booth dan sebagainya. Antara masalah PKS Bumiputera adalah pemasaran, dan antara masalah pemasaran adalah jualan. Tidak pandai buat jualan, pemalu, takut gagal dan seumpamanya. Kemahiran jualan juga berkaitan kemahiran berunding. Bagaimana berunding untuk mendapatkan jualan bukanlah mudah.

How he got the idea? Guatemala has water problem as rivers are contaminated with bacteria and majority of people are not knowledgeable on how to transform unclean water to clean water. Ecofiltro produced filter made by local filters, made by natural products, actually from flower and has no contamination. They teach women how to purity water. Some of good business ideas come from a problem, problem in a country, problem in the industry, problem among people, problem that has a solution but nobody is trying to solve it.

Idea perniagaan boleh datang dari masalah dalam negara, masalah industri, masalah dalam kalangan manusia, dan dalam kes ini, masalah asas iaitu manusia tidak mendapat sumber air yang bersih, very basic problem.

Philip also mentioned about "Many products can't be sold because they are not culturally accepted in many countries. Philip has a business in 38 countries and "It has to be culturally accepted" . On advertisement, he said "make it pretty cool; pictures with famous artist". Ecofiltro also has a filter program with school to educate children on clean water.

About his personal objective on coming back @Wharton, Philip wanted to convince more MBA to become social entrepreneur. Again, when asked about opportunity recognition, "look for a very basic industry; the needs of the people" Philip suggested. On his KPI, he mentioned it clearly, "profitability and social impact". No social venture can survive without profit... You can visit his company at http://ecofiltro.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/ecofiltrogt/.

Some of his words

"Joint big corporation too long won't allow you to become entrepreneur."

"I never made a good employee"

"Ask Microsoft, Boeing and other companies to buy your carbon credit."