“I don’t teach to live, I live to teach.” Those words captivated my
attention. Though I was a bit sleepy for an early class that day, I could still
remember those words. Things were not so clear for me that time because I was
still on the process of perceiving the informations that our facilitator shared
to us. All I wanted to do that time was to close my eyes because I could not
grasped well since I lacked sleep. He sounded serious while he stated those
words. But before jumping into some serious stuffs or learnings, I would love
to state here how my day started. “This is IT”. Those words kept running on my
mind last June 17, 2014. It was the second meeting of our class on the subject
Technopreneurship 1 but it was the first time for me to attend the class. I was
a bit agitated because surely I would face the consequence for not attending
the class on the first meeting. The class started and my assumptions did not
failed me. I, together with the absents from the first meeting were asked to go
infront. I was super nervous at that time because, I think, until now, I'm not
used to standing in front of many people. I thought Our facilitator would let
us perform but he just let us explicited our reasons for being not able to
attend the class from the previous meeting.
But behind those very embarrassing moments, I think our Our facilitator
was just trying to "boost" our self-confidence. Of course, this
course requires a lot of guts and self-confidence since it's about technology
entrepreneurship, not just programming and computer language. And honestly it
was a good "opening remarks" since we are not-so-well acquainted with
each other. It was also good because it brightens up the atmosphere inside the
gloomy classroom. After some sort of explanations and exchanged of advice from Our
facilitator, the class proper started. We talked about Technopreneurship. A
combination of the words “technology” and “entrepreneurship”. What do these
words entail? “Technology is the discipline dealing with the art or science of
applying scientific knowledge to practical problems while entrepreneurship
on the other hand is is the process of identifying and starting a new business
venture, sourcing and organizing the required resources, while taking both the
risks and rewards associated with the venture”(cr. WordWeb and Wikipedia).
These words made me wonder of how technology and entrepreneurship coincide
because I used to inline entrepreneurship with businesses such as restaurants
and marketing. The first thing that
caught my attention was from Our facilitator’s thoughts about what
technopreneurship is, “technopreneurship is the key to earn money through the
use of technology in your own business”. Technopreneurship is the combination
of the word technology and entrepreneurship, where it means business”.
Technopreneurship is then entrepreneurship in the field of high technology. When
I heard the word technopreneur, one thing that comes up in my mind is that,
what it is the difference of technopreneur from any other businessman? ... Now
I know, what differentiates a technopreneur from any other businessman is the
way a technopreneur operates his business, the way a technopreneur assesses his
understanding to his business as well as his readiness and ability to manage
his proposed endeavor. Technology is broad and it innovates from time to time.
When I reached my college years, I have been exposed to a new world.
High-technology world. With computers and stuff (and the mind-boggling
programming). It was this (Information Technology) course that led me to the
inner depths of how technology works wonders, like the Internet. I’ve learned
that Internet doesn’t only serve as an online database or virtual form of
information, but also it is capable of handling businesses, which is called
e-commerce. Wow. What’s more is that you can actually put up a business on your
own with a minimal capital or no capital at all! Let’ just say that the
Internet connection and computer unit is your capital, and that’s all! Super
wow! This idea (and this fact) is what made me interested in business. That’s
why I’ve been learning some online earning opportunities like how to earn
dollars just by making a blog with click-on advertisements, and even writing
articles for websites. As an IT student as what I have heard from one of
our professor when we graduate as an IT professional, we are more connected to
the people and also in technology. Based on my understanding about
Technopreneurship it is applying a Technology on a Business where Business and
Technology meets. As I based today, I don’t really have any ideas of what would
be my business all about because I am still studying and gaining more knowledge
about the Technopreneurship. So, for me being an IT student, if I were given a
chance of having a business I think I would prefer to have a business like
making a Webpage or shall we say a Web Developer of some Advertising Services
or any kind of products that needs a Webpage in order to advertise their
products through the internet. Why I pick this kind of Technopreneurship, it is
because that since I am an IT student and since I have knowledge of how to make
a webpage then I could apply it on my Business which is a Web
Developing. Thoroughly considering the viewers or target market, as well
as defining the purpose and deciding what content will be developed, are
extremely important. In order for me to have this kind of Technopreneurship,
there are things that I must be considered, a room for me to do the encoding, a
computer or a laptop in order for me to encode and the presence of mind in
order me to have a fine-looking and functional webpage. All I have to do is to
believe that everything will be impossible in the world of technology, more
than ever through looking at the innovated tactics of technology now. The second thing that amazed me was the
kind of thinking that our facilitator have. His efforts on making computer
courses made known to south is a no-joke at all. I was affected with wonder on
how he was able to come up with that idea. Instead of going to a better place
to nurture his knowledge and enrich his learnings, he chose to stay and
proposed another way to help the innovation in the south. He thought for the
common good of all. He thought out of the box. Pretty sure.
Our facilitator gave us a quiz
about connecting the nine dots using only 4 strokes without raising the pen. At
first, I felt excitement in my heart because I was a bit challenged. I liked
mind-games. Just as our facilitator was explaining the directions about the
quiz, I was already imagining the strategies that I would do in order to solve
the quiz. As he queued us to begin, there was an excitement in my heart as I
drew the dots and connected it. Every stroked I made, I put my heart into it.
There was joy while I was holding the pen and trying to connect those dots on
the first tries that I did. Later, after the many tries, I struggled. I was
having a hard time figuring out the way to solve it. I was puzzled and closed
to being hopeless. Those attempts failed. I almost occupied the whole page of
the paper. I stopped for a while and looked at those attempts I did. It was
quiet messy. Our facilitator was asking us if we were already done. That made
myself pressured. I took the pen again and tried more but it ended up not well.
It was unresolved. There was a little bit of disappointment in myself. My other
classmates were able to solve it. I was amazed but half of my heart felt like
or asked like “Where on Earth did they took their knowledge or wisdom to solve
it?”. Our facilitator called random students to go infront and show how they
were able to connect it. Many tried but only few got it correctly. He asked the
one who got it right about what he could say in connecting the dots. Those 5
words captured my attention, he said, “THINK OUT OF THE BOX!”. When I heard it,
my initial reaction was like “Really?”, “Seriously?” but after a few moment I
realized that he was right. He was able to connect it by overlapping to the
boundaries of the dots. Realizations came into my mind though not right after
the quiz. It took me a day to comprehend things out. Before I went to sleep
that day, I recapped and tried to discern what was the message of those five
words for me. “THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!”, many questions arised in my mind that
moment and then later I realized that the reason for me not to be able to solve
it was that I was and “am” a very “close-minded” person. I always followed the
norms of the society. I always inline myself as to what the people around me
has to say, to what the society accepts and to what the society used to do. I
incorporated every decision I made as to what he society or the people around
me told to do so. To “think outside the box” is much more easier to say than
done. Not all people have that kind of free-way thinking. It is not just a
click away for someone to change his/her ways. It’s not just a simply mindset
but a lifestyle instead. As I go through discernment about not being a
close-minded person, I have come with a realization of considering it as an art
and this is where my creativity should manifest. Everything that I will do, I must
not just settle for what is good but what is best instead. I must think
creative ways that will make what I am doing be great. Even if it is just a
small thing, I must be innovative to make it a big package. The ordinary things
that I will do must be executed in an extraordinary way for me to be able to
excel in whatever or whichever track I take. The mundanes of this world has so
much to say about what life must be spend. For me, I have found atleast one of
the ways to spend well my life. To think outside the box as I confine my
current way of thinking. I have my own box to live with. I have my own box to
define. I have my own box to discover. I have my own box to develop. I have my
own box to make great. I have my own box to be think of outside without getting
out of that box. I may sound so obscure about my point but what I am trying to
say is that to think outside the box depends on the way I perceive things. Yes,
it’s “thinking things out”, why and how I think that way. I have found
understanding how and why I think the way I do about something to bring
valuable insights. It allows me to challenge myself when I better understand
the ways I am likely to be led astray or hindered with my own thinking.Thinking
a bigger picture of the current situation or scenario I am into. This may not
be easy to do. In learning there are no limitations; all of us must think
positively and across the line. We must not limit our self to learn and set it
with no boundaries. And also I came to realize that following a simple instruction
makes a work successfully done. Whatever instruction it is – simple or complex.
It would be easy when you follow
the instructions carefully. These most common words that we meet halfway
almost in our schooldays marks every inch of our lives, though it is simple but
do have a countless impact in our separate lives.
"Go to school, get good
grades, land in a high-paying job." This is the usual mindset that most
people have about formal education. Parents send their children to school with
this mindset. Students imbibe this mindset and carry it with them until
college. Most schools subscribe to and support this mindset. It is like a
default mindset. We can formally call it the employment mindset. The results of
this mindset can be beneficial and can also be destructive depending on one’s
point of view. In schools that are subscribe with this mindset, in their
perspective, this is beneficial. Schools with this mindset just have the same
perspective as with our parents who have this mindset. Parents will be proud of
their children’s success as well as the school will take pride with their best
graduates that sought after by companies, offering them some compensation. The
best graduates of the school then will be provoked to go to other places or to big
cities and landed in high paying jobs. Then the average graduates of the school
are left in their place they have graduated, finding hard to earn great income.
The schools then are very proud of their graduates who excel in the companies
they are working for. Our best graduates do help in the development of the big
cities, but not in the place where they are from. Industries in their hometown
remain thin and the development is in a very slow pace. We know we have these
best graduates they can help develop and improve our industries not their but
ours.
Depends on the point of view the
result of the usual mindset can be beneficial or can be destructive. In the
case of beneficial as we all know the best graduates of a school will offer
them attractive compensation by the companies in which these companies are
located in the Manila and Cebu which are the prosperous urban cities. In this
case Davao City is not included which only means that the best graduates of the
Davao City has been used by the other places of the Philippines. If you are one
who offered this kind of salary you will definitely grabbed it. On the other
hand the average graduates are just remain in Davao finding hard to land on a
good paying jobs and find themselves following the path of their better
classmates. The school will also be proud when they get feedback that their
student excel on the company that they working on but however it is destructive
to have this kind of reality that the best graduates of our city has been
helping for the development of the other places but not our place which is the
Davao City. It’s hard to accept that Educators of the Davao City help the
students to be the best but other places used them for their own benefit. The
industries of Davao remain poor while the other places industries remain
growing that will lead for them to become prosperous. Will we just follow this
kind of method? Not helping Davao to make the industry grow in better progress.
There is a better solution into which all the graduates will remain in their
own places and this is called the alternative mindset.
“Go to school, get good grades,
create and own a company."Use your knowledge, skills, core values,
creativity and passion to create and innovate through technology. These
statements offer an alternative mindset. We can formally call it the
technopreneurship mindset. Technopreneurship is entrepreneurship in the field
of high technology. It is the healthy interplay of technology ideas, technology
skills, management skills and the entrepreneurial mindset. It starts with an
idea, which when pursued, has the capacity to be transformed into a viable
technology-based enterprise. The cultivation and nurturing of this alternative
mindset can start in schools. A technopreneurship track in the IT curriculum
can prepare students to be budding technopreneurs. The alternative mindset
in what we call the technopreneurship mindset it is a mindset that a few
graduates followed. A mindset, in which we went to school, gets good grades and
after that creates and owns a company. For you to be able to create a company
you just have to use your knowledge, skills, core values, creativity and
passion to create and innovate through technology. In this way we will be able
to contribute and get involved for the technological development of the Davao
City. As we all know this mindset talks about technopreneurship,
technopreneurship is an entrepreneurship in the field of high technology. This
kind of mindset leads to the following benefits. Firstly, our graduates will
remain in Davao to pursue their technology based business plans as their
start-up in technology business incubators. The venture capitalists will invest
in their high technology products, this is a great help especially when you
don’t have enough money for the investment. The start-ups mature into stable IT
enterprises and eventually locate in IT parks and buildings. Right now some IT
incubators have been created that was started by the Brokenshire College. In
this project it helps the graduated students to start developing their business
plan and make it come true. They are free to use the computers for one year but
they have to make sure that they will be able to finish the said project. You
will be able to avail if your business plan is acceptable for them. If lots of
IT parks and buildings will be created there will be lot of investors that will
be attracted. So meaning the IT industry will be growing in progress. The
graduates now will decide to build their careers and families in Davao, to
decide to stay in our place. Those graduates who left Davao will return and
decide to take a root in here. In result Davao City will become a home of
highly competent and efficient IT professionals. The City will become
prosperous just like Cebu and Manila. There will be lot of job creation. This
means that lot of unemployed where be able to get a job. Davao City now will
become the IT hub and capital of Mindanao. In order to sustain the
scenario made by the alternative mindset they made the Macro strategy into
which the technopreneurship ecosystem will be in place that requires the
synergy of the academe, IT industry, government and the business community.
This synergy will sustain with the following components. The technopreneurship
programs in the academe, technology-business incubators, venture capitalists
and funding institutions, IT business incentives and the support legal
framework, IT parks and buildings, access to domestic and international
locators, IT enabled business enterprises and government agencies, IT enabled
hotels and tourists destinations and the IT-friendly real estate environment.
The synergy scenario is still far from reality but a lot of inroads have
already achieved towards this direction. The Davao City had already an
active IT academic community with the presence of PSITE-XI, CDITE-XI and
PSITS-XI. There are several schools as of the moment that have committed to
implement a technoproneurship course in their IT education programs in which
USEP is one of it and as far as I remember our professor also mentioned there
that USEP really made a good job during the competition. The IT industry is now
in good hands with ICT Davao, Inc., the umbrella organization of all IT
organizations in Davao. To date, we have one IT incubation center in the campus
of the Brokenshire College. We also have one IT Park at the Damosa property
while NCCC Mall is had an IT Zone at the fourth floor. We also had a lot of
establishments providing free wi-fi access to customers. Mostly of these are
the cafes in what I’ve just observed of the establishments that we had here in
Davao City. A number of locators have already set up camp in the city and
there are others following soon. Things seem to be falling in the right place
but the big challenge is how to sustain the emerging synergy and eventually
maintain the ecosystem. So that Davao City will be the next prosperous place in
the Philippines. Having to know these mindsets I came to realize that it is
indeed possible that after graduating from this course I could become not just
an an employee but I could be the employer. I have greater edge against others
because I have the technology and today’s era is the technology era; the
information era. There is so much opportunity out there that I can grab all I
should do is go for it. I am so into the employee mindset that I forgot I could
make an employer out of myself; become a technopreneur.
Next, we were introduced to
the SEED model, SEED stands
for Self Mastery, Environment Mastery, Enterprise Mastery, and Development of a
Business plan. In our class Our
facilitator discussed a course model called SEED means:
S – Self Mastery
E – Environment Mastery
E – Enterprise Mastery
D – Development of Business Plan.
We had learned that one can
develop self – mastery first is to know yourself, because self – mastery brings passion. I must know myself in
order for me to know what I want in life. When I heard about self-mastery, I
quickly asked myself, “Do I really know you Sang?” “Who are you by the way?”. I
am the kind of person who loves to write. Yes, I am a writer wanna-be. To me,
writing is hard work. Painful sometimes.
I used words to write what I didn’t yet have the courage to say in my own
voice. I used words to mask opinions I was still too scared to own (I do
reflections tho). I often think about writing. I wonder why I do it. I’m a
writer-wanna be, just so you know. I used to wish of having hologram type of
journal so that wherever I go, I can write, I can document a story, I can
engrave an epistle of history. I’m one of those people that has started a
hundreds of journals, but never been able to maintain them. I’m one of those
people that loses them or dog ears them or rips out ideas and scribbles in the
corners and has a thousand different handwriting styles that it looks like a
thousand different people have scribbled their disjointed ideas all over the
blue lined pages… I reinvented myself so often in my teens and early twenties
(well I’m already 22) that old journals always felt like they were no longer
me. So I destroyed them or put them away or forgot to write in them and quickly
they became strange portraits of old versions of myself that existed in a
fleeting moment. That’s how I see myself when it comes to passion. It may be
very far out to connect when it comes to technopreneurship but for me to give
my best I should know my potential.
I was wrong when I thought that
success in life are always has more to do with education, great connections,
being intelligent and genius, and learning from those with more experience. Why
I was wrong? I just realized that these things alone are not enough to support
the factors needed to achieve success especially if you are a business minded
person. It requires more than just intelligence to be successful, success is
more dependent on one’s ability to create options and alternatives in life.
Some call it diskarte or the skill to be able to play one’s cards right no
matter how bad the cards one was dealt with. Whether you are a technopreneur or
entrepreneur it is necessary that we have the guts specifically acquiring the
personal traits needed to reach our goals. I may not know what lies ahead and
what is in for me, but I have visions and goals to achieve. Promises to
complete and missions to fulfill. I am always keeping my optimism. After all,
no one has ever damaged his eyesight by looking at the brighter side of life.
The future is very uncertain and vague. I hope I can get through. With lots of
things in mind and lots of possibilities, maybe someday I am going to be a
“Somebody” who owns a company related to a technology. A somebody who is
rumbling ideas coming up in my mind just like for example, prospering Nano
technology. The most profitable business today is selling high technology
weapons. On the darker side of the story, I can control the military by selling
robots (artificial intelligence and laser computers). Then, in the near future,
I will be the CEO or the owner of the renowned Cybernetic Corporation, a
company that manufactures robots. I will make more robots to be used for space
exploration, to discover the unanswered questions about the galaxy and space,
the behavior of heavenly bodies and characteristics and composition of the
planets and soon discover the undiscovered and know the unknown and fight the
answers to indefinable matters. I can also use my robots for war and rescue
operations. It would be funny to think that we are going to use robots for
wars, it would be like child playing with action figures. But it would not
bother conscience since that no human lives would be lost because robots will
be the ones to fight head on with other robots. Like Tony Stark in the movie
“Iron Man” who invented machine and sold it to war countries. But mine are
robots, robots versus between those never ending war countries. Then, if my
robots catch attention, then that would mean lots of buyers. With lots of
buyers, I will become rich, thanks to technology it matched with my special
skills. I will improve and update my robots from time to time and sell them
with higher prices. Then my name would be known and I’m going to gain lots of
money.
The thing that I least-liked in
the sharing was the fact that the graduates that were trained here in Davao
were mostly hired outside of the city. “Ako ang nagbayo at nagsaing, iba ang
kumain.” That were the words uttered by Our facilitator himself. It made me
realized how unjust the circumstance was. Teachers here in Davao molded the
graduates to be competitive and firm enough to face the world and contribute
innovations yet on the latter, those graduates will not be able to showcase
their talents and skills here in their native hometown. Someone worked hard for
something yet benefited nothing form it. This somewhat gave a heartsore in me.
It’s a no-joke to exert effort and give your best to train someone yet you’ll
gain nothing from it. It’s like a useless effort. I am not against those
graduates, infact I understand them. All they want to do is to have a better
life that’s why they grab the opportunity of working from afar to have bigger
salary. If I were on their shoes I would do the same too. It’s a practicality
matter. An opportunity knocks only ones and if it does so grab it. I don’t
dislike them but what makes me feel antipathy is the idea of.
In my own conclusion to be an
pioneering in a field of technology one should be think out of the box, one
should think about innovations because Logic answer why and creativity answers
why not.
