Investing in a small business

20k is not much to invest in. None of the skils you listed will offer jobs in the Phils, there are many who will do the same for less.

Maybe an expat style bar or restaurant in areas like olangapo, AC, certain areas in Makati.  If your willing to buy a gogo bar, plenty of people selling in AC or Burgos S, but dangerous. Do not do some sari sari store or small local eatery, wont make more then 10 a day, net.

I didn't say I want to become a millionaire, just make enough to live a simple life on. I have traveled all over the Philippines and all over Luzon by motorcycle, I was thinking about offering adventure holidays to foreigners.

MULLIGAN wrote:

I didn't say I want to become a millionaire, just make enough to live a simple life on. I have traveled all over the Philippines and all over Luzon by motorcycle, I was thinking about offering adventure holidays to foreigners.

20,000 USD is more than enough to start your own small to medium scale business.  With that capital, you may start whole sale business. Get some goods from abroad or even from the provincial manufacturers and re-sell or distribute it in Manila to smaller businesses.  It's not enough to buy properties you will need for office or warehouse but it's enough if you will rent. You may search commercial spaces for rent in Sulit.ph website.

You also may buy a stall-type business which works well in transit areas. Simple food carts can earn more or less 5,000 PHP per day.  Some popular and branded carts have franchise fees around 300K.  Those who are less popular are priced lower than that.  Its easy to find info on the internet and get free consultation from franchisors you like.

There are lots of business opportunities for you with that amount.   Manila is not that expensive anyway. You just need to research a little and be careful with people to deal with.

I've put up my own small seasonal business for a while with a small capital, I also did a little research regarding business.   

As for jobs for foreigners here in Manila, try searching and applying for international companies like HP, Citibank. They at least, could offer a fair offer for you.  Most employers here post jobs opening on Jobstreet Philippines or JobsDB. You may also use those sites to apply for jobs.

Hello there.

This is my first post here. I'm also a Brit & i've been here in Philippines 2 months now.

I've been researching doing business here myself, initially looking at a food cart franchise (just to test the water).

However i'm a little confused about some of the advice that is being given here, i'm not sure whether others are confused or just ignorant of some of the laws or perhaps assumptions are made that you have a Filipino wife. For the record i do not.

Anyway, from what i gather with many business's there is the 60 Filipino / 40 Foreign investment rule, ok if you have a partner & I have friends here I think i can get on or two BUT crucially it appears that retail is one of the exceptions where in fact you can't invest unless you have > $2.5m.

Obviously there are foreign run retail business everywhere here, so what gives?

Am i missing something, can i open a retail business with a Filipino partner with < $2,5m?

It is rather confusing & i would really like to get to the bottom of it.


Thanks



Nick

You don't really have to have a Filipina GF to put up a business here. That is, if you are willing to take a risk.

There are numerous foreign businesses here that gets a Filipino to be the owner of business but only in the papers, the foreign owner still controls the business and gets all the profit.   

You have this choice, or marry a Filipino/a, or get a Filipino business partner and bear with the 40% share.

Why not open a landscaping business and also agriculture services as you have experience in this field. maybe construction services too is also good.

skype : alex_ng73

hello
i know philippines i ve stay there 6 months but i think for ve better life is do buseness for ve better salary and i think open restaurant bar is good ,if u need help or information i can help me too ll like stay there and i work in restaurant but if open buseness need take care ok if can help u welcome or give advise

Hi!

Your plan is very nice, however, why do you have to buy an existing business when you can actually open up a new one, its juts that you have to make sure of your partner. send me queries on my inbox if you have any questions that needs definite answers i might be of help. You just have to take care of the people around you and who goes with you always. Its not Europe that you are familiar, remember that there are people who are advantageous of what you are. I have been servicing expats who lived here and guide them till they get a hang of whats the reality here.

Take care!

Mike

Hi Mulligan,

investing in visayas and running a business is typically more cost effective.  consider also that any food business is likely to thrive and being well traveled like you are,i think you can put a pretty good restaurant with a nostalgic and fun feel to it.

despite what many think, 20k usd can be good enough, but it really boils to whether it's good enough for what returns you're expecting.

some options just off the top:
wholesale - go over to yiwu in china, bring down some items which you or your wife think would be best selling and more in demand, and try that avenue...

retail shops - clothing and/or shoes, electronics, sundries (but well stocked)

taxi franchise - sandbagged can bring you approx 10 to 15k and more per month per taxi.

light construction and maintenance contractor - for astute gated communities. many gated communities even magallanes village seriously need to overhaul their maintenance crew.

Internet cafes are possible - we just sold ours with 50-terminals for 900k, but this business is most successful when located near a few schools.

the list really can go on but these few ideas just rattled off the top of my head.  i will be back in philippines very soon, if you wish we can meet at a starbucks anywhere in the country and just exchange some ideas.

if you're new to the philippines, please try to avoid any lending business or that where you extend a credit facility to your clients, atleast until you have a firm understanding of how the country works.  becareful also who knows how much you got, you will get lots of request to borrow monies.

Hi Mulligan,

Another option, is to invest in condos, foreigners are allowed to own condos as long as the ownership follows the 60% of the condo units of the entire project should be owned by Filipinos, 40% owned by foreigners. You can buy them cheap during the pure selling stage and sell it when its completed or you can lease it out on a short term or long term basis, allowing you to recoup investment plus profit in a short amount of time.I only recommend Ayala or Rockwell though since quality wise, it's superior to all the rest.

hello
i think kind buseness is good do restaurant,and if u need help i can help u i work in restaurant and i ll like sta in phil too

You could convert that to steady earning of 50-90k per month, that's what I've been doing for years already here but I don't want to post publicly here anything.

I could give advices personally (FREE OF CHARGE of course).

Unless your buying into an existing business like a restaurant or club, it will take up to one year to establish yourself and make returns. So you have to budget all the costs and no returns.

I lot of people suggest import, very difficult these days. BoC is clamping down on imports, will be difficult until after next election in 2016. Plus a lot of under the table costs (bribes) that a new foreigner will get burned at. Unless they are suggesting buying goods at SR mart (like Sams Club) and reselling individual sachets in sari sari stores. Would make very little and requires a lot of work.

If you have $20k, you would be good to make a return of 14% in the Phils.   Is this your expectation of enough money - $2800 per year or about p115k per year. Is that enough to support the simple life (less than p10k per month). Do your sums. Too many people come over and run out of money.

I have come across your question and saw that no one ever really gave you a direct answer on what business to invest in, how to do it and how muchyou could actually earn from it realistically.


I'm Krizzie, I'm a young enterpreneur, I have tried a lot of business ventures in the past. I have a few insights and I would like to share them with you if you and your girlfriend are open minded.


You can contact me through ***

or send me and email through ***


Hope to hear from you guys soon.

Hello krizzieenrile.

Welcome to Expat.com

You could also share these insights with us on the forum, it might help the other members.

Thanks.

Karen

snarkychick wrote:

Hi Mulligan,

Another option, is to invest in condos, foreigners are allowed to own condos as long as the ownership follows the 60% of the condo units of the entire project should be owned by Filipinos, 40% owned by foreigners. You can buy them cheap during the pure selling stage and sell it when its completed or you can lease it out on a short term or long term basis, allowing you to recoup investment plus profit in a short amount of time.I only recommend Ayala or Rockwell though since quality wise, it's superior to all the rest.

Agree that Ayala and Rockwell are amongst the best, as is Shang.  However, the opening poster's $20k wouldn't come close to being able to purchase a condo from one of those developers.

At most, it would buy a mid-range studio in an older building on the outskirts of one of the central business districts.

Your Englishman and well traveled. Check out tourism industry... it is booming in P.I.! El Nido package tour alone is selling like hot cakes! More than 50% of well known travel and tours that provide this tours are owned by foreigners.

touristdriver wrote:

Your Englishman and well traveled. Check out tourism industry... it is booming in P.I.! El Nido package tour alone is selling like hot cakes! More than 50% of well known travel and tours that provide this tours are owned by foreigners.

i was actually looking into this. maybe hooking up with a few restaurants and hotels to package as a vacation dela and market in the U.S. im sure it has been done before but i feel if it's marketed right to the younger generations it will click. i alone have backpacked through europe with nothing other than my backpack, cash and the shirt on my back. so why not rent a house in the phillipines and turn it into a international boarding house for tourists and offer tours and restaurant packages that lasts 2 weeks. anyone want to jump on this idea with me. i only have maybe $7000USD to invest in starting a business in the phillipines. im crossed between a restobar, happy hour dive bar, or customer service call center (no sales).

snarkychick wrote:

Hi Mulligan,

Another option, is to invest in condos, foreigners are allowed to own condos as long as the ownership follows the 60% of the condo units of the entire project should be owned by Filipinos, 40% owned by foreigners. You can buy them cheap during the pure selling stage and sell it when its completed or you can lease it out on a short term or long term basis, allowing you to recoup investment plus profit in a short amount of time.I only recommend Ayala or Rockwell though since quality wise, it's superior to all the rest.

hello snarky=) what would I have to do to become a realestate agent int he phillipines. I have great sales skills. have sold buicks here in america and told people it rides like a lexus.lol

Slippedisc wrote:

Hello there.

This is my first post here. I'm also a Brit & i've been here in Philippines 2 months now.

I've been researching doing business here myself, initially looking at a food cart franchise (just to test the water).

However i'm a little confused about some of the advice that is being given here, i'm not sure whether others are confused or just ignorant of some of the laws or perhaps assumptions are made that you have a Filipino wife. For the record i do not.

Anyway, from what i gather with many business's there is the 60 Filipino / 40 Foreign investment rule, ok if you have a partner & I have friends here I think i can get on or two BUT crucially it appears that retail is one of the exceptions where in fact you can't invest unless you have > $2.5m.

Obviously there are foreign run retail business everywhere here, so what gives?

Am i missing something, can i open a retail business with a Filipino partner with < $2,5m?

It is rather confusing & i would really like to get to the bottom of it.


Thanks



Nick

it's the second time i heard the term "food cart" is that an equivalent to a taco truck here in the US. if so im so in

MULLIGAN wrote:

I didn't say I want to become a millionaire, just make enough to live a simple life on. I have traveled all over the Philippines and all over Luzon by motorcycle, I was thinking about offering adventure holidays to foreigners.

If you can offer an "off the beaten path tour" then go for it... you can start with 1 PC, internet connection, telephone and fax machine. Your place will be your temporary office. A website will be important too.

Maybe go to El nido... get familiarize with everything. Come up with a package that differs from others or similar to TAO expedition but cost less.

If you want to venture in tourism... pm me.

touristdriver wrote:

MULLIGAN wrote:

I didn't say I want to become a millionaire, just make enough to live a simple life on. I have traveled all over the Philippines and all over Luzon by motorcycle, I was thinking about offering adventure holidays to foreigners.

If you can offer an "off the beaten path tour" then go for it... you can start with 1 PC, internet connection, telephone and fax machine. Your place will be your temporary office. A website will be important too.

Maybe go to El nido... get familiarize with everything. Come up with a package that differs from others or similar to TAO expedition but cost less.

If you want to venture in tourism... pm me.

do you have skype tourist driver?

A food cart is exactly what it sounds like. Cart that you push and usually has a small propane bottle to heat oil and cook small items like fish balls. Its a very small business, say you make 5 pesos profit per transaction, would have to sell a lot of fish balls to be able to live here.

Your next question will be what is a fish ball? Ground up parts of fish you would not eat, and then roll into a ball and heat up. Smaller than a golf ball but tastes about the same.

dhnindc wrote:

A food cart is exactly what it sounds like. Cart that you push and usually has a small propane bottle to heat oil and cook small items like fish balls. Its a very small business, say you make 5 pesos profit per transaction, would have to sell a lot of fish balls to be able to live here.

Your next question will be what is a fish ball? Ground up parts of fish you would not eat, and then roll into a ball and heat up. Smaller than a golf ball but tastes about the same.

oh yes i remember those fishball carts in the phillipines when i was young. man those fishballs are good. they use to let you dip it in all kinds of sauce. its like 4 fishballs on a stick.. i could imagine it is hard to earn good money doing that. maybe theres a way to make a small street venue restaurant where you can prop upand set up like 2 tables. just serve food. not that i plan to do that. a friend texted me last night and suggested that I offer business equipment to small business starting up. i don't know if theres a credit system in the phillipines like what we have here in the US. to obtain most essential things of living here in the states you need to have good credit score. I was planning on acquiring alot of computers, printers and laptops. i plan to finance them out to small business with incentives. another is imported furnitures to the phillipines. what do you guys think?

dhnindc wrote:

A food cart is exactly what it sounds like. Cart that you push and usually has a small propane bottle to heat oil and cook small items like fish balls. Its a very small business, say you make 5 pesos profit per transaction, would have to sell a lot of fish balls to be able to live here.

Your next question will be what is a fish ball? Ground up parts of fish you would not eat, and then roll into a ball and heat up. Smaller than a golf ball but tastes about the same.

*************************

Maybe the best post on the thread.

And the most sensible too...

The import duties will kill you. You have to source locally.

Never extend credit to small mom and pop shops. There is no way to do a credit check and probably 90% of start ups fail.

by the way, if you folks like the internet as way to earn, here is an american company with expats based in PH building niche passive revenues sites - http://empireflippers.com/premium-site- … nal-niche/ .

dhnindc wrote:

The import duties will kill you. You have to source locally.

Never extend credit to small mom and pop shops. There is no way to do a credit check and probably 90% of start ups fail.

is there a way the bank can extend a LC (line of credit) to the person who wants to finance it. basically the bank pays me off while the customer pays the bank off?

You would need to be able to substantiate to the bank that the goods you sold have value as collateral, place a lien on such goods and then give the lien to the bank. They do not have such commercial activities that I am aware of at any of the local banks (BDO, BPI, Metro, etc) unless it was cars or similar high value.

There is no legal system in place to place liens or such. Even buying a property can be a hassle because cant do a proper title search.

dhnindc wrote:

You would need to be able to substantiate to the bank that the goods you sold have value as collateral, place a lien on such goods and then give the lien to the bank. They do not have such commercial activities that I am aware of at any of the local banks (BDO, BPI, Metro, etc) unless it was cars or similar high value.

There is no legal system in place to place liens or such. Even buying a property can be a hassle because cant do a proper title search.

seems like a business oppurtunity to offer such service and work with foreign bankers. one needs to establish a lien type banking service. kick money to politicians to get the ball rolling in creating laws for lien sale. your looking at the next payal

Hi, if you have knowledge with Stocks, I think that would a good start for you and once youve familiarized with the different businesses in the country, then you can start with a larger type of business.

And also I think you can rent out farm lands that you can start with your agricutural business, from what i've known you can invest on it about 300-500k all in all. but you might want to double check on the price again.

Bang -bang, Sorry but I don't skype. There's a plan for meet up... if it's on then we can meet there instead.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=292029

MULLIGAN wrote:

Hi,

Like you I just want to live a simple live in this beautiful country and it's culture.

I think it's foolish to assume that if you quit your job abroad, come here to the Philippines and start a business, your life would be simpler. Running a  business is more complex than having a day job.

Have you tried running a business in the US? It's more complicated opening one here than in the US, at least for me.

FilAmericanMom wrote:

MULLIGAN wrote:

Hi,

Like you I just want to live a simple live in this beautiful country and it's culture.

I think it's foolish to assume that if you quit your job abroad, come here to the Philippines and start a business, your life would be simpler. Running a  business is more complex than having a day job.

Have you tried running a business in the US? It's more complicated opening one here than in the US, at least for me.

*********************************

" Running a  business is more complex than having a day job. "

Yep, yep, and yep...

hi,
if you want a good suggestion
go back on you work ,and pleas dont believe any filipino who tell  you they want help you
i said  this because is happen to me and they go with the money and i have nothing more now

that 60-40 % is bullshit. foreigners can not engage in retail business here. of no type. accountants and locals will fool you that you can do lotsa things but you can not. I made the same mistake, lost around 20k euros, now I am trying to get rid of my shares in the company. be very careful. engaging in retail is not allowed to foreigners, you can only make wholesale. or import export, but then again, customs here is hell, just like other offices. and if you do not have a loving philippino wife, a super trust worthy one, on whose name you can put up your business, just buy a ticket and run away from this country!!! my husband and I invested on a food business, his ex philippino employer sold him out, and now he is in detention for 10 days to be deported. it took me 10 days to manage to reach his nbi clearance. inside is full of enthusiastic expats, with little money and love for this country... seriously, your skills are meaningless here (sorry to tell) your money is good, but still not enough to have the necessary permissions. you need 75k dollars to have your name on papers, and this money will be blocked in a bank... so don't be naive. all the government offices will approve your 40% but it is not legal in the eyes of the immigrations, and it takes one filipino to sell you out. reason may be: you don't give him-her money, you succeed, you become competition blah blah...4 years here, I paid the price for loving this country. go away while you can....

[Moderated: Link was inappropriate.]

this place is full of expats with little money and a philippino girl friend. some are there for years. please be more than careful. I would never imagine, such place existed, but it does and it is real. it is not worth to change your life and take such risk. always take the advice from expats. always!!!!

Hi Mr. Muiligan,

Have you decided on what kind of investment are you going to do? Its seem like many of our members have contributed ideas to you. I hope these ideas are useful and honest to you.

You've a bright eye sight of the Philippine's economy, it's coming up steadily and at a pace which no one could have noticed. Give Phil another 4 to 5 years and it will be on ti feet again. I have seem and noticed this a few years back and I have applied and got my Filipino citizenship last year and it took 3 years to acquired it.

My very honest suggestion is don't do any business for now. You used your money to apply for a Filipino citizenship and once you have got it then it is heaven for you. You can do a lot of things and I am sure you are much better than most of the local here. But you must have a Filipina spouse in order to achieved this.

My reason for telling you this is that I heard and saw many foreigners like us get cheated or con by sweet talking people who befriend and make you trust them. Please don't by any condo or properties before you get your citizenship. Don;t let nice talks that make you part your monies on a condo that promise good returns in the Makati CBD areas. The properties bubbles are at its peak and when it burst than we all in trouble or maybe you wait till it bursted than you can buy a good condo at a good price eh?

As you see that  didn't recommend or suggest to you to do this or that or etc...? Never do small or medium business in the province area cost the spending power of people there aren't as good as those in Manila..unless you are a MNC company there.

I hope my small contribution can help you in some way and I wish you best of luck in your future endeavour. By the way My name is Michael Chiang and I am a retiree from Singapore...good luck to you.