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rafic50

Anybody knows about fishing business in a small scale>
i am wondering if I buy a second hand fishing boat in Iloilo , around 250.000 p , and rent it out to fishermen, can I make my living from it ?  thank you

mikaelarhelger

Assess the risks to rent out anything to anyone who basically have no money. Ask yourself why nobody else has tried it yet. Is it working anywhere else in Phillipines with any fishing or farm related equipment? I do not question your notice neither am I against your ideas because I one had similar ideas ( rice harvesting ) but was never sure and not being local I feel we are usually at the loosing end here.

rafic50

thanks for your reply. Yes i am aware its risky. but I believe that if they have the capital they would do it. I am not sure , confused . But I like to live in Philippine ,  . right now I live in Sweden and its very expensive.

mikaelarhelger

Ok why fishing? I am German and used to live in Hong Kong for 34 years before moving here about 10 month ago. Best to work in a BPO (I am doing it now although I am still running some software business and Bitcoin mining) that demands your language (ie Swedish) in Manila or new ones coming up.

rafic50

sorry but whats BPO ,   dont laugh at me :)

rafic50

I was in Manila few times, I didn't like living there , I prefer calm places with sea beside . I know it can be typhoons sometimes :) I know some people in ILOILO , I wanna try there . I have been studying the fishing business, the second hand boat is about 250.000 pesos , and it gives about 1000p a day if I rent it out . Iam not sure but I wanna try especially that it doesn't need much capital in beginning . yes my language is Swedish but I don't know if its of any use there , I also know Arabic . Thank you and keep in touch

mikaelarhelger

BPO = Business Process Outsourcing; The most common business in Philippines (Manila, Clark, Davao, Cebu)

mikaelarhelger

Swedish and Arabic could be useful in a BPO (similar to call center).

However, having your own business is always nice but there are issues with registration, ownership (60% needs to be local etc.) Then again I am sure you know this.

rafic50

thank you for the useful information , i really appreciate it so much

mikaelarhelger

NP. Furthermore: You need to decide what type of boat you are looking at. Usually there is one "mother-boat" with three other boats, including a "lawagan" that does the transportation of fish (complete set ~ Php 1.1 - 1.3 mio). The trailer doing the fishing 24/7 is about Php250k - Php700k or so (depending on budget and size).  Then you have another boat transporting the people. Source: My wife from Samar, Daram ( she knows coming from a fishing village :) ) and https://goo.gl/vFAvsD.

Petersan

Hi Rafic50,

When you say that you know some people in Iloilo, the question is, do you know them well enough to the point of being able to trust them to assist you if you encounter any problems in Iloilo?

There are a lot of good locals but being a foreigner, there is always the tendency of being made into a milking cow by people around you pretending to help. 

You mentioned something like P1,000 (US$20) a day rental income - where did you get this info? 
This in itself seems odd to me. 

1.  P1,000 out of a P250,000 investment = 250 days (8.5 months).
2. This amount is peanuts considering that you own the boat. 
3. What happened to the fish your boat catches? Who makes the money there?

I used to work/help out a European guy before with his idea of owning a fleet of fishing boats in North Luzon (I will spare the exact nationality (very near you're from) and the Phil. location details to protect identities).
He has a girlfriend there whom he entrusted to run his fishing boat business for him.
Long story short, he was left with just his briefs on.

When you own the boat, you own whatever fish it catches.
The fishermen are just contractors getting a percentage of the catch (say 10-20%).
Once the boat comes back with a load of fish, the next step is the selling part.
There will be a whole bunch of "middle men" with cash on their hands.
The real money is made by these middle men wherein they buy the fish cheap, transports them, and make the big bucks.
You can immediately learn to be the middle man as well if you choose to.

Therefore, if you are being relegated to just P1,000 a day, then essentially, you are the investor and somebody else is running the business with your investment. 
You will be able to survive with P1,000 a day in Iloilo but this is not a comfortable lifestyle.
If you are a retired guy and does not want to bother yourself with the day to day, and P250,000 (US$5,000) is peanuts to you, then by all means, sit back and relax and just wait for the rental money.

Some questions though,
- what happens if your boat does not go out for 3-5 days because of typhoon or weather disturbance? Do you still get your daily P1,000?
- what about maintenance of the boat, fuel, etc...?
- who are the people you are entrusting your boat to?  Are they family i.e. related to wife/GF? (if so, this creates an entirely new story altogether).
- as what Mika posted in one of his replies - if it is that easy, why hasn't anyone done it before?
- and why Iloilo, why not Palawan, Dumaguete, Cebu, Surigao, or elsewhere in Luzon?  I mean, almost every province in the Philippines is a fishing town.  There has to be a reason why you choose Iloilo, right?

Hope this gives you some insights on this "fishing expedition" of yours.
Good luck.

detgator

Unfortunately predominantly doing or "trying " to run a business in phill or especially entrusting people to run such is fraught with failure !!!!!! Phill is basically a cash society & ""greed "" is rife !!!!!

Petersan

The key to doing business in the Phils for an expat is to build relationship first before doing any business. Know your surroundings and people around you.
Do not be too trusting. 
If you're not hands-on, better not do the business.
It is always wise to handle the financials yourself.

GuestPoster140

hej
i was also in sweden and and now in philippines.you will give boat on rent after that no more boat. you will cry on sea shore where my boat ran away :sosad:

abiczoe

i think its risky .

Houston chris

Hard to try at here..its better if u lived and did on own or at least supervise the operations here..I had goldmine and clothing retails business...all positive.but trust when I left to states hurt both..I'm working on something major right now with sugar free calamansi juice and sugar free popsicles..also coffee..but hard to fimd production to move professionally..people move slow here n not wanting to say lazy but need direction consistently..if ur here directing then maybe u can .but I be live u have to be here at least first 3 years of operations or have a friend not from here or worker to manage

Houston chris

Hard to try at here..its better if u lived and did on own or at least supervise the operations here..I had goldmine and clothing retails business...all positive.but trust when I left to states hurt both..I'm working on something major right now with sugar free calamansi juice and sugar free popsicles..also coffee..but hard to fimd production to move professionally..people move slow here n not wanting to say lazy but need direction consistently..if ur here directing then maybe u can .but I be live u have to be here at least first 3 years of operations or have a friend not from here or worker to manage

rafic50

Thanks for the information and advice. I appreciate it

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