Episode 8 - Entrepreneur

Today we interview Fro, an entrepreneur and Chief Growth Officer for Prosperna Philippines. In this episode we learn that discipline matters in the workforce.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello! Welcome to the Careers for Kids podcast for kids learn careers. This is Maxwell Valencia.

(00:11):
And this is Henry Morrison. And today we have Fro, a Chief Growth Officer at Prospera Philippines.
Woohoo! Hi guys, good morning. Well it's morning here in the Philippines and I think it's early
evening in the U.S. right? Yeah, it's like 830 at night. Oh, there you go. Thanks for having me guys.

(00:35):
Yeah, no problem. We're excited to interview you today. Thank you for spending your time to be on
Careers for Kids. We hope you have a great interview. Now let's get started! Woohoo! Let's do it!
Tell us what you currently do right now. Okay, so my name is Fro. I am the Chief Growth Officer

(00:58):
for Prospera Philippines. And Prospera Philippines is a unsigned up e-commerce platform for small
and medium-scale businesses. Basically what our platform does is we provide small companies and
medium-sized companies with their own website builder that has an integrated payment gateway,

(01:24):
an integrated auto book shipping platform, in one sign-up model. And you guys here in the States
might be familiar with this company called Shopify. Oh yeah. So to simplify the analogy,
we are similar to Shopify to some extent. The difference being is our platform has been

(01:51):
developed by Filipinos in the Philippines. And we started this business back in 2020,
just before the pandemic. And so that's the company. As Chief Growth Officer, I am in charge of making
sure that I am able to help the business grow by getting the right clients, protecting the revenue,

(02:16):
and definitely the most important thing is managing our burn rate. Are you guys familiar
with what a burn rate is? Yeah. Okay, that's cool. It's got to be hard to start, like to grow a
business during the pandemic. Yes, like my dad. For some reason, my dad succeeded because he was

(02:39):
like a tech company and everyone was on their phones and stuff. Yes, technology really helps
like make sure that businesses continue to operate during the pandemic. For us, we were a bit
fortunate because when we launched our product, we didn't know that there was going to be a

(03:02):
pandemic. So when we launched the product, we were able to help businesses not just operate,
but grow their businesses through creating their own online platform via Prosperna. So imagine this,
guys. We had during the pandemic, there were like restaurants and coffee shops and retail stores

(03:23):
that had to close down. But because we offered them their own e-commerce site, they were able to
operate and grow their businesses through their own online channel. So during the pandemic,
we were able to help 200 businesses continue to operate and even grow their businesses through

(03:44):
the pandemic. I like that. Yeah, that's an awesome thing to do is like a lot of small businesses
started like failing during the pandemic. That was, I know you didn't know a pandemic was coming,
but that you got really lucky timing. Yes. Yeah, the timing was there. And you know what they
always say, timing follows good luck, follows hard work. Yeah. Yep. So tell me more about your career

(04:12):
and how did you get to this position? Oh, okay. So that's very interesting. Well, number one,
I'm really an entrepreneur by heart. I started and grew my business through the pandemic.
I've had several businesses since I graduated from college. But before I get into that, I do have to

(04:36):
share with you guys that I did have two corporate jobs. One, I'm sure a lot of your audience in the
U.S. would know about, it's called Citibank. Back then, Citibank was one of the biggest banks
in the world. And that was my first corporate job. My second corporate job is in this company in the

(04:56):
Philippines called PLDT, which is similar to your AT&T and T-Mobiles in the U.S. So I'm saying this
because through those two companies, I was able to, with Citibank, I was able to learn more about
finance. And with PLDT, I was able to learn more about business development and how to help

(05:19):
companies grow. So I used those two experiences to start my own businesses. My first business
was a wine distribution company where we imported wines from Spain and distributed it here in the
Philippines. We started, I started that in 2005 with my best friend, and then we sold it off at 2010.

(05:42):
My second business was a neighborhood bar in a restaurant called Bugsy's. Yes, it was named after
the famous gangster Bugsy's Malone, right? And Bugsy's Feeble. So we operated five branches of that,
and finally we closed down the last branch in 2013. Ah, sorry, 2023. So it really exceeded our

(06:10):
expectations because bars and restaurants normally have a shelf life of two to five years,
but we were able to operate for 13 years. And then somewhere around 2015, 2016, one of my best friends
got me into consulting. So I started consulting for my friend's businesses, and I was doing

(06:38):
small projects here and there until I met the founder and CEO of Prosperina Philippines, Dennis.
And then when we started talking, he told me like, hey man, do you want to join me in this
journey to empower one million SMEs through digital e-commerce? And I said, I'm in. And that's how it started.

(07:03):
Crazy. Actually, if you were to ask Dennis, he would probably tell you that I didn't even interview
for you. He just wanted to in, and I had to say yes. And what part of your job do you enjoy the most
and dislike the most? Okay, the part of my job that I like the most, well, obviously seeing the

(07:25):
business grow, being able to get clients in, and the way I get clients is through, we call it one
is too many. So I'm not your regular salesman where I have to talk to clients one by one to sign them
up. But what I do is I do strategies. So instead of signing up clients one by one, I sign up clients

(07:46):
like five at a time, 10 at a time, 20 at a time. So that helps our business grow.
Right, so that helps our company grow faster. I like that challenge. Number two, I do enjoy seeing
clients succeed, especially during the pandemic. We had clients that lost their jobs,

(08:10):
but then they decided to start their own small business and through Prosperna, they were even
able to grow their jobs in such a way that they didn't want to go back to their own corporate
life. They just wanted to focus on their business. And finally, the third thing that I like about my
work is helping my teammates grow and help develop them to become better versions of themselves.

(08:37):
Because for me as a leader, I believe that one capability of a leader is making sure that the
people around me, I help create them, put them in a situation where they can succeed
the most. I like that. Go ahead. Keep tagging. Oh, so you also asked me what I dislike about my work, right?

(09:05):
Yeah. Well, there's not very many things that I dislike about work, but personally, I really
don't like long meetings. I like to keep my meetings nice and short. It's a challenge sometimes when

(09:26):
I deal with difficult clients or people who just love to listen to themselves and not really try
to have a conversation. And as you guys grow older and go on your own professional or entrepreneurial
journey, one of the skills that you have to learn is how to determine who are the real people

(09:54):
and who are people who are just like too much ego. Yeah, I hate people with egos.
Yeah. So there. How about you guys? How did you guys start this podcast of yours, Careers for Kids?
So basically, in like late 2022, around November, we had an idea of just starting a podcast.

(10:23):
There was no name for it. And we were both like, that's probably not going to happen. Just like I
thought, pushing into the back of our minds. But we thought about it for a little bit. And then it
kind of went silent for a little bit. Let's say in March, we started getting more involved. And then
in April, we decided to go all out and be like, you know, we are actually going to start doing this.

(10:47):
And in like the middle of April, we created our website and uploaded our first episode.
And then later that month, we had a second episode and then it kept going from there.
And now this is our eighth episode. Yeah. Well, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool.
Yeah. Go ahead, Maxwell. And in April, that's when I met Henry, who was interested. So I created it,

(11:12):
but didn't really do anything. But the sooner he joined me, we pushed together and we made this
podcast. Yeah. I knew you for a while before that. That's pretty cool. You know what? That's one thing
I also learned in my career. Having the right partner makes a huge difference in doing something

(11:36):
successful versus doing it on your own. Yeah. I think we were a good match because like,
this is just, so the other night we had like a problem with editing one of our episodes,
but we ended up working together and we got it out. Awesome. You'll be like Tom Brady and

(11:56):
the Gronk from multiple championships. But yeah, we're really excited to like
keep doing this together. Yeah. That's pretty awesome guys. Yeah. Let me know how I can help you.
Thank you. So do you guys have more questions for me? Yeah, we have. I think we have like

(12:20):
seven more. But so, go ahead. Was this the dream job you imagined yourself doing when you were a kid?
Oh, that's a very, very good question. I remember when I was a kid and I think a lot of kids have
this same dream. It was originally to become an astronaut or a cowboy, right? And then when I grew

(12:44):
older, when I was going to university, I originally wanted to become a lawyer.
And that's why my undergrad was legal management. But halfway through my university, when I was a
junior, I actually started working every summer. I'd always be in sales or me and my buddy would

(13:14):
set up a small business, you know, so that we, so long story short, every summer we would
hustle to make a little bit of extra money. And I even did like internships with
bigger companies. So that kind of changed my direction from being a lawyer to wanting to

(13:35):
become an entrepreneur. And when I graduated, that's when I started Citibank. And I'm very
thankful for Citibank because it really taught me a lot about relationship building, business
development, and most especially finance, right? And I was working with a lot of successful
businessmen from different industries who was giving me advice left and right and sharing

(14:01):
their experiences with me. So all the more that I wanted to become more of a businessman
and an entrepreneur than a lawyer.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't my... Go ahead.
Back to the summer, like back to the like you tried to make a couple extra bucks over the
summer. Like, you kind of like, I don't know what, like, I don't really know how to say it,

(14:27):
but like you worked extra hard in the summer. Me and Max are trying to do that, like not making
more money, but we're just trying to push out more episodes so we can get to more kids like faster.
But basically, it's hard because like there's a 12 hour time difference between us.

(14:47):
I know, I know.
I know, I know. I know, I know. I know anything worthwhile is hard because if everything was easy,
everybody would be doing it, right? Yeah. You know what I used to do back when I was
trying to hustle over summer? I used to sell doormats. Like the brand, I'm sure you're

(15:13):
familiar with the brand because it's a big company in the US. It's called 3M. It's the same
company that makes Post-Its, right? Yeah. And I used to peddle 3M mattresses door to door,
building to building in the entire city of Makati, which is the central business district

(15:34):
here in the Philippines. It's like a smaller version of New York, right? And I'd go to Blaze
without making any sale. And I'll be sweating because it's so hot here in the summer. But
every time I make a sale, I was so happy and it was just worth it. Who you made animals when

(15:55):
you were young? Like I'm interested. Like who inspired you? Well, number one was definitely
my grandfather, who was a soldier and a government employee. And he made sure that
my second inspiration, my dad was able to go to university. And then of course, my second

(16:21):
inspiration is my dad who really worked hard and worked smart to become the successful person that
he is. And one thing I learned from him is how to treat people properly, how to train them if they
need training, and just how to be friends with everybody. Outside the two of them, I would say

(16:46):
that I really study different people. I study entrepreneurs, I study businessmen and women,
I study world leaders and see what I can get from them to help me out on my own career.
So in general, why did you pick this job? What made you do this?

(17:12):
Well, number one, technology is really the go-to sector globally, right? I have been involved in
the startup industry since 2013. And during that time, I have to admit, I had no idea what people
were doing. And I slowly studied the entire industry. And when the opportunity came for me

(17:37):
to be part of my own startup, and I believed in my founder and CEO, Dennis, so I just decided to jump
and take the next plunge, right? Because I learned that opportunities will always come to you,

(17:58):
but you have to learn when to grab it and when to take the plunge. And sometimes you have to
not overthink it, right? If you feel that it's the right idea and you feel that you can do it,
feel that you can do it, even if you don't know 100% of the business yet, you take the plunge

(18:22):
and take action. And a lot of people did that, and they were successful at it, and then tried to do
the same thing. I like that. Yeah, I agree with Maxwell. I like that. So now Maxwell has another
question for you. What's your question, Maxwell? It's left on your career. What was the most, like,

(18:44):
biggest, giant highlight of your career? What would you be very proud of? Like, oh my god,
I'm so happy this happened. To be honest, so one of the things I like about my career really is
when I see people, when they have to leave the company.

(19:04):
Are you guys surprised with that answer?
I mean, I kind of am. I'm kind of not.
Okay, so the reason why is because as a startup, we can only offer them so much, right? Because

(19:26):
we're just starting up. And I've had a lot of people, really, really great individuals, hardworking,
smart, intelligent, who I've been working with for one and a half years, two years, and three years
already. And sometimes they have to leave, and they have to move on with their professional life.

(19:50):
Because more often than not, they get an offer from a bigger company that can give them
a bigger salary or a bigger compensation package. And I know that people have different priorities,
especially if they have families, right? So for me, I've done my job well. If my teammates,

(20:14):
if my colleagues, if my people are being offered better packages in higher positions
in other companies, that means I did my job well as a leader.
And for that, I am proud, right? Yes, it hurts that it's sometimes a challenge because I lose
good people, but I'm secure enough and confident that I can train the next batch to make the

(20:40):
company continue running and to continue to grow. So that's like my biggest highlights.
I get why YouTube is sad, but you get proud of them. And if someone...
You're proud that they moved on. Correct.
If someone wants to follow in your footsteps in your careers, what would you tell him or her?

(21:04):
Oh my gosh. That's a very, very good question. Maxwell Henry, I don't know Maxwell knows this,
but do you know that I give a lot of talks about entrepreneurship?
Especially during the pandemic, I probably gave talks twice, three times a month about

(21:26):
entrepreneurship to different organizations. And here's what I always say, if you're a
entrepreneur, you should be a business owner. So your question, Max, is what should I tell people
on what to do when they want to follow in my footsteps, right?
Something like that? Well, for me, being an entrepreneur, being a startup, regardless if

(21:51):
it's a traditional business or a tech company, requires a lot of hard work.
And what people don't see or what people... Okay, let me reframe that. The concept of being an
entrepreneur, of being a businessman, it's very romanticized. What do I mean by this?

(22:14):
A lot of people only see that, for example, of course you guys know Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg,
Bill Gates, or even Elon Musk, or I'm sure you know local people in your area who are very successful
and you see their big cars, their really nice super cars and big houses, and you feel that they

(22:34):
have like, they have jets, they have freedom of time, freedom of money, correct? That's the
romanticized part because before they were able to get there, they had to work more than eight
hours a day. They had to probably work 12, 15 hours a day and they probably had to work and
sacrifice a lot of family time to be able to get where they are. But the key thing is, you have to

(23:01):
have a vision for yourself, you have to have the passion to make sure that regardless of what
challenges you come across, you have that willingness to overcome that challenge and just
pursue your path so that you can achieve your goal and your vision to becoming a successful person.

(23:26):
And it doesn't matter if it's in entrepreneurship or in corporate, but you have to have that
passion and ambition for yourself. And here's the thing, one of the most important things
is sometimes it's not even motivation, it's discipline. Motivation will help you get started
but ultimately it's a discipline, meaning even if you're tired, you feel weak, you feel

(23:53):
kind of down, you still have to have that discipline to like get out of bed, get your laptop
and do some work, everything. Yeah, I mean, our accounts. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I agree with that
and me and Max, we're like, this careers for kids, I know it's not okay, but we're like,

(24:13):
for kids, I know it's not like a super crazy thing where we have to wake up like every morning,
but there's some mornings where we'll interview like, because of the 12 hour time change,
some nights where we're in, where it'll be like noon for him and it'll be like midnight for me and
we'll be like, I know, interviewing and then I'll either do it at like midnight or else or I'll end

(24:38):
up like, or I'll end up falling asleep doing it like halfway through and wake up and do it in the
morning. Like, well, yeah, go ahead. Like there's not much of it, like there's not much like needing
to like get up and do stuff on the schedule, but with these interviews, like, and they're starting

(24:59):
to be more like they start starting to come a bit faster, like we had an interview just like two days
ago now, like our interview, like we're starting to make more and like we're starting to produce
more episodes in shorter periods of time and basically I feel like it's going to get more
like you got to get out of bed and do it. Absolutely, definitely. And it's good that you guys are

(25:24):
starting doing this at a young age. How old are you guys like 12? I'm 12 and Maxwell is 11.
Maxwell is 11. I thought you were 22, Max. No, it's great that you guys are starting this young
because like what I said earlier, now you're understanding at a young age what discipline

(25:46):
means, right? Because you want to churn out more episodes, right? And you're learning
what you need to do because ultimately when you guys are older in high school, college,
and when you're working, it's experiences like this that can help you in the future. In fact,

(26:10):
Max, you know that we're going on a European ship, right? Yeah. So, hey Henry, so
I'm going to Italy in September for a vacation but here's the thing. I'm already scheduling my
meetings so that even if I'm on vacation, I still keep tabs on the company. Yes, I don't have to

(26:38):
be online and be in meetings the whole day but the important ones, I'm already scheduling
it so that there's a six hour time difference so that everybody, so I am in tune with the
people in my company. Yep. I mean, I was on vacation. I mean, I know Max was on vacation
right now so this would be a better example but like he's still pumping out episodes on vacation

(27:03):
and like when I was on vacation a couple weeks ago, I did that too. That's pretty awesome. You
guys are doing well and it's good that you're starting at a young age.
Would you say we're on the right track with this podcast? Absolutely. Continue. I think,

(27:25):
okay, I have a question for you guys. Do you love doing this podcast? Yeah. See, the fact that you
can answer yes right away means that you're passionate about it so just continue. I'm
passionate about it. So just continue what you're doing. You're on the right track. If I may suggest
that one thing that can help you is create a schedule already so you can fill out like

(27:53):
the dates that you can do the podcast regardless if one is out of the country or not and like fill
it up with people that you can interview plus just in case that person is unavailable,
you should have a backup option already. Right? How many episodes have you guys done?
This is our eighth one and ninth will be coming out. Actually, it should be coming out like later

(28:18):
this week. Okay, cool. Try to target a 12 episode season and then take a break. Review what you
guys did right. Review what you guys did wrong and then prepare yourselves for season two of
careers for kids. What do you think about that? I think that's good. And thank you so much,

(28:46):
folks, for allowing us to interview you. I'm sure more kids will be inspired to take a path to
finance and go to business school because of this interview. Absolutely. Thanks for listening to
the careers for kids podcast. Hope you enjoyed the episode and we'll see you in the next one. Bye.