He is a graduate of Electronics and Communications Engineering from the University of San Carlos in 1985. But his passion for beauty and desire to help others led him to a different profession in the beauty and wellness industry in 1992 as an owner of a beauty salon.
Esma bought a friend’s salon then called Headlines Beauty and Hairshop and rebranded it as Jun Esma Salon in 2008.
“I used to work in a hotel and then later worked as a medical representative of Sanofi specifically selling feminine wash products. That’s where I developed the love for selling and meeting people,” Esma said.
The Headlines Beauty and Hairshop is located across Esma’s house in barangay Banilad, Cebu City.
He decided to buy the salon from his friend because he wanted to help his jobless friends and hired them to run the salon for him.
“It was not really about earning money and getting rich but about helping my friends who have the skills to cut hair and all those that are usually offered in a salon,” said Esma.
Esma invested about P100,000 savings from his job in Sanofi.
He then hired three people including a barber and two manicurists to run the salon.
“It used to be just a small space along Banilad where Jollibee is now located, maybe just about 30 square meters. Now I transferred it at a lower area with a bigger space just across his house,” said Esma.
A year after opening his salon, Esma joined Philam Life, which was offering insurance policies.
With his salon business doing well and a lucrative job selling insurance policies, he earned more than enough to set up a salon branch in GenMar building along Echavez Extension, Cebu City.
Jun Esma Salon in Echaves Extension was opened in 2009 after he rebranded the salon.
For Esma, quality products and services at value-for-money prices spell the difference in becoming a competitive brand for a salon especially with many salons opening in Cebu.
“We also need to compete with those fly-by-night salon operators who offer their services at very low prices because they use cheap chemicals that ruin your hair,” he said.
“Some people don’t look at what brand of chemicals you’re using but the price so we need to educate people on why that should matter.”
With the salon carrying his name, Esma said he would be more careful and particular about the products he would use as well as invest in trainings for his people and him.
“I joined in trainings offered by professionals like L’Oreal. Now I’m a Master Hair Colorist by L’Oreal and I have learned so many technical skills in color application,” said Esma.
Because he is also now a manager in Philam Life, Esma has added more people to help him run the salon while he goes out to sell more insurance policies which is currently the main lifeline of his businesses.
“I now have about 12 people to help me run the two salons,” he said.
He offers all the basic offerings in a salon including hair color, highlights, hair cut, manicure and pedicure, rebonding and hair treatments using highend brands like L’oreal.
“I can say that I now have a good customer base who visits the salon regularly for their grooming needs. I credit that to the quality that we always uphold in our salon,” said Esma.
Esma also offers events management services and has his own television show called “The Jun Esma Show” aired at SkyCable.
He said he would want to see not only his salon business grow but also the whole industry.
“As president of the Philippine International Cosmetology Association I feel it is my obligation to help professionals, like me, create a niche here in Cebu. My plan is to also set up an academy where we can train more beauty care experts and hairstylists professionally,” said Esma.
The academy shall be called Jun Esma Beauty Academy which he targets to open by 2015.
“This plan will help not only my salon but the rest of Cebu for the availability of more highly-skilled practitioners,” said Esma.
Esma is moving his Echavez branch to the second level of the GenMar Building and convert the ground floor where the salon is now running into a restobar which is another business for him.
Esma said he believed in doing business even if he’s not yet that big in Cebu because he already helped at least five people land jobs.
“I will continue growing the salon and opening more businesses in the future because this is the best way to help my friends and families,” Esma said.