While other kids their age would have thought of something easy for a business project which is a requirement to complete their degree in Business Administration, they thought beyond the requirement and decided to invest in something they imagine doing for a very long time.
The Center for International Education British School in Cebu is requiring their fourth year BSBA students to start a business and run it for at least a year before they could finally graduate from the institution.
While other students just went for the “usual” stuff like the buy-and-sell of products, a group of seven students decided to do something more ambitious and more in line with what they enjoy doing, which is spending time with friends in a bar.
p3-m INVESTMENT
With an investment of P3 million or roughly about P430,000 contribution from each one of them, Christian Buhisan, Benedict Un, Uco Trotin, Ariel Louise Lua, Christian Yap, Jefferson Tan, and Jan Gabriel Melgo opened their first business venture, Barcode, in Banilad, Cebu City.
Barcode offers a fresher ambiance fit for young customers looking for a relaxing place to unwind with good food and a second level area where people can dance.
According to Buhisan, who is the president of their corporation Blacksuits Lounge, Inc., they initially decided on different businesses individually but later found that it would be best if they pool their resources and create a corporation for a project that will have more impact.
“I initially was looking at a poultry business, but then I realized it’s not really what I imagined myself doing for the next five years or so. Same is true with them. This is what we love doing and we are all very passionate about this because we enjoy running it,” said Buhisan.
The group is the first corporation created to comply with the requirement since in the past, CIE has only allowed single proprietorship for their students business projects.
Labor of Love
Because they decided to invest in the business which is considered a “high risk” business, Buhisan and the other group members made it a point that they decide wisely, spend less, and make sure they deliver the best to their customers.
“On spending less, it was us initially who worked on the place. There used to be a solid wall behind the bar now it’s glass. We broke that wall, all of us one whole afternoon. We see this as fun but we are serious about making this a successful one,” said Buhisan.
The bar has a total space of 260 square meters manned by 19 staff members including bar tenders, waiters and kitchen staff.
“We are here every night since we opened in November and we always take note of the things that we can still improve on,” said Melgo.
The partners came from families engaged in other businesses like resort properties and even the bar business. They also get a lot of useful tips and insights from their families on how to run the business
“We have a consultant for our food and we also have good suppliers for our drinks here. We want to make this really work,” said Buhisan.
FEASIBILITY STUDY
Based on the feasibility study they submitted to CIE, they expect an ROI or return on investment within 18 months or a year and a half since they opened in November.
Buhisan, however, noted a good number of visitors coming to their bar and partying.
“Of course we know that we can’t rely on word of mouth so we also do our way of marketing like talking to our contacts to also hold events here in the bar. Recently, we had the Azkals party here which really turned out well,” said Buhisan.
Buhisan said that the Azkals party was a paid event and they thought that it benefited the business because the popular soccer players were also a crowd drawer to their establishment.
With the seven of them actively engaged in their “baby” project, they have well defined their roles in the company to make sure that decision making and implementation is well organized.
DEADLINE
Un serves as marketing officer with Tan, who is also in charged of purchasing. Trotin, on the other hand, looks into the human resource side of operations together with Melgo while Lua and Yap handle finance.
The required period for the project is only a year before they can submit a report on the business, successful or not with notes on why it didn’t worked.
Barcode just recently had their grand launching yesterday to formally announce their entrance into Cebu’s entertainment and lifestyle world.