Interview with Global Trade Philippines

Kimberly Ting, Co-Founder and in-charge of marketing for Global Trade Philippines was kind enough to share with us their product and their learnings since they started in 2007. To get some background on their B2B site, you can view their company profile.

In photo: Global Trade Philippines Founders Jerry Perez, Jr. and Kimberly Ting

Tell us about Global Trade Philippines. How did you come up with the idea?
After our research and sourcing of ideas from the Internet, we found that Philippine products lacked adequate product information online. We therefore thought of ideas that could improve the situation. We encouraged each other and dreamed of venturing into a business that could do that.
GlobalTradePhilippines.com works like an online trade exhibit, conducting international trade and allowing the ordering of product samples between suppliers and buyers. It provides customized online trading tools to both local suppliers and international buyers, who come mostly from the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Philippine suppliers can choose from two membership packages: the micro package for P400 a month, and the professional package for P600 a month. The micro package entitles the supplier to post o nthe portal a maximum of five products with corresponding images and product information, and to maintain an account on the site for monitoring product views and communicating with interested parties through e-mail. The professional package allows exporters to post on the portal an unlimited number of products.

What made you take the plunge? How different is your life now with before founding your company?
Going into business at a very young age was rather difficult and risky. It took a lot of courage and determination to see things through. What made us take the plunge was our determination to succeed, our passion for providing valuable service to our clients and most of all support from our family.
We enjoy what we’re doing, and work does not seem to be like work. We can work for 12 straight hours and still not feel tiresome, I guess its all about the entrepreneurial spirit and our passion for our work that pushes us to continue to move forward.

What’s a typical day like for you/your team?
A typical day for our team.. Check our emails, check the system, attend meetings and presentations with clients, set team and individual goals for the week. Meet up as a team to discuss and brainstorm, and finally analyze the goals we have achieved, problems that we encountered or are encountering and make an assessment for future recommendation/action.

Anything exciting brewing in 2008? Where do you see your company going?
We have several projects we are working on which helps to improve the service we are providing for all our members. We continually strive to find ways to improve our company operations, improve our team and most importantly find ways we can help our members promote their company and products worldwide.

How do you see the web startup environment in the country? What do you think holds back the growth of a Silicon Valley-like hub for web startups because there are still so few?
We see that the web startup environment in the Philippines to be very fruitful. We’ve met so many programmers, graphics artists and techpreneurs who are very talented and are at par with international standards in web development. I think that what is holding us back is the lack of sufficient funding to backup our techpreneurs. We also need to educate our fellow citizens of the potential and advantages of the world wide web to encourage people to go online and make use of the internet to their advantage.

3 points to think about for people with ideas for web startups
Do as much research as you can on the industry you wish to go into.
Study the financials you may need and make a financial plan, businesses on the web don’t have an immediate return, some wait 2-5 years. Its important to have sufficient funds to keep your company rolling during the infancy stages.

3 points to think of when taking on business partners for your web application

1. Its important to know the skills and capabilities of each partner. Know what he/she can bring into the company and help contribute.
2. Work ethics is also a point to consider. You need to make sure that this person can comply to your company pace and help you achieve goals and get work done.
3. Trust. Make sure that this person is a person you can trust and is reliable. Because as you go on through businesses, you’ll hit some rough turns and its important that this person has the same passion and determination to succeed as the founders.

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. Any final words for young web companies starting out?
Be creative, have passion, and know who your competitors are.