Sen. Cynthia Villar and the AFFI board of
Directors
as they unveil the new AFFI
Every
entrepreneur has his own inspiring story to tell. “Ilang araw din po akong hindi nakatulog after the election last
November, trying to figure out how I can be of help to our members. I asked myself, how can a relatively young
entrep like me help an organization with big-time members who were there even
when I was still in college,” said by Mr. Jerry Ilao, the newly elected
president of the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. (AFFI Empowering
EntrepreneursTM), during the General Membership Meeting last March
10 at BSA Twin tower which was sponsored by St. Francis Group of Companies.
For
more than 18 years, AFFI had been association for franchisers but during this
event, a big surprise was revealed to everyone… the new logo and direction of
AFFI.
Starting
this year, AFFI will open its
doors to all entrepreneurs, not just for franchisers’ and it will now be an association
for entrepreneurs, as aptly communicated by its new tagline “Empowering
Entrepreneurs.”
Inspired
by the new direction set by AFFI the theme for this year’s GMM was aptly called
“To get there, Together.”
The
event was conducted as a venue to welcome the new members, honorary members and
thank the heartwarming support of the old members. “First of all, I’d like to congratulate you for being part of our
association. I hope by now you have
realized deep in your hearts, that you made the right choice in pursuing your
membership here,” said by Mr. Ilao, as he lay down why it is exciting to
join in AFFI. During the event, organizers were overwhelmed with the number of
participants who attended which triggered them to rent the other half of the
venue to accommodate everyone.
He
also shared one of his recent conversation to one of AFFI member that more than
the logo, it is the learning activities and the supportive community that
members can really benefit from. However, he challenges everyone to also give
back. “I think that it’s time to share our knowledge and expertise, to more
people, so they can also succeed like us.
In the end, being an entrepreneur is not just about making more money,
it’s also about making the lives of other people better. And the more successful entrepreneurs there
are in our country, the more people they can help,” added by him.
“I can see that AFFI is doing
a great job in empowering entrepreneurs,” said by Sen. Cynthia Villar, keynote speaker
and awarded as one of the honorary members. Honorary members are given to highly
esteemed individual with big contribution to the growth of the industry. Other recognized honorary members are Mrs.
Sonia Roco, Mr. Noel Altamirano, Atty. Ricardo Blancoflor and Director Chona
Mantilla of DOLE-NRCO.
Mr.
Ilao, excites everyone to the different programs of AFFI this year. Programs
such as online training, fun run for entrepreneurs aptly called EntrepRUNeur,
Cluster meet-ups or “Business Unusual,” an informal venue
just like “kapihan” to share entrepreneurial stories, insights, and problems, to
each other.” “Our Open House program will also be launched where an established
AFFI member will host a learning session in his company to share their
strategies on how they grew their business. Mr Illao said. “We have a lot more
activities lined up for our members and we are also very excited with our
upcoming Franchise show and business expo happening on October 2-4 at World
Trade Center, he added.
“Given this, I believe that AFFI can do so much more in helping
entrepreneurs succeed... in helping them avoid deadly mistakes in business,
just like what I personally experienced.
We all have come this far and all of us have our own story to tell... an
experience to share… a lesson to impart.
Let’s give back and help more entrepreneurs together.” said by Mr.
Ilao.
Before the event ended, AFFI
also awarded women entrepreneurs as a part of the celebration of Women’s month
last March.
To become part of the growing
hAFFI family of Entrepreneurs, you may get in touch with AFFI Center for
Entrepreneurs via email, membership@affi.com.ph
or you may contact them at (02) 504-3693, (02) 501-5449, or 09175199837 and
0922-8149881. You could also visit their website at www.affi.com.ph.
