(After years of rest from magazine work, it was a pleasant surprise to write about and conduct a photo shoot for Vivienne Tan. She was really patient with me and Louie Aguinaldo even if we had her do some poses over and over again. Wish school administrators all over the country would be as dynamic as she is.)Published in Personal Fortune Magazine, March 2006
For the past few months, life has been one big joyride across the Chinese business landscape for students of the Entrepreneurs School of Asia (ESA). Not that the immersion program – a full term taken in ESA’s campus in Zhejiang, Hangzhou – has been without the rigors of university life. But for students who had a first-hand experience of doing business in China, the stay was one exhilarating adventure of learning and discovery.
In a world where knowledge has become the most important currency, ESA has recognized that there are a few things that cannot be overlooked. The China phenomenon, for example, is a perfect example. To successfully do business in China, mere information is not enough. Rather, an in-depth understanding of the workings of business, culture and local practices, among others, are needed for one to blaze through the competition.
For Vivienne Tan, visionary behind the school, ESA will be the seedbed that will help produce “Asia’s global entrepreneurs.” Better known as tycoon Lucio Tan’s daughter, Vivienne is also chairman of the school, which first opened its doors in 1999 as the British International College. ESA aims “to develop the entrepreneurial mindset” among its students, going beyond mere rhetoric and grand plans. Indeed, notes co-founder Joel Santos, ESA is a “whole institution focused on entrepreneurship” and its attendant requirements: an understanding of the environment, the workings of one’s business, and how all these come together as one.
“We have always been firm advocates of entrepreneurship,” says Vivienne. “Even before entrepreneurship became a buzzword, our institution has been developing the model environment to nurture, develop and inspire young people to be entrepreneurs.” The school, she points out, “was conceptualized from the very beginning as a school made by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.”
ESA is probably the only college that offers Business Mandarin and a one-semester stay in China where students learn the rudiments of doing business in the country. Likewise, it is the only Philippine school that allows its students to pursue a straight Master’s program in its partner institutions abroad. ESA counts among its partners the University of Portsmouth, Oxford Brookes University, Northumbria University and European Business School in the UK, Northwest Polytechnic University in the US and Curtin University of Technology in Australia.
Just as its pretty chairman does not fit the mold of the traditional schoolmarm, so does ESA refuse to conform to the usual expectations of what a school should be. Its Libis campus sits within an industrial enclave, sandwiched between warehouses. The campus itself is a converted warehouse with an unfinished look, the cold, gray walls punctuated by playful splashes of color, glass and metal here and there. “I chose this myself,” adds Vivienne. Eschewing box-like structures that most schools go by, she says that a school’s “interiors should induce creativity and innovation. I want something where people can mingle and network, where they can discuss business and themselves.”
Indeed, ESA has a small, friendly community. Its students, mostly second-generation business owners, make up this close-knit circle, where many end up doing business with one another. Unlike other schools where students are more interested in school activities or the coolest gadget, ESA students are more interested in what each one is doing. “Ano’ng raket mo?” has become such a popular opening line and has probably given birth to more businesses than can be imagined. Students openly discuss business ideas and problems, and willingly share their ideas with their classmates, whether in or out of the classroom. This pervasive entrepreneurial culture is one that Vivienne is particularly proud of. She is always happy to see how freshmen – newbies who make a quick about-turn when she meets them in the corridors – blossom into confident upperclassmen who have no qualms about engaging her in casual conversation.
“We focus on applied learning,” explains Vivienne. “We provide a conducive environment that would transform their creative concept into a sustainable business. We don’t confine our students to the walls of their classroom. Instead, we encourage them to make the world their classroom.” As a requirement for graduation, students are supposed to start their own business or introduce major, strategic improvements to an existing one. To handhold students through this, ESA has put in place a strong mentorship program.
Alongside the focus on the business is the attention placed on the personal development of the students themselves with the goal of “improving their sense of self-belief and confidence.” ESA’s mentors tell its students not what to think but how to think. “We don’t tell them what specific steps they have to take,” says Vivienne. Suggestions on how to view the problems are instead broached. And recognizing that business is one big gray sphere, “we never tell them that something is right or wrong.” But tirelessly, ESA’s mentors encourage their students to do more, to go beyond themselves, never being pushy but never letting go either.
Vivienne herself always tells the students to ask all the questions they can ask while they are still in school, and not to be afraid to make mistakes. “It’s okay to make all the mistakes you can here (in school); no one will know. If you make your mistakes later on, then you will affect others already.”
Beyond the learnings, ESA imbues its programs with greater meaning through its commitment to “social entrepreneurship.” Explains Vivienne: “To be truly successful, one must go beyond achieving personal success by contributing and creating a positive impact on society. This would mean a strong sense of social responsibility anchored on a strong sense of values.” She adds: “We always tell our students they need not get jobs, they should create the jobs.”
Not surprisingly, ESA’s motto is “Entrepreneurs for Society.” Recognizing business as a tool to fight poverty, it unceasingly reminds its students to see beyond the profits their businesses can generate. They are also immersed in the realities of doing business in a poverty-stricken country, and are reminded of their responsibilities to society. Programs that would allow them to give back are incorporated into the program, such as an immersion program with Gawad Kalinga. They also provide business consultation to Quezon City’s urban poor as a prerequisite for the latter to avail of microfinancing from the government.
“In 2002, we launched our pioneering program, which is BS Entrepreneurship. In 2006, we had our first BS Entrepreneurship graduates. They have already contributed to society by creating jobs and value even before they graduated. More than providing our students an education and a degree, helping them be entrepreneurs that create jobs and opportunities is our measure of success.”
Of course, Vivienne admits she derives equal fulfillment in seeing her students overcome themselves and blossom into confident entrepreneurs ready to take on the world. She treasures words of thanks from students who acknowledge how she and the school have helped them, and still keeps a handwritten note from a student who singled her out for contributing to his growth. “Once you ignite something in them, they just expand their horizons and keep on going,” she says. “It’s all very inspiring.”
It is not surprising, then, that she “just fell in love” with her new role as an educator. Just as she has helped transform many a young student, ESA has helped transform her in more ways than one. Certainly, Vivienne has come a long way from her days as a systems operator in the US (she is a Mathematics/Computer Science graduate “who just had to know everything”) and her long stint in fashion design (she took up fashion management after deciding “computers are a guy thing”). Vivienne today stands as the muse of young global entrepreneurs ready to conquer not just Asia, but the world. //
