From selling simple blouses to going global, Myrna Tang Yao has a great success story to tell.
"I really wanted to be an entrepreneur since I was a child," said Yao, who is now the CEO of Richprime Global Inc.
Yao related that as a young girl, she helped look after their family's sari-sari store and sold accessories to her classmates in Bicol. The unrelenting female entrepreneur also sold different wares while growing up.
"Try to sell something whatever you can sell. One day you will know this is for you," Yao said in an exclusive interview on Mornings @ ANC.
With perseverance, Yao she founded Richwell Trading with a capital of just P5,000.
The company was then a franchise distributor of Goodyear Tires. Now, the company employs around 1,400 employees and offers a wide array of products.
The micro-entrepreneur-turned-tycoon shares her vision with “The Gift of a Dream: The GREAT Women Project."
“I have to write the book because my vision does not stop at the first level, or the second level. My vision is to make Filipina women grow their businesses to become SME [small and medium-sized enterprises] and global. I was defined as a micro entrepreneur. I don’t think I’m just a micro business, I’m a global business,” Yao said.
As the chairperson of the Philippine Commission on Women, Yao also pushed for "The Gender-Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT Women) Project" which provided female entrepreneurs, particularly those in micro enterprises, a gender-responsive environment.
With this year's APEC meeting focusing on inclusive growth, Yao said she is happy that the agenda also focused on micro entrepreneurship.
“If you have an idea, don’t wait. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, mistakes will make you learn and will make you grow. So any problem that comes, you just have to face it and then you will learn from it and you will grow from it. And then you will be a better person and a better entrepreneur,” she said.
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Story from ABS-CBN.
Photo from PhilippineTatler.com