Nu6 by AC Mobile Spa

NU 6 PAPER

No. 8 – Serendipity Walk

ENTREPRENEURSHIP by Mr. Jorge Saguinsin

Submitted by R110083 (3^rd submission)

October 21, 2011

This is a virtual serendipity walk that covers an office and a classroom.  A month ago, I was in the middle of a debrief with my principals at the Asian Development Bank when in the course of catching up, my colleague slumps his shoulders saying he was really tired and that he is in dire need of a massage.  He proceeded to ask if ADB had a massage or spa facility in house.  The answer was no.

Now just last Tuesday, in my Entrep class, Mr Saguinsin had referred to the class the enterprising phenomenon of mobile carinderia.  These are the folks who would bring food to the offices and offer the same for sale to office workers as alternative to the office canteen or food court fare.  They are convenient and cheap or priced about the same.

And this is when it hit me:  how about a mobile spa service? There are already dial-a-spa businesses but usually marketed for home services only.  Here is the innovation: this is spa-in-the-office. It will be the answer to office workers looking for a massage or any spa (including a few salon services) treatment that can be delivered within an hour's time.  Most stress tensions that bring head ache and body aches occur in the office, after all. 

Office employees can arrange for coffee break spa or lunch break or after office treatment right in their offices.  Of course, services will have to require from the offices, a room (maybe an unused conference room) that will be allowed by management to be used for such.  Senior executives who would have their own rooms would be the natural market for this.  In fact, employers who would like to engage the services as part of their company benefit can arrange for this too.  The need is present in the offices.  Very few call centers actually have their own inhouse spa (or those that are located within their buildings), but this one is a cheaper alternative to these offices as they won't be carrying the overhead for this benefit.  And they can tailor-fit the service according to their need and budget.

It is easy and manageable to create a spa atmosphere.  The right lighting equipment, aromatherapy scent diffusers, and clean massage robes for the customers will immediately create the spa atmosphere; a portable massage chair/table are already available and of course a skilled and well-trained masseuse will be part of the package.  Services can be priced according to extent of service (head only, foot, hand, back and full body), including length of massage.  Regular customers may opt to get their own oil concoctions and the spa-in-the-office firm can also produce, package and offer these for sale, or as a premium, offer a bottle of oil for the exclusive use for that one customer only.

The margins would be easy to achieve in that equipment for such is low cost, there will be no overhead on establishment space and utilities, a vehicle would ferry the masseuses to their appointment and it would be efficient too in that, offices are concentrated in business districts in metro Manila. 3 (There are all ready such businesess)