NU 6 by EV, Business Opportunities at MRT

For my serendipity walk, I went to MRT Ayala Station to observe the behavior of the people using the facility. As I was doing this, I also observing the behavior of customers eating at two Siomai Kiosk. The area composed of several kiosk, fast food chains, novelty stores and a bank. This is a hot area for business due to the number of commuters using MRT.

I sat down in front of the drug store and started to take notes. Here are a couple of business opportunities for a busy area.

Massage Place. When commuters are tired and no time to go out of their way, a good massage place will help them release the tensions of work. They can operate from lunch until the end of the MRT operations.

Temp Storage Facility. if you are carrying too many baggage but don't have the place to store them. A temporary storage facility such as a locker type can be rented out and the customer will have the key.4

Day care center. For working families without someone to look over their children during their work, a day care center may be the best solution for them. For a reasonable fee, parents can leave their children while they work in their offices in Makati.

Park and Drive. For drivers who doesn't want to use their cars during traffic and they need to go somewhere, they can drop their vehicles at the station and take the MRT. When they get back, they can ask the care taker to get their vehicle just like valet. 4

Expand the MRT Facility. By expanding the facility, it can hold more business and organize a food court instead of mixing with the terminal lines. This will bring more revenue to the facility.

NBI clearance kiosk. Lately, the NBI kiosk in one of the malls is having some issue. By relocating it to the MRT station, more people can avail this.4

BPO Recruitment Office. The BPO industry is very competitive. There is a kiosk located in the station. Without interaction from a warm body, it is likely to fail. By having a recruitment center in one of the free areas, it can get more possible candidates to join their company. The MRT is very accessible.4

Customer needs. By observing each customer, they most likely to avail a service or product that will serves their purpose.

Getting a piece of the pie. If you see a business with long lines, chances are they will look for another to meet their busy schedule. An example of this is the Siomai kiosk. Before Master Siomai came into the picture, Siomai House dominates the area. Now, they are competing against each other.

Using convenience. Convenience is one of the driving forces of the customer. If the service is convenience and made it easy for the customer, there is a high possibility of good business generated. Example is the NBI clearance. If you already have a previous copy, it can easily verified in the kiosk and make a print out. 4

Creating business opportunities is easy when people open their minds. They also must have the interest and drive to follow through with their ideas. It is only the first step in realizing what you want to do with your life. Magaling.  Maraming ideas.

By R100092      

NU6 by EV - What Pisses You Off at trhe Neighborhood

I live at San Luis St in SAV6 Paranaque. It is a place where people coming from Las Pinas pass through SAV6 to reach Sucat Road. This is the shortest distance from Las Pinas to Sucat. Our street is a busy street. On top of that there are a lot of unlawful tenants in front of our house. Basically, they took over SAV6.  It had been this way from the start. The tenants grew over time and some of them are officers of SAV6.

What pisses me off at the neighborhood? Every Tuesday at 5am morning, covered court in front of our house would start playing very loud music. It is the start of some routine exercise by seniors. The very loud noise would echo 5 blocks. It will run from 5am to 9am in the morning. The sad thing about it, only a handful of people show up.  I asked our house keeper, why are they doing this?  She said, "it is a local Barangay program." 

Every now and then during Friday nights and Saturday nights, the neighborhood would organize a dance party at the same covered court. They would play very loud music from the time it starts as early as 8pm until the late as 5am. They would play music all night long and sometimes no one attends these events. They are not even part of the village. Just imagine coming home from a tiring work and you will hear these loud noises. It is really irritating. One reason for organizing the parties is to get the young people out of trouble. 

Just writing about this event makes me frustrated. I thought of several solutions to ease up the noise.

Fighting fire with fire. By getting another speaker in front of house and playing very loud music. I remember a saying, "an eye for an eye will make the world blind". Worse is, we could lose our ears due to loud music. vg

Go to Barangay. I can ask the barangay if they can cancel all the events and not allow loud noises in the neighborhood. If that will not work, at least tone down the music.

Invent a noise canceller. I research on canceling noise created by the music. This will take a lot of time and funding. Both of which, I don't have.4

Sabotage the power they are using. I can sabotage the power used by the sound system. If I get caught, I will be in trouble and may go to jail. I may be marked by the neighborhood and keep an eye on me.

I can ask them to reduce the noise levels.  I can just ask them if they can reduce the volume where it will not disturb the whole neighborhood. This may be a hard sell due to the type of people I will be dealing.

After weighing in all my options, there are two candidates I would go for. Talking to them or go to the Barangay. If the first option doesn't work, then I will go to the Barangay. I can ask the Captain to pass an ordinance banning loud noise with the Barangay. According to the Philippine Environment Code Presidential Decree No. 1152 section 5 states, "Appropriate standards for community noise levels shall be established considering, among others, location, zoning and land use classification."

On section 6 of the same decree states, "There shall be established a standard for noise-producing equipment such as construction equipment, transportation equipment, stationary engines, and electrical or electronic equipment and such similar equipment or contrivances. The standard shall set a limit on the acceptable level of noise emitted from a given equipment for the protection of public health and welfare, considering among others, the magnitude and condition of use, the degree of noise reduction achievable through the application of best available technology and the cost of compliance. The installation of any noise-producing equipment shall conform with the requirements of Presidential Decree No. 1096 and other applicable laws as well as their implementing rules and regulations."

We as citizens must know the laws. If we don't speak up, then they will not know. I will tell them, it is disruptive and it affects the health of everyone in the neighborhood. There is a right place and time for this. Residential neighborhood is place where you can relax and retire. 

By R100092

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NU 6 by EV, Mystery Shopper

Introduction:

My idea started when I was in the US. Each restaurant is always striving to do their best to attract customers. The food industry is very fierce. Quality food and service is the key in getting business.

Situation:

In the Philippines, most of the time, there is no quality in the food and service served in restaurants and fast food. Sometimes, Filipinos don't care of quality food or service.

Great restaurants and fast food know the secret in attracting customers. It is by keeping the place clean, serving hot food and delivering on time.      

Problem:

To address food quality and service to all restaurant and fast food

Analysis:

The idea is not new but it is not implemented to a lot of areas. The information also is not available to public. In the US, they call this secret shopper. The objective of the secret shopper is to provide impartial feed backs of places they visit.

How will this affect quality of food? Restaurants rely on customer feedback to improve their service and food. It is their way of improving food quality. They can decide if they will serve other food type and provide better service to all their customers.   

This type of business will push all restaurants and fast food to better quality food and service. It will not only help the customers but help the nation in driving quality in everything.

Decision:

To implement this, there are a couple of items needed to accomplish. First is the mission and vision of the company. It has to be clear and concise to everyone why are they doing this. This will be the main driving force for the employees to buy in to the idea.

Second is the process. The process will crucial, specially, if you are trying to rate the establishment. It should be simple enough for the front line employee. Shown below is the process in providing feedback.

1.    As the secret shopper enters the establishment, they will start taking notes and rate them accordingly.

2.    They will start ordering the usual items or specialties of the store.

3.    The secret shopper will start rating in how the order was taken.

4.    In their service, the shopper will time the delivery of the product according to the promise it gave.

5.    When the product is delivered, rate the product according to their promise to their customers.

6.    The shopper can also rate various sections such as restrooms, table cleanliness and atmosphere. 

After gathering all the info from the target store, it is sent to the HQ of the establishment and published in the web for the public to see.

Third portion is the tools needed. A simple website that is easy to view. It can be published through social media such as facebook and twitter. These kinds of info what the customer looks to decide on their next spending.   

Execution:

The bulk of the operations come from the front line secret shopper. They should be impartial and educated individuals trained for these types of work.

Second is the systems operation. It would compose of internal systems such as email and external systems such as company web site.  

Capital is very minimal. IT operation of the company is another minimal cost. In my estimate, it would start below Php 1M. It would still qualify as a small business.

To sustainability, there are a couple of ways to do it. Sponsorships in the company website can be a source of income. There is an increase in internet advertising due the massive growth of users accessing the internet. Another source is paid subscription of companies would like to improve. Since there is a drive to provide good quality food and services, companies resort to this because customer feedback is not thorough. Unlike this method, secret shopper is impartial and has a complete list of items important to the inquiring company.

Conclusion:

Good food and service is the aim of this cause. We should demand more for our hard earned money. It will also drive restaurants and fast food in providing quality to the customers.

If this is successful, the secret shopper can extend its service to other industries that provide products and services. Samples of other industries are supermarkets, clothing stores, hotels and service stations.

Rl00092