Brother International Philippines Corporation in cooperation with GoNegosyo is inviting all career driven and business minded Filipinos ages 18 years old and above to join the Life Enriching Discoveries(LED) contest.

Brother and GONEgosyo aims to find the best new and innovative business ideas and concept for 2010. The winner will be given P100,000 cold cash as a starting capital of his/her business choice.

Contest Requirements and Qualifications:

• All participants must love within Metro Manila only.
• The contest is open to individual or group up to four (4) members.
•  The contest requires a written business brief in general terms and should outline the business idea, the market, the competition, and competitive advantages.  Specific market and financial forecasts are not required, although participants should have a basic idea of the level of financing they would need to start their business.  Concepts are evaluated on their viability and feasibility in the current marketplace.
• Submission of entry is until February 22, 2010.

Interested applicants may download the registration form at www.brother.com.ph and submit the completed form at uniquebiz@groovecom.ph or brotherph@yahoo.com. Please note that an email confirming receipt will be sent to all those who joined.

Download the business plan template .

The announcement of best idea/concept winner will be on March 09, 2009.

Making homemade products is the call for all who wants to earn extra money without spending big capital.  Aside from the usual homemade products like Tocino, Longganisa, pastries and personalized accessories, why not sell something that will surely dig by the house’ budget commander… mothers. Why not create a homemade Soaps and Dishwashing Liquid?

Here’s how to make a homemade soap from Ehow:

Things you’ll need:

• Soap Coloring
• Soap Fragrance
• Soap Molds
• Colored Crayons
• Thick Bath Towels
• Coconut Oil
• Distilled Waters
• Non-virgin Olive (not Virgin) Oil
• Vegetable Oils
• Vinegar
• Vinegar
• Fragrant Essential Oils
• Lye
• Rubber Gloves
• Rubber Gloves
• Crisco Shortenings
• Candy Thermometer
• Measuring Cups And Spoons
• Mixing Spoons
• Plastic Bowls
• Rubber Spatulas
• Stainless Steel Stockpots
• Stirring Spoons
• Mitre Boxes
• Safety Goggles
• Safety Goggles
• Rubber spatulas

Procedure:

·         Dissolve 12 oz. lye in 32 oz. softened water in a plastic or glass bowl. If at all possible, do this outside or under an exhaust fan.

·         Add the lye to the water, not vice versa. Pour the lye slowly and in a steady stream, and stir constantly with a plastic spoon.

·         Set the mixture aside to cool. The mixture will heat up considerably due to the lye reacting with fats in the oils. This is called saponification.

·         Melt 24 oz. coconut oil and 38 oz. solid vegetable shortening in a stainless steel pot.

·         Add 25 oz. olive oil (not virgin) and any fragrance oils you want to use.

·         Allow oil to cool

·         -Grease the soap with Crisco

·         When both the oil and lye mixtures have cooled to room temperature, slowly combine them, adding the lye to the oils.

·         Stir slowly and constantly. If you see bubbles, stir more slowly.

·         Drizzle the soap into the pot once in a while. When it keeps its shape momentarily before sinking into the rest of the mix (tracing), it’s time to add whatever extras you want.

·         Stir your botanicals, grains and coloring into a cup of soap taken from the mix.

·         Combine that back into the original mixture.

• Pour the soap into the mold.
• Wrap the mold in a towel and leave it undisturbed for 18 hours. The soap mixture will heat up and then cool down. Avoid uncovering it until it’s cooled.

·         Allow the soap to sit in the uncovered mold for another 12 hours.

• Loosen the sides by wiggling the mold a little.

·         Turn the mold over onto a clean counter.

·         Cut the soap into bars with a knife. Some people use a miter box to make square corners.

·         Allow the bars to cure for three to four weeks before using. Smaller bars cure faster than larger ones.

Additives

·         Mix candle coloring into the oil solution. If it’s wax-based, melt it first in a couple of tablespoons of oil and then add it to the rest of the oil mix.

·         Realize that you can also use crayons for coloring. Experiment with colors. Note that purples are very difficult to keep true.

·         Use 1 tsp. per pound of soap of the following ingredients: cocoa powder for brown, cayenne pepper for pink-peach, liquid chlorophyll for light green, turmeric for yellow, paprika for peach and titanium dioxide for white.

·         Use 1 oz. essential oil to scent a 4-lb. batch of soap.

·         Know that 2 tsp. ground cloves makes a great-smelling soap. Try grated orange or lemon peel or ginger, too.

·         Use rose water instead of regular water for rose soap.

·         Oatmeal makes a great complexion soap. Use 8 oz.

·         Add 4 oz. cornmeal for a gritty texture.

·         Make soap with 1/2 oz. geranium oil for dry skin.

·         Use tea tree oil - 1/2 oz. - for problem skin.

Year 2009 is finally coming to an end. If we sum up the event this year, we can conclude that we experienced a very rough year especially in terms of natural calamity and employment.

A lot of Filipinos lost their jobs, experienced lay-offs and salary deductions. The economy had experienced its lowest point as well this year. And due to this problems, a lot of Filipinos are jumping from an ordinary employee to businessman.

One of the “in” business for all year round are home made products. From processed foods, accessories, soap and dishwashinf liquid and Perfumes.

Want to earn more in 2010? Why not make perfumes! Here’s how.

Prepare:

• Bottles (10ml-100 ml)
• Beaker
• Essential oils
• Fragrance oils
• Deodorize alcohol (TDOH)
• Muscol (MCL)
• Moisturizer (propylene glycol or PPG)
• Distilled water

Here’s the procedure according to the filipinoentrepreneur.com:

• Prepare all the raw materials needed in plastic cups except the alcohol because it evaporates easily. You can prepare it just before starting the mixing. Weigh each needed liquid materials individually in cups but first weigh the cups and adjust the scale to zero so the weigh of the cups will not be included with the materials. (see the measurement above for each materials)

• Then place the small beaker on the weighing scale and adjust the scale to zero. This is for the alcohol I mentioned before. Pour the alcohol until it weighs 70 grams. Then pour the MCL and make sure the plastic cup is empty of the MCL by pouring alcohol from the beaker, scraping it with the stirring rod and transferring it back to the beaker. Mix thoroughly until well dispersed in the alcohol. Take note that water and MCL should not be mixed first because it will harden it.

• Then add the PPG to the mixture and stir again until well blended. Then add the rest of the materials one by one stirring each time you add the materials and make sure it is well dispersed.

• Finally add the distilled water in the mixture then mix thoroughly until it becomes homogeneous. You can then transfer them in containers.

Use colored bottles for presentation. Try to think of a brand name that has some class or a name that sounds edgy and cool. Print the name on a sticker paper and put some enigmatic design to capture attention. A one liner name is better. Think of classic perfume like CK’s “Eternity”, Givenchy “Oblique”, or Chanel “Chanel 5″.

Chinese businessmen around the globe will gather in the Philippines as Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCI) will host the 10^th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention (WCEC) happening at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia on November 19-22, 2009.For its 10^th year of gathering Chinese businessmen from different countries, this year’s theme is “World Prosperity through Chinese Entrepreneurship”. From the theme itself, the convention aims to stabilize the Chinese business industry more and conquer the world market.

About 3,000 delegates from different countries are assumed to attend the 4-day program for business exchange and networking.

The schedules of activities are as follows:

The WCEC is a biennial event started in 1991 in Singapore has been successfully held in different countries worldwide. Past host countries are Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.

For more information on the 10th WCEC, please visit the WCEC website at http://www.wcec.org.ph.