Innovate or die

Congratulations to all the graduates of Class 2014 including my son Matt who enters Grade 8 next school year. It won’t be long when he will have to choose a college course, one that will provide him a sure job, a steady income, and a comfortable life. If it were up to me, I would like him to be a lawyer or a doctor. Or probably have a career in the military. But he seems not to be inclined to it. I am not surprised. When I, too, was about to graduate from high school my own parents wanted me to take up banking and finance in college because they planned to put up a rural bank. I said that is not my interest. I wanted to be on television and dance and entertain, not count numbers. Although some afternoons spent with my Auntie Puring Tamayo at the Philippine Veterans Bank branch which she used to head, sorting out coins may have rubbed off on me as I am quite adept when it comes to household accounting.

But what is the point here? As Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo stated in his message at the IDEA Global Entrepreneurship Symposium organized by PhilDev’s Dado Banatao of Silicon Valley, IDEA and USAID, in the old days, parents dictated to their children which careers to take. Today, many kids like to try to start their own business instead of being employed in big multinational companies. There is a change in cultural mindset making the future bright for entrepreneurship.