Entrepreneurship - Aquabest (Day 2)

Success stories of Filipino Entrepreneurs - Carson Tan.

Continuation... So while successful in his endeavors, in the end, Carson's profits and savings were gobbled up and his resources were flattened to zero. This experience led him to analyze what was going on in his life. He realized that he was trying to be successful on his own, striving by himself, without the help of God. That was when he vowed to consecrate himself and his business unto God and allow His sovereign arrangement to take charge.

Today, at the helm of Aquabest, he has learned to commit his business to God. It is no suprise that the company is doing very well. But in the beginning, it was a hard uphill climb for Carson and Aquabest. He used to be a silent partner, part of a group of businessmen who in 1997 saw a big market in the water-refilling business.

Initially, Carson and his partners were skeptical because only one water shop store existed at that time. Nobody bought water then, there was plenty of water gushing out of the faucet. But with skillful marketing and educating of the public, the market soon became ready for the health benefits purified and mineral water brought and so the Aquabest Company flourished.

The good times were short-lived, however, when, due to mismanagement, the company soon found itself on the brink of bankruptcy. Carson and his family decided to buy out the shares of the other incorporators in order to save Aquabest and the franchisees that would be left orphaned if the company closed down.

With the help of family and friends, Carson raised P1 million to buy out the other partners and pay for the company's debts. He started anew with nothing in the office except two tables and a skeleton workforce.

Since he used to be a silent partner and the business was so highly technical, he let the current manager operate the business. The initial goal was just to sell water, to pay the debts, and survive. Little did Carson know that inside that store, massive stealing was going on in the form of unrecorded sales until someone blew the whistle on the perpetrators. Only then did Carson learn the full extent of the problem.

They sell the new bottles in exchange for the broken ones so at the end of the day, the inventory's complete. Also, I found out that they tampered with the installed water meter, so it will not register the correct water consumption. Slowly, these were fixed, but it took so many years!

(To be continued...)