TRUST is both a dangerous and a comforting word.
But for this young entrepreneur, trust, for her, serves as the foundation of her business venture.
“Trusting your people and employees is one of the best decisions you could do. How you handle your people will always reflect in your business,” Mary John Mercado, a 20-year-old chief executive officer (CEO) of MKI Inn, an emerging budget hotel in Villa Josefina Subdivision, Matina Crossing, Davao City, said.
She said trusting and appreciating employees will enable them to be productive in their work knowing their boss believes in their potentials and ideas.
Raised by a business-inclined family, Mercado was trained by her parents -- Johnny Mercado and Ms. Merilyn Abdul -- on how to handle business. She started managing a business when she was 16 years old.
“At the age of 18 years old, I was promoted as an assistant manager and by November 2016, I became the CEO of MKI Inn,” she said. MKI Inn has been operating for six years. It was re-launched last year.
But she shared that apart from managing their family business, she also opened her brainchild venture- Maki’s Autocore – Autocross, off-road and car accessories which is located in R. Castillio (in front of Professional Regulatory Commission - Davao).
This young CEO is not only busy running her businesses; on weekdays, she wears her school ID and spends hours to study. She is currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Business Management at the Ateneo de Davao University.
Mercado said that juggling studies and business is not an easy task but both keep her going.
Beyond trusting your people, Mercado shared that on running a business, staying open to new ideas and learning how to take risks are necessary traits possessed by an entrepreneur.
"One thing that you should know and understand is that in any business, there is no such thing as a definite and right answer. Learn how to gamble. If you think an idea is good to help your business, try it and if you’ll fail, don’t give up.
That is why you should learn how to trust your people because you’ll never know, their opinions could be the key to your problem," she said.
She added that setting one's heart and mind in things that you do and want to achieve is but important.
Also, businessmen, she said, should always think positive but at the same time strive to stay realistic.
"Just like what Jack Ma (founder of Alibaba Group) said: Never give up. Today is hard, Tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be the sunshine,” Marcado said.
Challenges are inevitable in life. It is essential for growth. On facing obstacles, Mercado shared that acknowledging the problem/s and quickly addressing it is the ultimate formula for solution.
"We really had a hard time selling the Inn provided the competition, so we first focused on the questions: What could be our advantage from other inns and hotels? What could make our guests choose MKI Inn instead on staying at another inn or hotel?" she said.
Mercado humbly admitted that she still has a long way to walk the road to her ultimate goal but with her learning she earned from her experiences and guidance of her parents and mentors, she is but positive that she will rise above all challenges.
"Young or not, a businesswoman should be unafraid to take risks, have big ambitions, be a positive thinker and always put in mind that any problem that you’ll encounter is a challenge worth taking," she said.
