EJ Arboleda saw that his wife Ginger Arboleda, a small business owner, found the filing of her taxes cumbersome. To help her, he developed a method to streamline the process. Realising that this idea could scale, he decided to start a full-fledged business helping small business owners and freelancers file their taxes easily; and Taxumo Inc was thus born in Taguig in Philippines. In December 2017 the company reached a milestone of having collected a million pesos from a sector that even the Government acknowledged was difficult to tax. 

In conversation with GlobalLinker (GL) EJ Arboleda (EJ) shares the story of his business journey.

GL: Tell us about your business.

EJ: I conceptualised the platform to help my wife Ginger, who owns the local events management company Manila Workshops. As a small business owner, Ginger constantly faced problems filing tax paperwork and paying for her business’s taxes. I thought of a novel solution to make accounting and tax payment easier for my wife, which I eventually realised could also assist the many other small business owners and self-employed professionals facing the same difficulties. 

GL: What are the challenges you have faced in establishing your business? 

EJ: We are the first tax submission platform that went to market. Being first to market, we had to first educate our users on what an online tax submission platform is - we basically created the category in our target market's minds. After that, we had to introduce who we are and how Taxumo works. It was challenging but coming up with the solution is rewarding in itself.

GL: What is the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of your business? 

EJ: Taxumo is an online end-to-end tax assistance platform. We help self-employed professionals (such as doctors and architects), freelancers (like make-up artists, photographers, as well as online workers), and small business owners track their income and expenses, as well as file tax paperwork and pay taxes online. 

Taxumo is the easiest and most convenient tool available for our target market.

GL: What are some of the milestones of your business?

EJ: The most recent milestone we met was that we reached Pesos 1,000,000 in tax collections last December 2017. This was a solid contribution to the government's current collection efforts, not to mention the fact that this was collection from a market that the BIR itself calls a "hard-to-tax" market.

GL: What role do you feel GlobalLinker plays in connecting & assisting SMEs? 

EJ: GlobalLinker can help entrepreneurs grow their business to other markets.

GL: What is your big business dream?

EJ: Our vision for Taxumo is to be the #1 Tax Submission Platform for Freelancers, Professionals, and Small Businesses by 2020.

GL: What is your message to aspiring entrepreneurs?

EJ: Speed and agility is important in making sure you not only survive but that you thrive in today's competitive marketplace. That means a hyper-focus on making sure your time is spent on things that matter for your business: outsource unavoidable activities that remove that focus.

Network with SMEs mentioned in this article by clicking on the 'Invite' button on their profile. EJ Arboleda, Ginger Arboleda

Disclaimer: This article is based solely on the inputs shared by the featured members. GlobalLinker does not necessarily endorse the views, opinions & facts stated by the member.