Enterprise: CDGY Enterprise
Founder: Czarina Yosa
Industry:  Publishing, Printing & Stationery/ Printing
Year it was founded: 2016
Location:  Calamba, Philippines

At 21, Czarina Yosa, owner of CDGY Enterprise, embarked on her entrepreneurial journey with her passion in organizing events and her youthful energy as her main strengths against the face of adversity. What started as a side hustle while juggling her day job as a production manager has now become a full-blown business.

Not letting her age define the success of her ventures, Czarina later on established a community group called Filipino Founders with the goal to equip and empower Filipino Entrepreneurs

In conversation with GlobalLinker (GL), Czarina Yosa (Czarina) shares her business journey.

GL: Czarina, tell us about your business and what motivated you to become an entrepreneur?

Czarina:  My interest in business grew when I was in college. I was an officer of several organizations where we usually organized events. From there, my friends started to ask me to organize their debut. Eventually after graduation, I got referrals from my clients and that was when my business, CDGY Enterprise became legitimate. 

Also read: Timeless advice for young entrepreneurs

GL: Aside from your business, you also established a community group for entrepreneurs called Filipino Founders, tell us the story behind it.

Czarina: Whenever my friends have problems with their businesses, they would come to me (for advice). Most of their problems are something I or my other friends have experienced. In order to prevent this, since I’m doing events, I thought of: why not also create events for entrepreneurs?

Filipino Founders is a community created to equip and empower Filipino entrepreneurs. Its main goal is to build a strong support system for thought leaders, trailblazers, and founders, as they serve our country by providing products and services to the Filipino people and to the world.
 
The goal of this community is not for profit. What we want to do is to build a strong community of entrepreneurs.  The Philippines is the best place to do business.

And if we want businesses to scale up, we have to help each other.Given the right support and education, we can uplift our Filipinos micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.

GL: What are the challenges you have faced and how did you handle it?

Czarina:  At first, there’s prejudice because I’m young.  For example, when meeting (clients), they’d ask me, “Where’s your boss?” and they’d be surprised when I tell them that I’m the boss. But my experience in the corporate world was helpful to handle this challenge. I got a managerial position at the age of 19 and most of the people that I managed are older than me. I applied what I’ve learned from the corporate world on how to deal with people. I also made sure that in every meeting, I know what I’m going to put on the table so that they’d see that I deserve their time despite that I’m young.

Also read: 7 tips to become a great young manager

GL: How do you stay ahead of the curve in a competitive business environment?

Czarina: Since I graduated with a biochemistry degree, my knowledge in business is only based on experience and self-help. I realized if I want to have a career on this, I need to equip myself so I attended a lot of seminars and workshops. I invested in myself and started reading so many things about business, finance, economics, and self-development. The investments I made on myself have helped me to diversify my portfolio and acquire a condo at the age of 22.
 

GL: You are a Linker. How does GlobalLinker assist business owners? 

Czarina: I am happy because UnionBank GlobalLinker has the same advocacy with Filipino Founders which is to help and support micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the Philippines. 

GL: What advice would you give to a new entrepreneur setting up their first business? 

Czarina:  If you’re still working in the corporate world, you need to plan (for your exit). It would be difficult when you immediately jump on entrepreneurship without any concrete plans. You have to consider your responsibilities like paying your monthly rent and other bills.
 

Sometimes, courage is not enough. You need to prepare for it because there’s always a risk in business. And if there’s a risk, you need to learn to manage it.

It’s not an easy life, but it’s rewarding.  And once you see the rewards, it fuels you (to keep going). 

 

You also need discipline. If you have all the time in your hands, you have to develop discipline.  At the end of the day, if you don’t know how to manage your time, it will just be wasted. In business, time is always money. If you want to grow, scale-up, and create more impact, you have to develop discipline.

Also read: Spark Fest 2019: Tried-and-tested tips for entrepreneurs on achieving business success

GL: We would love to know the person behind the entrepreneur

• Every day you wake up at – 4:00 am
• The first thing you do when you wake up – Pray and set up my intentions for the day
• Three things you do to unwind/ relax-. I usually go out and eat with my family every weekend. I love swimming at 9:00 pm to cool down from the hustle and bustle of city life. I schedule "self care" days every month, wherein I go on social media detox, do an intensive skincare routine, and just enjoy the day doing nothing but good things for my physical and mental health.
  
• The best piece of advice you’ve ever been given - "Why shine when you can illuminate?". I strongly believe that if you have been blessed with so many things in life, like going to a good school, having a job or a profitable business, it becomes your responsibility to provide opportunities for the people who never had access to those.
• The one book everyone should read - Ikigai by Ken Mogi
  
  

To explore business opportunities, network with Czarina Yosa by clicking on the 'Connect' button on her profile

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