News/ Events

Of Enterprise Evolution & Cyber-Learning

On 13 October 2008, Dr. Eduardo A. Morato, Jr., celebrated guru of entrepreneurship and advocate of democratizing education and development management, launched his latest book – A Trilogy of Entrepreneurship.  The most challenging of his intellectual activities to date, this trilogy walks both "wanna be entrepreneurs" and entrepreneurs into the jungle of preparing, creating, and growing the enterprise.

Prof. Francisco "Jay" M. Bernardo III, the start-up guru of the ACE Center for Entrepreneurship and Management Education (ACE-ME) and the person assigned to react on Book One (Preparing for Entrepreneurship), was an apt book for his Venture in Entrepreneurship (VIE) students.  Book One and Book Two combined have become their bible in embracing the lifestyle of running an enterprise – from starting one to creating value that customers would buy.  He also spoke about the Trilogy of Ed Morato, that is, that of being an Originator, Writer, and Entrepreneur. 

As an originator, Prof. Bernardo stated that Dr. Morato was one who has "chutzpah" (guts) to create new things.  As a writer, he is not just prolific; he is one to "stamp" his works with words that are uniquely his ("moratopedia").  (Remember discombobulated and bamboozled?  How about one of his favorites…juxtaposition?)    As an Entrepreneur, he strives to bring his team forward.

Prof. Danilo A. Antonio, the real-estate guru of ACE-ME, found Book Two timely given the crisis happening in the world nowadays.  With a focus on "creation," Prof. Antonio found the chapter on "Valuating" a very useful chapter for both entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs alike.  For him, It showcased financial simplicity with substance as it walks the readers through various "financial toolkits." 

Dean Alberto L. Buenviaje, Executive Director of the Ateneo-Regis MBA Program and Dean of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB), was happy to have collaborated with Dr. Morato in their academic endeavour.  Reading through the three books, Dean Buenviaje stated that the trilogy is a legacy that can be easily used by MBA students and all those involved in the academe.  He added that he is happy to be with Dr. Morato in the field of education, particularly through the Entrepreneurship Boot Camp at the Ateneo Rockwell Campus.  A new program entitled, Visionary Innovations through Breakthrough Entrepreneurship or VIBE, will also be launched by both ACE-ME and the AGSB in November 2008 (Click on ACE-ME Seminars).

Finally, Dr. Morato spoke about his "three decade" experience.  From being a simple MBA professor at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) teaching Finance, he started teaching Development of Enterprise (DE).  "I noticed that as I started teaching my students Finance, the Philippine banks have become bigger but poverty was still there," he stated.  When he delved into DE, it started his career in Development Management; thus, the Center for Development Management was born.  As years went by, in 1995, he established yet another foundation for another school – the Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE).  "No quizzes, no exams.  That's the condition.  But you can test us in the real-life application to business," summarizes how the Masters in Entrepreneurship was born.  Dr. Morato describes the ME as a controversial program of sorts as it does not have an entrance exam (which is a requirement in most graduate schools) and no exams.  True to the entrepreneurs' request, ME's real-time education and mentoring process has allowed small, medium, and large businesses to benefit from it.  From an original market of 25,000 small enterprises, 2,000 medium enterprises, and 2,000 large enterprises, the ME's market increased to 75,000 small enterprises,  3,000 medium enterprises, and 3,000 large enterprises.  Microenterprises comprise a big chunk of the Philippine economy according to Dr. Morato – "more than 800,000."  From here, Dr. Morato realized that AIM only addressed a minimal portion of the economy.  Thus, he decided to launch the ME program.

With the last batch, ME 15,  graduating in December 2008, ACE-ME has yet to find another haven for this popular program; hopefully, with the Ateneo family.  In the meantime, Dr. Morato has continued his quest for entrepreneurship through ABS-CBN Bayan Foundation, a micro-enterprise cum education organization, that has become his new avenue for democratizing education, entrepreneurship, and development management.  The signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between ACE-ME and ABS-CBN Bayan in the first part of the book launching ceremony was more than just a documentation of a partnership.  It will be a collaboration and sharing of intellectual capital of both parties.  ABS-CBN Bayan's collection of Grassroots Entrepreneurship and Management (GEM) modules written in Filipino (with an English translation for high school students) have been translated to other local dialects – Cebuano, Ilonggo, etc.  There are also 26 toolkits, about 89 caselets, and other learning materials that are open source.

As Dr. Morato presented his website – edmorato.com – he emphasized his advocacy towards democratizing education; that is, most of the materials that will be posted on his site will be open source.  Academicians, entrepreneurs, students, and all those who have a need for learning materials are welcome to use and to share the cases, articles, speeches, and toolkits from the site.  It was also in this presentation that Dr. Morato introduced his colleagues who have helped him develop learning materials.  Unified, he called the group ABCDE that stood for – A – Averilla, B – Baluyot, C – Cruz, D – Domingo, and E – EdMo.  Each of these letters also signified each consultant's expertise and the toolkits that they prepared:  Assessing the Market (by Oyie Averilla), Business Planning (by Hershey Baluyot), Conducting the Enterprise (by Luis Cruz, Jr.), Developing People (by Lito Domingo), and Evolving the Enterprise (by Dr. Morato).

An intimate occasion where Dr. Morato's family, friends, colleagues, and students have gathered to celebrate another milestone, the launching of the Trilogy of Entrepreneurship and edmorato.com may just be the beginning of establishing a foundation for a virtual entrepreneurship university.  (HB)