Entrepreneur 1: ALVIN CARRANZA

Alvin Carranz - BILLBOARDS DO THE JOB

Business: Macgraphics Carranz International Corp.

            Cafe Lupe

Category: From Rags-to-Riches

Everything started when he borrowed a car from a friend and accidentally wrecked it. In order to replaced it he decided to quit school and luckily he was able to land on a job from a friend as a salesman for an architectural signage company. Then by chance he start his own billboard business at the age of 18. He borrowed P5,000.00 from relatives to start up the business. In wanting to look mature for his age he wore a fake eyeglasses and lugged a briefcase on client calls. He found a vacant grassland along North Expressway and used the down payment from his first client to pay for the lease.

On his second year he give P24,000.00 to a building administrator as a down payment so he can set up his next site in Manila on the side of the building. But he was swindled.

He decided to return to his hometown Bacolod and continue his studies. But when he got a call from Dunkin Donuts that offers for a billboard project he quit school again and head back to Manila and from there things just happened and he was only 20 years old.

Until neon billboards became a fad and that's also the time he got married, he formed a corporation called Macgraphics Carranz.He got the Unilever account, and he was the first to do a billboard for the said multinational company.

At present he already had 60 billboard sites nationwide and with 50 employees. It was in 1996 that their spectacular billboard in Guadalupe started.

He also come up with another business idea which sprouted when he climbed billboard in Giadalupe - the Cafe Lupe..

"Setting up the business was difficult, but as with any kind of work, if you love it you won't dwell on the difficult areas. It won't feel like work."

GOLDEN RULE:

Be honest with your partners, clients, and especially to yourself. If you've committed a mistake, the quickest way to rectify the damage is to admit you made a mistake, and try to find a solution from there. Covering it up won't work.