Last Friday, the World Trade Center and the Philippine Stock Exchange were the venues creating a buzz. It was last Friday that Go Negosyo hit a record attendance of over 15,000 while the stock market saw the market fall for two consecutive days, signaling a gripping fear in Europe and America that could affect Asia. What happened in the stock market that day could cause a repeat of 2008…

But to stay on a positive note, the Go Negosyo Young Entrepreneurs Summit held at the World Trade Center saw thousands of young students from over 200 schools fall in line outside at as early as 6 a.m. Unfortunately, the management of the World Trade Center had to limit the number of people inside the halls, and controlled the gradual entry to avert any possible untoward incident. They said they had to ensure safety first. But in about one to two hours, almost everyone managed to enter. We’d like to take this opportunity to give our sincerest apologies to school teachers and students for the delay in entry and for any inconvenience, as we at Go Negosyo did not think we would surpass last year’s attendance level and we did not expect this overwhelming number of attendees.

Even the speakers and guests were wowed by the number of people. In seeing the crowd, they were equally motivated to really give their best to inspire the thousands of young aspiring students who are now more aware of what an entrepreneurship (negosyo) mindset can do for their future.

While seated next to former Defense Sec. Gibo Teodoro, he told me that this was his first talk for such a large audience in a long time, and he was nervous that he may be a bit rusty. It was my first time to hear him speak extemporaneously and he handled his speech for the youth very well. Even the big bossing himself MVP Manny V. Pangilinan came with a prepared speech but decided to go extemporaneous midway, connecting much better to the young participants. Clearly, many of the participants were in awe with MVP, as he gave advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, such as the key qualities of being an entrepreneur, traits that he himself tries to embody in running all of his companies.

Both Gibo and MVP stayed till lunch, listening to the next forum as well, which featured the young entrepreneurs who were awarded. Joining the young entrepreneurs in the forum were CHED Chair Dr. Patricia Licuanan, DTI Usec. Merly Cruz, National Youth Commission Chair Leon Flores, 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year and Bounty Fresh Food president Tennyson Chen, Go Negosyo trustee Esther Vibal and IT entrep Edgardo Herbosa.

As educational and inspiring the early morning speeches and forum were, the crowd suddenly went crazy when Phil Younghusband, endorser of Vitpower, and his brother James took the stage. The crowd was just as excited when Sam Concepcion performed. Almost everyone stayed in their seats, and for the first time in my six years did I see a crowd that took down notes and listened to all the afternoon speakers till the very end. It was like watching a concert listening to the series of superb speakers Mike Enriquez, Jack Madrid, Bro. Bo Sanchez, Josiah Go, Henry Tenedero, Michael Lobrin and Roselle Ambubuyog. Then, the students had the chance to learn again from very successful entrepreneurs in the afternoon forum with Bam Aquino, Kenneth Cobonpue, Injap Sia, RJ David, and Fred Moreno.

Apart from all the action in the plenary, the seminar rooms were also packed and busy with various entrepreneurs offering coaching to all those who wish to learn. We’d like to thank our dedicated Go Negosyo Angelpreneurs Johnlu Koa, Mylene Abiva, Pax Lapid, Butz Bartolome, Joy Abaquin, Ardy Roberto, Tess Dimaculangan, Randell Tiongson, Prof. Luis Cruz, Rommel Juan and Armand Bengco for volunteering to give free mentoring sessions at our booth and in the seminar room. Thanks also to Cathy Turvill of Nurture Spa, Gel Cabrera of Herbee Tattoo Studio, Anton Diaz of OurAwesomePlanet, Chef Hasset Go of Medchef, Lester Lagos of Urban Frog, Edmund Mangaser of All Terra, Oliver Tan of Pooch Park Doggy Daycare, Cris Guerrero of Ideal Events, Raymund Punzalan and Jowee Alviar of Team Manila, Hazel Naval of Nice Print Photo, Ronald Pineda of Folded and Hung, and Camille Meloto of Human Nature.

Seeing these young people reminds me of what I was years back. Nothing like this was done during my college days and I’m glad that we’re doing this for them today, inspiring them to think of what they want to be in the future. Planning for the future and knowing what one wants to be should start as early as in high school. But they need to see icons in negosyo to realize what they want to be when they finish college. If they want to be a politician, entrepreneur or even a corporate entrepreneur, no matter what it is, they need to have the right values and be enterprising in any field they choose.

Again, my personal apologies to all who had a difficult time entering the World Trade Center that day. But I hope we did make it up to all of you by giving the best in inspiring people. Next year, we plan to do it differently and take the summit to five regions; possibly in Davao, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, and a couple of provinces in Luzon.

For those who missed the 2011 Young Entrepreneurs Summit, we’ll show the event in our regular time slot on Channel 4, Tuesdays at 8p.m.; and also on GMA News TV, which airs on Saturdays and Sundays at 8am. Coverage of the event may also be seen at our website www.gonegosyo.net.

Contact me: feedback@gonegosyo.net or Joey Concepcion Facebook account.