SPECIAL REPORT (Tabloid format): JOURNAL FOR ENTREPRENEURS (Creativity)

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(Business World (Philippines) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) In this period of harsh economic times when people are doing their best to cut down on costs, luxury items are often the first slashed on the budget list. Still, some businesses manage to prove that it is possible for a business to thrive even in a difficult and price-sensitive environment.



Ma. Yolanda Capistrano-Sevilla, chief executive officer of The Leather Collection, Inc., maker of well-crafted and high-quality leather gift items, is very proud of how the business managed not only to keep afloat but also to grow and become the market leader. Creativity played a huge part in the company's success and she has this one strong advice for entrepreneurs - recreate or perish.

"(Creativity is) critical both to survival and growth. When one ceases to be creative, one first atrophies, then dies," Mrs. Sevilla said.

The entrepreneur really has something to be proud of. Since it formally started in 1991, The Leather Collection's roster of clients has included big corporate names such as Coca-Cola, Toyota, San Miguel, Nokia, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Shakey's, Del Monte, Shell, Mitsubishi, Citibank, to name a few.

The company, which is positioned as a corporate gifts specialist that caters specifically to the institutional market for corporate gifts and accessories, has served the gift and giveaway requirements of over 500 of the Top 1,000 corporations in the Philippines.

Mrs. Sevilla greatly acknowledges that she achieved this feat together with one important person in her life - her husband who has been the originator of their businesses. Prior to setting up The Leather Collection, she was a direct marketing consultant of companies in various fields such as insurance, book distribution and retail. In fact, she is one of the pioneers of the country's direct marketing industry and was founding president of the Direct Marketing Association of the Philippines.

While working as chief executive officer of the direct marketing arm of the Manilabankers and Seaboard Eastern Insurance, she met Federico S. Sevilla, Jr., the company's printer who would turn out to be her husband and work mate.

"We started out our relationship working together. My story as an entrepreneur is the story of our marriage," Mrs. Sevilla narrated.

The Leather Collection is the grandchild of Insta Print - the enterprise Mr. Sevilla set up to provide for the family when they got married in 1981. In 1983, Insta Print gave birth to Creative Art Techniques, a creative and design boutique serving the advertising industry. Eventually, it designed and produced paper products such as the Manila, Cebu and Baguio Landmark Maps, Niji and Fedrigoni Stationery and Gift Boxes, and the Yellow Board.

One of the products developed by Creative Art Techniques was The Asian Manager (Triax Organizer Planner System), a planner encased in a leather binder that was launched in cooperation with the Asian Institute of Management for one of the school's alumni homecoming gatherings in 1988.

The company tried to source the binders from leathergoods manufacturers both here and abroad but none of the local suppliers met its quality standards. This prompted the firm to partner with a German craftsman and his wife to form an in-house unit to handle the production of leather binders in 1990.

The new division started off with the planner and eventually produced a small collection of business accessories that included card cases, wallets, pen cases and key holders. In 1991, the company's leathergoods division was spun off and the new company was called The Leather Collection.

Mrs. Sevilla admitted that The Leather Collection encountered several challenges when it was just starting. Aside from organizing the manufacturing facility, it also found promoting the brand to their target market - the corporate gifts segment - a hard task. The company also said it experienced difficulty during the financial crisis in the late 1990s when companies were cutting down on budgets for advertising and promotions.

Although the company was able to weather tough times, there are still obstacles that it finds it must overcome. On the product side, the incessant challenge is to always innovate and respond to the challenges in the marketplace.

"The profile of the gift buyer of today is very different from the gift buyer 15 years ago. To begin with, it's a new generation of buyers, the Nokia generation as it were, accustomed to continuous product innovation, beneficiaries of the China syndrome - Louis Vuitton at Divisoria prices, or LV at Divi - with access to global suppliers," Mrs. Sevilla said.

On the marketing and promotions side, she said the continuing challenge is "to capture the minds and hearts and pocketbooks of today's buyer, to position one as the brand of choice, to choose to compete with product and service quality, rather than price, as the differentiator."

Today, The Leather Collection is a brand recognized for its product and service excellence, competence and reliability. Its main strengths are anchored in three aspects: product innovation and customization, where it designs exclusive gift collections for clients aside from its house products; craftsmanship, where the firm manufactures its products to global specifications and quality standards; and service where it assists clients in selecting the appropriate gift, premium or incentive.

The Leather Collection's product and service quality is manifested not just through its handcrafted leather accessory but also through its gift packaging. It also provides other services such as product design and customization, marketing and promotions planning, which differentiates it from traders of China-made novelties.

"Our customers also prefer collaborating with us because of our competence and reliability as corporate gifts specialists. We can turn around sample requirements in 24 hours, rush orders in a little over a week," Mrs. Sevilla added.

Mrs. Sevilla has always had an entrepreneurial spirit in her ever since she was young.

"I remember setting up a 'store' with the candies my Lolo had given me as pasalubong and selling these to my siblings who were always what I needed them to be in our games - in this case my customer," she fondly remembered.

While saying that her particular competence is in planning and organizing, Mrs. Sevilla also had a streak of creativity in her. During the first few years of The Leather Collection, Mrs. Sevilla created several lines for the products such as the travel collection, business collection, desk accessories and ladies' handbags.

When it comes to creativity, the entrepreneur is proud to say that the business merits an "A" because it continues to re-invent itself as an organic enterprise in an ever-changing environment.

"Our bottom line objective is hanap buhay, not just in terms of earning the money to pay for basic necessities, but being able to fulfill the potential and to use, hone and develop skills. We are craftsmen at heart. We are constantly searching for a better way, where pwede na is not enough," she said in a previous interview with BusinessWorld.

Mrs. Sevilla, who is scheduled to graduate next month from AIM's Master in Entrepreneurship course, learned that there are many layers of creativity.

"There's the creativity required for product and service innovation. There's also the creativity required for meeting the day-to-day challenges of managing an enterprise - whether that's organizing a new venture or re- engineering an existing one; acquiring a new customer or retaining a suki," she said.

For her, creativity means "thinking out of the proverbial sandbox. It's inventing and re-inventing. It's destroying to rebuild. It's both the totally new or a new combination of elements."

Now 15 years in the business, The Leather Collection plans to further expand its market. The company recently expanded to the Middle East market for corporate gifts and giveaways and now has a showroom and sales office in Dubai.

The company is also strengthening its design capability and is currently organizing Etnico, a product innovation firm being spearheaded by her husband.

Copyright 2006 BusinessWorld (Philippines). Source: Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Intelligence Wire.
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