Tealive May Want to Establish a Bangamoro Branch ASAP

News of Tealive establishing its 50th branch in the Philippines (which makes me wish Jollibee would expand faster in Malaysia soon) makes me ask, "When are they going to enter the Bangsamoro region?" Some time ago, I wrote a post about how Tealive opening in the Bangsamoro region would be a huge business opportunity. It should be noted that former Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, saw the potential of the Bangsamoro Region. Tealive isn't a Taiwanese but a Malaysian company where the company uses only Halal-approved ingredients.

Here's a photo from the Manila Bulletin Lifestyle's Facebook page. This was also written about the upcoming Ube series:

LOOK: Tealive opens its 50th store in the Philippines at Park West, BGC, Taguig City.
At the event, ube is definitely in. Apart from celebrating the opening of their 50th branch, Tealive unveiled new “UBEr flavors,” cementing the status of the bright purple root as the flavor of the year for 2024.
The “Tealive Ube Series” will be available to the public in June this year. There’s Ube Matcha, Ube Halo, Ube Milktea, and Ube Scramble. We also tried their fruity teas, as well as their toasties, burgers, and fries.

With the incoming UBEr flavors, it's easy to think that most Filipinos love ube or purple yam. Going to Surigao and Butuan, ube-based desserts would be served. Sure, I dislike ube ice cream or ube cake but I can enjoy other ube-based sweets. From a businessman's perspective, serving these ube desserts may keep Tealive going. Filipinos and Malaysians also have a similar sweet tooth demographic (read here). Having both halo-halo and scramble would definitely click with Filipinos. These flavors may be closer than one thinks with Mindanao.

The Rakyat Post

I'm not a fan of durian and I dislike its smell. It's understandable why Singapore has strict laws about bringing durian to certain places. However, Tealive Philippines should bring the durian beverage to certain regions or nationwide. Filipinos are stereotyped as durian lovers too. There may be ample supplies of durian in Mindanao, such as Davao or in the Bangsamoro region. Promoting the durian products in Bangsamoro may be an excellent move.

This would also be bigger job opportunities for people in Bangsamoro. No need to go to what's coined as Imperial Manila just to get a job as a server. If it works in Bangsamoro, Tealive can also expand itself throughout the whole of Mindanao as well.

Learning Mandarin Chinese Through Melons

Hanlin Language Center In pursuit of encouraging people ot learn Mandarin Chinese, here's a chart teaching the different types of melons in Chinese. Learning how to speak Chinese with these melons would be a productive exercise. Aside from using what was often called bon toi in the Chinese schools, it might be good to help people memorize these types of sentences, with the translation: Chinese: "天气热，想吃西瓜." (Tiānqì rè, xiǎng chī xīguā.) Translation: "It's hot, I want to eat watermelon." Chinese: "你想喝冬瓜茶吗?" (Nǐ xiǎng hē dōngguā chá ma?) Translation: "Do you want to drink winter melon tea?" Chinese: "我要做南瓜派." (Wǒ yào zuò nánguā pài.) Translation: "I'm going to cook pumpkin pie." Chinese: "用黄瓜去眼袋." (Yòng huángguā qù yǎndài) Translation: "Use cucumber on your eye bags." Chinese: "苦瓜对你的健康有益." (Kǔguā duì nǐ de jiànkāng yǒuyì) Translation: "Bitter gourd is good for your health." Chin...

A Consequence of Adobe's Subscription Model?!

As I look at this video, I don't regret not opening an Adobe account. I used Adobe Photoshop back in college--back when I could borrow someone's CD and install it on my computer. However, paying thousands of PHP monthly is ridiculous for a casual user! Why would I pay thousands of PHP just to produce artwork that I'm not even selling? Back then, I used Photoshop mostly to relax during semestral breaks in college. What happened to the good old days? As I listened to this video, I was disgusted at how Adobe could be a "Get Rich Quick Scheme" against its customers. Instead of selling Adobe Photoshop (or any service) outright (that's until the newer version arrives), they decide to use the subscription model. I could understand if Adobe offers a subscription model for intensive work that requires intensive power. Meanwhile, Adobe could offer a one-time purchase of any of its software for non-professional use. This reminds me why relying on past successes isn...

The Malaysian-Filipino Sweet Tooth Demographic

As a Filipino, I've observed the Filipino diet tends to lean on a sweet tooth. What causes this probable genetic disposition of the Filipino to crave sweets? That trait might be traced to one's ancestors. Newsweek also mentions it might be with the DNA . The Malaysians and the Filipinos have close genetics. The Britannica also cites this about Filipinos: The ethnically diverse people of the Philippines collectively are called Filipinos. The ancestors of the vast majority of the population were of Malay descent and came from the Southeast Asian mainland as well as from what is now Indonesia . Contemporary Filipino society consists of nearly 100 culturally and linguistically distinct ethnic groups. Of these, the largest are the Tagalog of Luzon and the Cebuano of the Visayan Islands, each of which constitutes about one-fifth of the country’s total population. Other prominent groups include the Ilocano of northern Luzon and the Hiligaynon (Ilongo) of the Visayan islands of Panay...

Getting Nuts About Standard Chinese, By Learning About the Chinese Names of Nuts

Hanbridge Mandarin In pursuing the need to teach Mandarin Chinese, it's important to deviate from the old-fashioned Chinese language education (read here ). Instead, we need to get people interested in basic vocabulary. This would be a good exercise to learn from basic sentence making and conversations. Here's an example of what's called bon toi back in my day. Let's think of learning Chinese through nuts. Question: 你想要巴西坚果、核桃、杏仁还是腰果? (Nǐ xiǎng yào bāxī jiānguǒ, hétáo, xìngrén háishì yāoguǒ) Translation: Do you want brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds, or cashews? Answer: 我想要杏仁，非常感谢. (Wǒ xiǎng yào xìngrén, fēicháng gǎnxiè.) Translation: I want to have almonds, please, thank you very much. However, there's a mistake in the chart because the coconut isn't a nut. Instead, it's a coconut fruit of the coconut tree, of the coconut palm family. The song was written by Filipino musician Ryan Cayabyab. Now, it's time to enjoy learning Chinese through learning about n...

When the Education Cares TOO MUCH About Grades, Schools Produce Idiots Instead of Intellectuals

During the pandemic, I was left in limbo thinking about my poor performance under K+10. It was something to think about that a classmate of mine who was both a summa cum laude and an honor student, ended up posting on his wall, "Students cheat because the education system cares more about grades instead of learning." The class salutatorian of our batch even commented about the good old days. I always had that feeling of insecurity and envy towards people better than me. But as Warren Edward Buffet would say, "Don't hate successful people. Learn from them instead." One of them is currently a teacher and the other is in Canada. I thought about my insecurities especially when I used to believe I was descended from a fine scholar and my family was a family of scholars. I remembered the time I was taking MBA and got conned. I was asked, "Is that what MBA taught you?" I got touchy and ended up admitting, eventually, that I was only taking MBA for the presti...

My Thoughts on the NOT So Surprising Downfall of "Axie Infinity"

llustration: Daniel Guerrero Fernandez for Bloomberg Businessweek I remembered some time ago when I wrote about Axie Infinity . One article I wrote about why I never bothered to enter the Axie Infinity arena was the poor security . I compared it to a cockfighting game--a game where so few win and so many lose. A previous article I wrote was all about why play-to-earn games are too good to be true . What's not too surprising is the collapse of Axie Infinity . It's pretty much too good to be true. A casual gamer can testify that they buy online passes not to earn but to play . It's like buying a Playstation Plus card to play online for an entire year. You buy games out of the money you earn. You don't earn money out of gaming. What truly never surprised me was how Axie Infinity crashed. It promised riches but onoy resulted to disaster. I even wrote that there could be an ironic moment somebody says that AXA is a scam while playing Axie Infinity thinking that it's an...

Piracy is Almost Impossible to Defeat Thanks to the Filipino First Policy

Disney Let's face it piracy is hard to combat, right? For Filipinos, it's time to be honest that people have been engaged in piracy in some form. It may be pirated video games, CDs, VCDs, DVDs, etc. There are laws passed against piracy. However, one must ask why piracy is so hard to combat. Piracy bypasses through legalities. It's a common practice to have a pirated version of this and that application, because of the price . Installing MS Office and Windows 11 can be costly. It can cost PHP 7,000.00 for Windows 11 Home and PHP 5,400.00 for MS Office. Back in college, people would do anything to get the MS Office and Windows 11 because they needed it for their projects . It doesn't help that some well-to-do boomer are stingy instead of thrifty. It doesn't help either that some people just can't afford to buy the original software--given their income bracket . It's easy to raise the Filipino First Policy by saying, "Tangkilikin ang sariling atin!" ...

Bacolod Sugarcane's Industry and Its Massive Business Opportunity with Japanese and Taiwanese Investors

Trying the delicious Okinawa Milk Tea from ITealicious makes me think of the delicious Okinawa brown sugar. I thought about researching Okiwana brown sugar on how it's made. Certain details reveal why the Japanese product is used by certain milk tea establishments around the world. The method of making the Japanese brown sugar is described by Dore by LeTao as follows: Can you guess the origin of this Brown Sugar? Yes of course it is from Okinawa! It is from sugarcane that is grown in Okinawa. Okinawa is famous for their beautiful place, beach, and their longevity. It is well-known that Okinawa’s climate is perfect for sugar cane. W ith strong southern-island sunlight and minerals delivered by the ocean spray, make Okinawa perfect for growing healthy sugar cane ! Production begins with a healthy sugarcane crop then continues to a slow cooking technique to process the sugar cane juice (this method is referred to as kokuto). This method makes them healthier than the usual brown...

The Lesson of "Bad Genius" is More Than Just "Cheating Never Pays Off"

Sometimes, much truth can be told in fiction, right? Talk about how the great Jose Rizal revealed much truth in his fictional novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo . The digital age today would create more entertaining media. I may encourage book reading over movie watching. However, some movies may do more than entertain. They can also address a real issue. It was said that a cheating scandal in China inspired the producers Jira Maligool and Vanridee Pongsittisak to create the film Bad Genius . Right now, there's even a TV series presumably because a movie can't always deliver the message one wants. How does the whole thing go? I was inspired to watch this film because of comments from a Facebook friend's post. The post also talked about how students cheat because the system cares more about grades than learning. As the world becomes more global, exposure to Thai cinema is definitely not surprising. Sure, one can talk about the South Korean wave or the increasin...

The STUPIDITY of Insisting that Equity Restrictions in the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines Exist for "National Security"

As the call for economic charter change goes on, I feel the need to educate some people with common sense . I'm reading comments on Facebook that 60-40 (or any similar ownership restrictions) is for the "security of the Philippines" or that certain sectors can't be allowed 100% ownership on the part of the MNC. Once again, do I need to remind people for the nth time that 100% FDI ownership is all about share ownership ? Sadly, many Filipinos misunderstand what 100% FDI means (read here ). What 100% FDI ownership means is that MNCs don't need to look for a Filipino partner, only to be burdened with having to give up 60% (or more) of the net profits after taxes and they only keep 40% (or less). That's why I called such an arrangement as overpriced rent (read here ). Some of these people I ran into on Facebook (of all places) are too beholden to Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. It was last 2018 when Davide Jr. also said that the Philippines may become a "colony ...

Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

Search This Blog