Tuna King

Our friend and staunch ally, Mr. Roger Lim was twice nominated for the Outstanding Sillimanian Award and rejected for some flimsy reason or other, in favor of men far less worthy than he for the honor. Below is a write-up detailing some of the great things he has done with matching great impact on the community...and if that doesn't get him nominated again, i don't know what will. But alas, alack---he REFUSES to be nominated a third time, having been insulted by the University's rejection (for unjust cause)the last time around. So for posterity na lang, I will post the article that does him justice...

Featured Story: Social Accountability Not Social Responsibility



Tuesday, January 09, 2007

The Making of Filipino Entrepreneurs
By Theresa S. Pacheco

It all started with a dream. The dream was to empower fisher folks in the countryside. Armed with courage, determination and passion, Rogelio Lim Sr., simply known as Roger Lim, made it come true. He is the man behind the success of GenSan Aqua Traders in the country’s tuna capital, General Santos City.

The humble and low profile Tuna King got the inspiration from doctrines he learned while working with the Development Academy of the Philippines-Medium and Small Scale Industries Coordinated Action Program (DAP-MASICAP). He was under the supervision of Fr. George Piron, a Belgian Catholic priest who has taught him in particular, to love God and our country.

The DAPMA SICAP program was funded and spearheaded by former President Ferdinand Marcos and, then Industry Minister Vicente Paterno. The young Roger Lim belonged to the top college students hand-picked for the program. Each of the scholars received a countryside assignment with the objective of developing the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SME) for free and act as catalyst between the proponents and the government.

Mr. Lim, fresh from Silliman University in Dumaguete, was assigned to assist entrepreneurs and potential project proponents in General Santos City in 1974. While he is trained to prepare project feasibility studies, he also learned that aside from the usual management, technical, marketing and financial aspects - contribution to the economy was a primordial consideration in the preparation of such studies.

Their group believed that for meaningful development to take place, it must happen in the countryside beginning at grassroots level. At a young age, Roger Lim believed that true development was the improvement of standards of living for underprivileged Filipinos and raising them from bondage of poverty.

Roger Lim’s social immersion under the DAP-MASICAP made him realize four things. First, Filipinos lacking formal education possess inherent ability and talents which have not been harnessed properly through government intervention. Second, Filipinos have a “godfather mentality” and that you can create wealth by harnessing people’s skills. Third, even if you have capital but do not know how to harness your inherent talents, your money will go to waste. Fourth, to hit two birds with one stone, you must make business profitability drive your mission to provide people with a legacy.

Before his program was implemented, the condition of fisher folks was similar to the Filipino farmer, considered as the poorest among the poor. They were simply employed and being exploited by others. So by the time Mr. Lim started his tuna handline (hook and line) fishing business in 1987, he already embraced the vision that in order for his business to flourish, it should promote and share the wealth creation among the fisher folk and uplift the people who depended on him for a living.

He worked on his plan and designed his business organization in a diamond-shape (not a pyramid). Using this model he visualized having more successful people in the middle with only few at the top and at the bottom. He aimed at improving the lives of the fisher folk by letting them have more than what was considered enough, more than “isang kahig isang tuka”.

Employment plus Prosperity

Roger Lim’s business-driven community development model remained nameless until Fr. Raul Vale, a priest based in General Santos City named it the ‘Social Accountability Program’ which means “employment plus prosperity”.

The program aims to empower Filipino fishery workers into owners of handline fishing boats eventually transforming them from mere labor fisher folk into fishing entrepreneurs. “In order to ensure sustainability of the program, the fishermen and their family members learn not only how to fish but also how to manage their own fishing business being owners of handline fishing boats,”according to Mr. Lim.

He made sure that the fishermen learn three principles for success. First, teach them how to make the fishing business successful. Second, teach them to manage their own success to achieve sustainability. And third, ensure management by succession—nurturing the new generation of entrepreneurs— to achieve continuity.

To-date Roger Lim’s GenSan Aqua Traders provides livelihood for 6,000 Filipino handliners and 30,000 family members. The Social Accountability Program also includes 150 fisher-beneficiaries. While most own one or two fishing boats under the program, some fishers have become entrepreneurs by their hard work and business acumen to own five to more than ten boats.

The GenSan Aqua Traders Social Accountability Program works along the lines of a build-operate-transfer scheme. The deserving fisher passes through a process of selection and promotion. In the process, Mr. Lim takes into consideration the performance as well as the character of the prospective fisher.

“What I look for in a prospective fisherman are qualities like personal courage, drive for success, determination, commitment, passion and leadership,” says Mr. Lim. He keeps a close eye on the fishers as soon as they come aboard as crew members (pasahero) or as boat captains (operator).

Mr. Lim shoulders the risk with these fishers when he decides to assign them a fishing boat. Because they are lacking formal credential and not yet bankable, Mr. Lim’s arrangements are based on the unique bonds of trust and confidence that he builds working with people who risk lives to make a living at sea. The cost of the fishing boat is paid back without interest from profits of fishing operations — ‘payable when able’. In this set-up, Mr. Lim also acts as the financier providing the fishers with fuel, ice, food and other related fishing operational supplies on condition that their fish catch will be sold to him based on the prevailing price at the fishport.

Accountability First

Mr. Lim would like to emphasize his views on the role of entrepreneurship in the society. He says, “the term ‘social responsibility’ is not enough because most of us are just users and exploiters when we give employment to our fellow Filipinos.”

“Let us develop the Filipinos into entrepreneurs and let us use the phrase ‘social accountability’ instead,” he emphasizes. “Meaning let us provide employment and livelihood at the same time to achieve growth and prosperity. The successful businessmen in our country should think of helping and teaching some of their employees to become entrepreneurs and temper selfishness and greed. Filipino businesspeople and entrepreneurs should struggle and learn to love, struggle and learn to trust, and struggle and learn to take risks with fellow Filipinos.”

Mr. Lim’s Social Accountability Program has produced the most outstanding fishers in General Santos City. To his delight, all 10 winners of the search for the first Karagatan Awards that formed part of the 8th annual Tuna Festival were all beneficiaries of the GenSan Aqua Traders program. For this, all the more the GenSan Aqua Traders team is inspired to make good and hope for the best in next years’ awards.

In this vein, Mr. Lim is pursuing a double bottom line approach that fits Plantersbank’s vision. With the development loan extended to him by Plantersbank, his company had and could reach out to many deserving labor fishermen who also dream, have the grit and determination to succeed and especially those who have the passion and dare to become entrepreneurs.

Because it remains focused in harnessing the ability of the common fisherman and develops in them the spirit of business enterprise, Mr. Lim produces many unsung heroes. The handline fishermen who battle with and land the large/mature yellow-fin tuna are the same people who made the City the tuna capital of the Philippines and help generate millions in the foreign currency revenues with their catch.

General Santos City is the premier tuna producer and exporter of canned, fresh/chilled and frozen sashimi, and other value-added tuna products in the country. Soon, the tuna products will also be used as raw materials for the OTOP (One Town, One Product) program of the City government and the Department of Trade and Industry for export to the United States, Japan, the European Union, the Middle East and other Islamic countries. For this reason, the handliners are lobbying in the Senate for a special law to reclassify the handline fishing industry.

As GenSan Aqua Traders continues in its success, it aims to pursue the program and improve the operations, reach out to more deserving labor fishermen and build new handline fishing boats. Thanks to the opportunities opened by the company’s Social Accountability Program, Roger Lim continues to pursue the noble mission to make a difference for General Santos City and the tuna fishing industry, building a lasting legacy so that “Filipinos shall be the masters of their own country.”