How one enterprising woman turned her life around and became a millionaire at 23 As told to Maris Mortel    Photo courtesy of Celebrity Living
Although I was never one of the students who got good grades, I was precocious as a child. I’d always think of ways to afford the things I wanted. Like the time in Grade One when my allowance was just one peso and it was not enough to buy my favorite snacks like pizza and chips. So one day I told my classmate that I had brought my imaginary dwarf friend with me that day. She noticed that I was sitting in a corner laughing by myself and asked me what I was doing, I told her I was playing with my dwarf. I even said her name was Isay, and that my dwarf was dancing and wearing pink, “Can’t you see her?” I asked. I don’t know how I convinced my classmate, but she exclaimed that she sees the creature too, until other girls gathered around me and proclaimed that “Isay is so cute!” They asked me where I found Isay and I told them that there were many dwarfs in my house and they could have one of their own, for two pesos each. That was how I made my first sale. Soon almost every girl in my class had her own imaginary dwarf staying in their lunchboxes, pencil boxes and school bags! But after some time I was again in need of extra money, so I stayed after school and went around our campus garden to look for ladybugs. I kept them in my pencil box and showed to my classmates Isay’s cute, new pets! Needless to say, the ladybugs were also a big hit.

Another gimmick was when my lola gave me a bag of chocolates for pasalubong from the States. I made a pabunot game where you will pay to pick a number from a ballot box. If your paper had a sad face written on it, you had no prize, but if it had a smiley face you win chocolate. Ideas like these came naturally to me. It must be because my family was into business, owning a chain of goto eateries. Even though I was young, they supported me in my ventures. When I was 17, for example, my aunt told me that bubblegum machines would be a good investment. I was amused by the concept of putting one peso in a slot and having a big, colorful gumball drop out. So my mom helped me with the initial investment and I placed a bubble gum machine in three major malls – SM Megamall, SM North Edsa and SM Sta. Mesa. It was a one-man operation. Twice a week I would lug huge bags of bubble gum to refill the machines and empty them of coins. Then I would spend evenings counting coins while watching TV. I got most of my shopping and gimmick money from that because I would earn as much as P50,000 a month, and I was still in college. I think it was important that I got a head start in business while in school because I was not really interested in academics. It might surprise a lot of people to find out that I was kicked out of two high schools, much to my parent’s dismay. Still I was able to get sufficient grades to graduate and get accepted into a top university. During my classes I paid more attention on selling to my classmates than listening to my professors. At that time I also sold tailored shirts that I had made in Kamuning and Pashmina shawls. With the money I earned it didn’t matter that my allowance was small, I could still afford to go out shopping and stay out all night partying. But looking back, I think I should have studied harder kasi sayang din, diba? Siguro mas marami akong alam ngayon if I tried to get better grades. Honestly, I got the idea for my current business merely by chance. After I graduated I worked for a retail clothing company as a merchandiser. I decided to join Christmas bazaars with my best friend where we sold shirts, blouses, accessories and handmade soap that we had consigned. It turned out that the handmade soap was the item that got sold out so this made me realize that there is a market for local body care products. Thats how my company, Zen Zest, was born.

Read more about Michelle Asense-Fontelera and her business Zen Zest in Real World, Meg April 2010 issue.