Jackie Lopez

There can be no doubt that transportation is the most critical sector in the economy.

Have you ever wondered? Even if a lot of students are complaining about the transportation issues on Central Mindanao University campus are still not being addressed, and people tend to accept it as normal.

As a student who is taking entrepreneurial mind as one of the midyear class subjects, do not want to let this opportunity pass because I envisioned something in particular and know that there is a user-friendly option.

Together with our team, we created an application that we believe may address the campus mobility problem in the hopes that it will significantly improve the local area. As a result, our team has decided to create an application called "PASAKAY".

For the past few weeks, our team has been conducting interviews with individuals from our target market—students, faculty members, employees, and other users—to validate our application. As many CMU students do not have a midyear class, our team also opted to conduct an online survey using Google Forms. By doing this, we may also ask for their thoughts on the application under consideration. The validation went smoothly thus far. According to the information we obtained, some of the issues facing our target customers include locating a motorcycle or motorela in off-campus locations and the length of time it takes for a motorela to depart as drivers wait for their motorela to be full of passengers. Our team has determined that our proposed application is helpful for the CMU community based on the responses from our respondents.

We asked our respondents about the use of this app during the validation process. Fortunately, the majority of them are excited to use the application when it is released. The people we spoke with claim that having this application will be beneficial for them because it offers ease and enables them to get where they're going more quickly. Regarding thelps our product stand out from the competition. The hypothesis is accepted after a week of validation because there has been a strong correlation between the variables. Because of the application's unique capabilities, which were created specifically to meet the transportation demands within the CMU community, it is true that people are willing to use features of the program, we advise customers that they may be assured of their safety and security because users can view driver information including name, contact information, and licenses. As the CMU community does not have a good internet connection, one of the concerns pointed out by our respondents is that the panel would ask. Given that everyone in the group divided the task, the preparation went smoothly which made it easier for us to finish it.

After gathering all the information, our team made the decision to prepare all the materials needed for our final pitch, including a prototype, PowerPoint presentation, and estimated cash flows in case the panel would ask. Given that everyone in the group divided the task, the preparation went smoothly which made it easier for us to finish it.

We held our last pitching yesterday which our panelists provided feedback and suggestions for improving our application. They also complimented the way our traction was presented, saying that the video was so in-depth that they had few questions because it was clearly explained. They saw that our costs were a little high when they inquired about our planned cash flows, therefore they suggested reducing some expenditures as we have yet to begin developing our application. In conclusion, our final pitching went well, and the panels praised our initiative and commitment to developing the PASAKAY application.

I've learned a lot about how to launch a business through this journey of adopting an entrepreneurial mindset. It also taught me that starting a business does not have to be done immediately; rather, it should be carefully evaluated to see if it would be viable and sustainable in the long run. I've developed my creativity and communication abilities as a result of studying this subject. Additionally, without the help and cooperation of my team members, who are sufficiently responsible for every task we complete, our proposed application will not be successful from the beginning of designing it through the final pitching. To our instructor as well, who is constantly available to address our questions and mentor us as we embark on the process of producing this product. An application that we are excited to launch in the future because we know it will be of great use and could help for the betterment of the CMU Community.

Sa serbisyong tinud-anay, diri na ta sa PASAKAY. Sa imong paglakaw, magbalik-balik pa-book ka jud.

PASAKAY: Paadto sa imong padulngan

According to Steve Jobs, “Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat.”

I am amazed at how diverse businesses become successful despite adversity. They are one due to innovative thinking. With innovation, businesses are able to stay up with the latest features or popular trends, which they incorporate into their unique enterprises. This ignites creativity, allowing our team to develop an idea based on an issue that CMU faces today: the PASAKAY application, which assists students, staff, faculty, and other users in reaching their destinations efficiently.

During the week, another validation series for our start-up application was conducted, this time focusing on the students of Central Mindanao University, who will be our application's target market. During the course of our validation, we discovered that we needed to put an emphasis on the product's appearance. As a result, we focus more on determining whether the target market needs the application, whether they want to use it, and whether there are any features that they would like to see in the application to fully satisfy what they want.

In our validation process, we have gone through a face-to-face interview, and an online interview using the questions that we have prepared. But before we interviewed some students, we ask for their permission to be interviewed and presented our letter of request to ask them as our participants in the validation process that we have conducted. One group interviewed some students from different colleges, one of them being a student from the College of Nursing. She is commuting from Field One, a new area where boarding homes were established, which is a long distance away from their college building. We asked her how they get around in their neighborhood, and she said it's difficult, especially early in the morning due to the minimal number of vehicles that pass through. Many motorelas or motorcycles pick up students there, but they have to deal with scarcity when the vehicles are unable to return later that day. During the interview, she stated that, while she may not be directly affected by this difficulty due to their beneficial internal agreement with her landlord, she validated the app's utility with its rapid booking features.

The other student we interviewed, on the other hand, is a friend of our group member from the College of Agriculture who is staying at Sampaguita and had a 7 a.m. class schedule last semester. He stated that if he is not in a hurry, he will walk through the market all the way to their college building every day, but he will ride a motorela or motorcycle if their instructor is already there. He stated that the app is good as long as they are able to reach at their location using the app. However, he remarked that the application's use will be determined by whether or not it is user-friendly; he also stated his thoughts on the time of booking and pick-up.

As the validation continues, we questioned a random group of students in the market who happened to be College of Engineering students. They are aware of certain apps that we have shown them, such as Grab, Food Panda, Valencia Pahatod, and others, which help transport people and deliver products in a convenient manner, similar to the app that we have shown them. During the interview, they showed interest in utilizing the application while also expressing disappointment, despite its use. One of the reasons they were disappointed was an issue with the internet connection, as the app we offered may require one. Regardless of the disadvantages this app may cause, they are still positive about

Lastly, we questioned students from the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology. They presented themselves as users when we began to introduce the PASAKAY program and its features. However, the same problem we previously questioned raise the issue of internet connectivity, which everyone on campus is experiencing. A big issue is that most of the target users have seen this, despite the application's unique features that may address their problem and suggested if it is okay to use it offline. Every member of the group recognized that this was impossible because the application has a location-sharing system that uses location sharing system service, and we all know that this would not work without the use of the internet. In this regard, we responded honestly while assuring them that we would create a user-friendly program.

We used the narratives gathered from our interviews to further validate our product in those who are our target market. We heard their thoughts and what-ifs about the application, which prompted our group to respond and explore how we could meet their needs while also taking notice of other ideas. Furthermore, we feel that the target market we questioned is willing to use the application we introduced since it offers a unique feature that was tailored specifically to the mobility needs of the CMU community.

The hypothesis was tested using responses from the target market during our online and face-to-face interviews. With this, the hypothesis is accepted because there is a significant correlation between the variables. Thus, it is true that our target clients are willing to use the application, which motivated our group to decide to design the product in a more efficient manner so that features are not compromised while providing a user-friendly application. Amidst the external aspect of an internet connection difficulty, we identified two options for which we would strive: design the app to make it offline, which will be costly and possibly impossible, or develop the app that will use an online connection even with limited internet access, it is user-friendly and efficient. As a result, we chose the second choice because it was the only way we could make the application happen and assist our valued customers during their stay at Central Mindanao University.

Throughout our validation journey of interviewing our customers about the introduced application, we discovered that we must take into account any feedback or difficulties mentioned by our target market. Thus, we learned that producing value for our customers does not occur only when the application is launched; rather, creating customer value begins the moment we create and construct the application. With this, we must be observant enough to see what our target market wants while remaining available on its end in the face of uncontrollable environmental conditions.

Developing a product is not an easy thing to do. It needs the team work of everyone in the group to brainstorm to come up with a plan, and to check whether if that plan would be beneficial in the future. Entrepreneurs cannot just sit down and wait for the company going to fail before it makes a solution. One thing for sure, entrepreneurs tend to do a lot of things, imaginations, and innovate products in order for its company to become successful someday.

Just like what entrepreneurs did, I, together with my group members, did not just sit down and wait for some luck to happen before we came up with some ideas. We make sure that everyone has something to share about their ideas, and those ideas will serve as suggestions for what we want to propose that we know will beneficial for the community we aim to target. Through this, our group had some discussion with the respective ideas of everyone.

From our discussions, we have come up with a lot of ideas about the problems encountered in CMU, such as having an application for boarding house services in CMU for students, as this application will be easier and less hassle for students who want to inquire from far places to go there physically. Through this app, it would be easier for students and other bed spacers to locate houses, or pads that are still available. In addition, there is also an idea about having an application for food who can deliver it to students, just like what food panda did, especially if students from the respective colleges want something from the market. With this, it will be easier for the students to just tap something in the app for it to ask someone to deliver some food. Also, an idea of having an app which it has all the features about the transportation, food delivery, and boarding house services. It is like one app with all the features a students need. We also came up with an idea, which is a mug that has a temperature controller to which a user can control if how hot he wants his coffee. Also, about the traffic light services as there have been a lot accidents happening along the highway near the university in which most of the victims of these accidents are students. Lastly, an idea about focusing only on the transportation and to develop a booking app.

After weighing all the pros and cons of all the ideas that we have shared and considering to have a market validation, we have come to a decision to which we know that will be feasible and sustainable in the future, we know it needs to be improved, and most of all, we know that it is the problem that needs a solution. It is where then, Pasakay application a booking app has been made. With this decision, we have come to propose the Pasakay application.

From our venture proposal, we have presented the problem we have identified in CMU, given that our group decided to just focus on CMU. From the problem that we have presented, we now then came up and introduced our proposed solution to the problem, and that is the Pasakay application. Pasakay application has been described as an application which is built for students, faculties, staffs, other users, habal-habal drivers, and motorela drivers as it will benefit all of them from the drivers to earn income and for the rest of the users who will reach its destination in a faster and easier way. In addition, we presented that this app will earn a 10-15% commission from the total fare of the habal-habal and motorela drivers, and through advertisements.

Our hypotheses include the following:

No1: The motorela and motorcycle drivers are not in favor of the proposed application

No2: The students are reluctant to download and utilize the application due to its additional cost

Hypothesis: it failed to accept/null hypothesis

With our testing design, we, as a group considers all the possible things which we know suitable and best for our hypotheses. Through this, we have come to a decision to use a qualitative approach through making an interview with our target market who were the habal-habal and motorela drivers, students, faculties, staffs, and other users.

From this testing design, the group has then made questions for them about their problems, introducing this app, and their stand about developing the Pasakay application. We had our interview with them during our vacant time with the target market presenting our letter of consent signed by all the group members in conducting our interview and the questions we want to ask them.

Based on the interview we have conducted, the result will go through the product since the hypotheses presented are null. Also, after the interview we have conducted, the group discuss all the information gathered from that interview.

In addition, upon presenting the idea of earning from our proposed solution to our instructor, we have identified that it will not be feasible enough for us to earn a greater profit from the option to earn. From what our instructor said, it is really hard to earn through advertisements especially when it just a new business. With that, our team have discussed to have some minimal revisions about the earning method of our proposed solution. Through this, the group has decided to have a free commission for 2 months to entice users for them to test whether this app will be good enough for them to continue using it. Offering a customer loyalty program, like silver, gold, and premium in which users will be attracted to use more of the app as they will get higher discounts. Lastly, to have a partnership with IT practitioners, as having a partnership with them will be a lesser cost for the proposed solution to be developed given that it cost a large amount of money in order to develop an application.

The lessons that we have learned from this activity were the following: At first, before making an action to do something, it is important to weigh and consider all the possible things may happen in order that plans may go according from what it should really be. Also, for us to know if our plan to develop an application is feasible, we then had our market validation through asking our target markets about their stands with the application we introduce. We are thankful since our market validation went well due to the process we have conducted. Also, it is inherent part of product development ang risk, and we cannot do anything about it. However, we can reduce the magnitude and likelihood of the risk when we use Hypothesis-driven Validation, which is what our group used for the process that made the group came up with that team decision. Lastly, without the team work of everyone in the group, we cannot successfully conduct this activity. I am thankful that everyone in our group actively performed the activity, and contribute ideas during our group discussions.

As the midyear class begins, a new chapter to learn begins. There are some old faces from the previous semester, as well as some new ones from various courses. It is another chapter to learn, have fun, and then apply what I will learned.

Before our class starts on the entrepreneurial mind, I have frequently confuse the phrases businessman and entrepreneur. However, during our discussion about this lesson, I discovered that both names are unique to each other. According to our instructor, a businessman is someone who manages a business with an established idea, whereas an entrepreneur is someone who begins a firm with a new idea. This discussion has shown me that these two are distinct from each other. Furthermore, from what the instructor has mentioned, I have discovered that studying the entrepreneurial mind is important since it helps students in being innovative.

Nowadays, it is essential for a firm to be adaptable enough to change in order to ensure its success. Based on our instructor's example of Nokia, I can clearly understand Nokia's difficulty of quickly disappearing from the spotlight. It is because, despite the fact that Nokia did nothing to improve their brand, they are not innovative enough to adapt to change in order to sustain the business's success.

Being innovative does not just apply to selling food, but also to technology, given that many people are already using it at this moment. Being innovative through the use of technology makes a person's life easier and better. With our instructor's example of the innovation of the Grab, which is considered one of the fastest and most innovative start-ups that disrupts numerous companies to avoid long lines waiting for taxis, jeepneys, and buses. Through this lesson, I have learnt that to be an entrepreneur, I must be conscious of my surroundings, create a plan, and put it into action. With this mentality, I will be a successful alumna of creating in new businesses. Throughout the course, I have also learnt that tech Entrepreneurship plays an important role in my life as a student since it allows me to explore and solve real-world challenges we face today.

Additionally, I have learnt that it is critical to understand the key venture types because they generate value for the government, business, or consumers. Learning the 4-step idea generating process assists me in determining and reviewing whether the product I want to build will be useful in acquiring consumers for the business or if I need to improve on some of these processes. Thus, studying this lesson is quite exciting and enjoyable since, in the future, if I truly want to develop a product, I know what I will do and how I will apply the lesson I have learned.