As an
entrepreneur, bag designer, and style icon Amina Aranaz-Alunan is a respected
name in fashion circles; to the students of SOFA (the School of Fashion and the
Arts, of which she is a co-founder), she is a tireless and generous mentor—but
Amina admits that while she is passionate about everything she does, what she
looks forward to is coming home and being a mother to her three kids.
“To be able to fulfill all my responsibilities and
still have time for my children, I always plan my schedule very carefully,” she
said, adding that attending to her husband Rafa Alunan and their kids is always
a priority even in the midst of all her work.
Teaching fashion
Recently, it was Amina the teacher and school
director that had to step up during the graduation of seventeen SOFA students.
They all completed SOFA’s Fashion Design and Marketing program—and Amina is
proud of all of them.
According to Amina, she feels a special kind of
fulfillment as a teacher when she sees hard-working students finish a program.
“I’m amazed at seeing how our students change and
bloom. I love seeing them transform year after year. They walk in sofa with
nothing but their passion and raw talent and emerge a different person.
Equipped with a set of design, technical and business skills, they are more
confident, focused and aware of their direction and capabilities. They are
ready and driven to embrace their career goals and challenges,” said Amina.
At SOFA, students are taught the entrepreneurial
aspects of fashion as well. Amina said that these subjects are necessary for
anyone who wants to be a professional in the fashion industry—something that
could be surprising for some students.
“Admittedly our students in SOFA like the design
subjects more. However, they do appreciate and value the importance of the
business subjects as well. We want to make them understand that any creative
endeavor must always be supported by a business backbone for it to thrive and
grow,” she said.
Balancing act
Amina, who is also a Globe Business Ambassador, has a
formidable workload as a school director and faculty member at SOFA. According
to her, she is able to stay grounded and balanced—able to do her work and take
care of her family—through a) managing her schedule well; and b) using modern
telecoms technology.
“I play various roles in the school: over-all vision
building, fashion department chairperson, teacher, marketing, and
admissions. Carefully planning my
schedule is crucial. Also, being accessible via cellphone and the Internet
allows me to manage the school even when I am elsewhere,” she said.
Amina said that Globe Business solutions and services
help her fulfill her passion as a teacher while still letting her be an
entrepreneur, wife, and mother. “Globe Business solutions allows me to attend
to my various roles without being absent from my other responsibilities. It
keeps me connected to all the parts of my life,” she said.
Solutions for SMBs
According to Manny Escosa, Globe Business Marketing
Head for SMBs, multi-tasking entrepreneurs like Amina can benefit from several
Globe Business solutions that will help them live a more balanced life.
“Globe Business is providing easy, affordable, and
reliable solutions to Filipino entrepreneurs who need to get several things
done within a short period of time. An SMB owner’s time is very valuable—not
only to his business but also to his family. Through our solutions, we are
empowering Filipino entrepreneurs to be more flexible and in control of their time.
In this way, they can grow their business while still having the opportunity to
enjoy life to the full,” said Escosa.
For example, entrepreneurs may avail of TxtConnect, which lets them send a high
volume of text messages. It’s a Web-based service that broadcasts SMS messages
to groups of people using a computer with an Internet connection. This makes it
easier to send SMS blasts in just one broadcast, with just a few keystrokes on
the computer.
Messages sent through TxtConnect are secured through
its masking technology—this ensures that the recipients only get official and
appropriate messages, instead of spam or other unwelcome message blasts.
TxtConnect also charges rates that are much lower
than regular text messaging or phone calls. Subscribing to TxtConnect results
in as much as 35 percent in saved cost compared to the regular text messaging
service charges.
Another solution for entrepreneurs is Business Capped Plans. These plans set
a cost ceiling for the use of the company’s mobile phone accounts every month.
A Business Capped Plan provides a monthly load
allowance that serves as a cap or limit on company mobile phone credits. For
example, if a Business Capped Plan has a monthly allowance of P600 per month,
the company only pays for that amount.
Business Capped Plans have an Unli Call feature that
allows unlimited calls within the Globe and TM network. Those who subscribe to Business Capped Plans
would also receive mobile phones as part of the package.
In case a Business Capped Plan’s allowance is used
up, an employee can simply reload his SIM with regular Globe credits. Business
Capped Plans also allow users to avail of Globe’s various prepaid promos, like
Supersurf and various Unli services.
Home grown
Amina knows the difficulties of building a career in
fashion firsthand. After finishing her
university studies, she worked at a stylist for a Filipino fashion magazine and
even did a bit of modeling—but she knew that she still had a lot to learn. Eventually,
she went to
Milan
to study fashion at the Instituto Maranggoni.
When she returned to the
Philippines
, everything she learned
about fashion as an art and as a craft came in handy when she began designing
and producing the ARANAZ brand of stylish bags. Thanks to Amina’s creative, innovative,
and beautiful designs, ARANAZ bags are now much sought-after fashion
must-haves—in the
Philippines
and overseas, as well.
Now that she’s become a fashion icon, Amina wants to
help out other Filipinos who want to have a career in the fashion business—but
don’t know how to get the proper education and training. Her approach was to
establish what is, arguably, the best fashion school in the
Philippines
.
It’s her way of giving back to the fashion industry which has been good to her.
According to Amina, founding and running SOFA isn’t
easy—and was very challenging in the beginning.
“Running the school is a lot of pressure on us. Our
goal is to contribute to the growth and progress of our local creative
industries; this is what keeps us going. We hope that our country will be able
to produce an increasing number of creative professionals and homegrown brands
that, eventually, will reach the world market. SOFA has exceeded my
expectations. It started out as a risk, now it is a risk that I am glad that I
took,” she said.
For more information on how Globe Business solutions
can help you balance your work and personal life, the way Amina has been doing,
visit the nearest Globe store near you; or visit
http://business.globe.com.ph
or call +632 730-1010.
Globe Business is the corporate arm of Globe Telecom,
the leading mobile telecommunications company in the
Philippines
. Globe Business
provides wireless and wireline solutions for a diverse set of industries,
businesses, and commercial enterprises. It assures SMEs of affordable,
reliable, and dependable services for all communication needs, both wireless
and wireline solutions, to generate the highest possible profit at the lowest
possible cost.
from The Web Magazine