He first gained fame as a teen model for the TV commercials of Royal Tru-Orange in the late 1980s, which paved the way for his career as an actor and TV personality. Over the years, Rene “RJ” Ledesma Jr. would wear many hats, including as event host, writer, author, speaker, teacher, real estate executive, honorary consul and serial entrepreneur.
One of his many ventures is EnterPH, a business consultancy he runs together with lawyer Ricardo Chan. EnterPH helps foreign companies expand to or outsource their businesses to the Philippines.
Prior to setting up EnterPH, Ledesma learned the intricacies of businesses and foreign diplomacy as the Honorary Consul of Monaco to the Philippines. He serves together with his mother, Consul General Fortune Aleta-Ledesma.
Honorary consul
He remembers being approached by several foreign companies asking for assistance in setting up and running their businesses in the country. Among the responsibilities of an honorary consul are to facilitate the development of economic, scientific and cultural relations between countries and to protect the interests of Monaco and their citizens in the Philippines.
One of the highlights of his diplomatic career was the State Visit of Prince Albert to the Philippines. He also assisted AMADE Foundation—a charity founded by Princess Grace of Monaco to support the development, education and health of children worldwide in setting up a day care center with the Virlanie Foundation in the Philippines.
Serial entrepreneur
As a businessman, Ledesma says he developed his entrepreneurial mindset through “osmosis from my father—Honorary Consul Rene Ledesma of Bulgaria, while I was growing up”. Ledesma describes his father as the original serial entrepreneur—from shipping to video rental stores to prawn farming to real estate development.
“He always encouraged us to put up our own businesses,” Ledesma says of Ledesma Sr. “So, picking up from my dad’s example, I naturally gravitated to putting up my own businesses as well.”
The first business Ledesma Jr. established was Mercato Centrale—the largest and premier outdoor night food market in the country, followed by EnterPh and EasyFranchise—an online platform for all things related to franchising.
“My philosophy when it comes to putting up my businesses is to apply the ‘the entrepreneurial mindset’. The job of an entrepreneur is to be drawn towards solving ‘pain points’ – turning turn irritations into inspirations for business,” says Ledesma, who studied Applied Economics at the De La Salle University and Masters in Real Estate Development at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“There were pain points I saw in how the outdoor food market was being run in the Philippines, there were paint points I saw in how foreign SMEs could put up businesses in the Philippines, and there were pain points I saw in how OFWs could invest in franchises in the Philippines. So my job was to turn these pain points into opportunities,” Ledesma says.
Meanwhile, Chan, the president and co-founder of EnterPH, has previously helped large business process outsourcing companies establish their operations in the Philippines.
Business partnership
Together, Ledesma and Chan saw an opportunity to assist foreign small and medium scale enterprises and outsourcing-related companies establish their legal presence in the Philippines in a cost-effective manner, help them make the proper connections and build their business ecosystem to effectively run their operations.
Among the services EnterPH offers are business registration, legal and corporate services, tax consulting, visa processing, business matching, bookkeeping and payroll and HR consulting.
Recently, EnterPH teamed up with Creative Zone, a leading business setup company based in Dubai.
“Our strategic partnership with Creative Zone complements our current line of business, especially since EnterPh’s purpose is to support the growth of the Philippine economy through helping foreign businesses set up shop in the country. With Creative Zone, we continue to support the growth of the economy by helping local businesses and startups expand their footprint into UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council markets,” says Ledesma.
The partnership aims to help Filipino enterprises expand their operations in the United Arab Emirates and provide a platform and advice to small and medium enterprises and investor-seeking startups to enter the UAE and expand their business in other Gulf Cooperation Council markets.
“Dubai has always been close to my heart, and educating my fellow entrepreneurs on the overlying opportunities and business potential that can be leveraged whilst within the country is a novel approach,” says Ledesma.
“Companies like Creative Zone make it much easier by providing business owners with flexible and cost-effective solutions about how and where to set up and operate their companies locally in the UAE. I look forward to this fruitful partnership encouraging the spirit of entrepreneurship,” he says.
Business plans
Ledesma hopes to further expand the services of EnterPH. “We are hoping to bring in more knowledge-based and skill-based outsourcing businesses into the country, along with encouraging global startups to outsource their business processes here for cost-saving purposes,” he says.
“For our partnership with Creative Zone, we are excited to bring many of our service-oriented businesses to the UAE because Filipinos over there are a well-respected source of talent and hard work. Also, we are looking forward to helping our startups to also expand to UAE where they can get a global footprint and access to investment as well,” he says.
As a serial entrepreneur, Ledesma believes that there will be more opportunities post-pandemic. “The job of an entrepreneur is not to determine whether a situation is good or is bad, the job of an entrepreneur is to discover opportunities in good times and especially in bad times. The new normal has provided entrepreneurs with new problems that need to be solved. It’s a matter of mindset,” he says.