After getting your deposit certificate from the bank verifying your paid up capital and your registered name from the SEC, you will need a CTC (Community Tax Certificate) in order to obtain Barangay clearance. This form needs to be filed in the place where you plan to set up and engage in business activities. This step is then followed by applying for a permit and municipal license from the local Mayor’s office licensing section. All this really is proof that you have the wherewithal to conduct your business legally and pay the necessary taxes during the applicable time.

Once this step has been hurdled, expect to receive an inspection visit from the Mayor’s office. They will be checking to see if your corporation is in order and you are conducting your business in the correct manner. You will receive a license and permit to operate once you pass and will be required to purchase special accounting books from the local bookstore. These are used for cash receipts and disbursements.

Completing this step will lead you to the next one which will require you to register for VAT (Value Added Tax) and other local and municipal taxes your corporation will be liable for. You will also need BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) permit to print additional sales receipts and invoices, as well as authorization for the use of electronic accounting software and non-government issued accounting ledgers.

These are some of the key steps to take when you decide to set up your business for incorporation. Philippines has a lot of good consulting firms you can hire should you need further clarification on how to get into the local business market.

1. Bank Wire Transfer

You need to set up a US dollar account at a bank in the Philippines and then wire transfer funds from your home country bank to your Philippines’ account. You wire transfer money from your home country bank by signing up with their procedures for sending wire transfers while out of the country. One you have signed up with your bank’s procedures to do this, it is a quick way to send money to the Philippines. However, it is expensive. Depending on the amount being transferred, the wire can cost as much as $75. Clearly, you would not want to transfer money more than once monthly.

2. Use a Philippine National Bank Transfer Facility.

If you are in your home country at the time of wanting to make a transfer, and there is a Philippine National Bank transfer facility nearby, a wire transfer of funds to a Philippine bank is relatively inexpensive. The fees are based on a sliding scale: the more money you transfer the bigger the fee, but the fee decreases as a percentage of the transfer as the amount of the transfer increases.

3. Use WesternUnion

This is a very reliable, very quick, but very expensive method (currently the fee runs around $68 – pretty much the same as a bank wire transfer). The advantage is the money can be delivered to one of thousands of locations in the Philippines. Simply go to a WesternUnion location, fill out their form and deliver in cash to the clerk the amount you wish to transfer.

4. Use an online money transfer website

Online companies such as Xoom and Remit Home are less expensive options ($10 to $12 per $1,000 transferred). These are easy to process while in the Philippines by simply going online, setting up and account and entering the relevant transfer data as to the bank you transferring from and the bank you are transferring into in the Philippines.

5. Use PayPal

Also internet based, but unique in that you can even transfer money by charging the transfer to your credit card. A very popular way to transfer smaller amounts of money – the transfer fee is a percentage of funds being transferred. Go to Pay Pal and follow their instructions for setting up an account with them, and then simply follow the instructions at their website for make the transfer.

6. Use an ATM machine

Like in the U.S. and other countries, ATM machines are just about everywhere in the Philippines. Once you are in the Philippines, you can draw from ATM machines at a local Philippines bank, just as you to in your home country. The funds withdrawn of course will be in the local currency (pesos), not dollars, and there are limitations on the amount which can be withdrawn on each transaction and the total daily.

7. Write a Check.

Once you are established in the Philippines and pretty well know you monthly expenditures, simply monthly deposit a dollar check into your Philippines dollar bank account for the average monthly disbursements. It takes roughly 3 weeks to clear. This is also the least expensive, as there are NO wire or internet transfer fees.

The grower plants seeds in the soil and waits for the flowers to grow, all the while taking care of it with devoted patience. The grower protects the plants from pests both from the soil and out of it by using appropriate pesticides. Fertilizer is used to enrich the soil to ensure that the flowers are “fed” properly, other than being given water and right amount of sunlight everyday.

Since The Philippines is a tropical country and therefore prone to extreme and sudden changes in the weather, growing flowers traditionally involves a lot of risk. The grower may lose all of his or her crops to an abrupt spike in the temperature or a heavy downpour of rain. This is not practical since the time, labor, and capital lost can never be replaced.

That is why Philippine flower growers utilize greenhouses in farming their flowers for commercial sale and export. Greenhouses offer a controlled environment perfect for the flowers’ optimum growth. The risk for pest invasion is drastically minimized as well, since the greenhouse is sealed. All the flowers are tended to more thoroughly in a greenhouse than in an exposed flower bed since all necessary conditions are maintained at less the cost, time, and manpower.

After harvesting, the flowers are delivered straight to the flower shops. These flower shops in turn offer flower delivery to their clients. Delivery is efficient and stress-free, which makes the flower shops competitive not only in the quality of their flowers but in the quality of service as well. In fact, delivery is not limited only within the Philippines; it also exports its flowers to the rest of the world. And why not? Their beauty is renowned and unique – only in The Philippines!

Well, compared to developed areas in the world like Tokyo, New York, etc.. your Return Of Investment in the Philippines is most likely higher. A residential parking slot alone in Manhattan could cost you around $150,000.00 more than enough already for you to buy a first class 2 bedroom unit within a prime business area in the Philippines. The cost of a luxurious 3 bedroom unit here would just end up only buying a studio pad unit for you in London.

And, when it comes to finding a reputable real estate developer in the Philippines, Century Properties Group top the long list of names in terms of high-end projects and excellent service as well as having a proven track record for many years. Today, they have quietly grown into one of the LARGEST privately owned full-service real estate firms in the Philippines, with over 70 billion pesos in total assets under management. This company has won such accolades like the Global Excellence Award for Most Outstanding Philippine Real Estate Firm, The National Product Quality Excellence Award for Best Philippine Real Estate firm, and the Most Outstanding Housing Developer from the Philippine Business World Quality Awards.

With a 20 year heritage of innovation, excellence, and superior service, they aim to break new ground with such pioneering projects like the currently newly constructed South of Market at the Fort, the country’s FIRST fully-fitted, fully furnished residential hi-rise, Grand Soho Makati in Buendia Avenue, the only fully-fitted condo that offers residents three exceptional design choices, and Canyon Ranch, the nation’s first wi-fi residential community in the Philippines, and many more others.

Other highlights of the Philippines is that it is highly regarded as the largest English-speaking population in Asia. It also has a huge number of skilled managerial, technical, and computer-literate personnel. Aside from the high rates of foreign currency, the Philippines can assure you of highly competitive and affordable labor rates. But the most advantageous for outsourcers are the investment incentives supported by the local government which includes tax holidays, tax credits, duty-free importation of capital equipment, liberal foreign exchange policy and establishment of special investment zones amongst others. It is no wonder that the Philippines has and have always been the number one choice for outsourcing. And right now hundreds of IT related outsourcing investors are flooding the country. No wonder by the next five to ten years it will welcome more investors and capital.

Analysts found renewed growth for the remainder of 2003 and the event being relegated to being a mere nuisance,” XMG Inc. told in a statement, as quoted by INQ7.net. The IT research firm also believes the recent pronouncement of state of emergency, which has now been lifted, and the ruckus at the Philippine marine headquarters carry “no fundamental negative effects to (the country’s) economic growth.”

In the short term, XMG expects some offshore contracts to be suspended or cancelled owing “to insufficient understanding of the real meaning behind events of social unrest in Philippine society.” But the sentiment will get better in less than a year so long as the country does not suffer further political unrest.

He indicate that the state of emergency has minimal impact on the country’s outsourcing market. Service providers have continued to take on a “business as usual” attitude though they admitted that regular business meetings experienced disruptions due to political protests. Nasdaq-listed ICT Group, Inc., for example, revealed plans to expand its operations while eTelecare Global Solutions announced it will recruit over 3,000 new agents in the Philippines. Nevertheless, “the current situation in the Philippines heightens the need for companies to have multiple global sourcing locations and to have multi-country, multi-location disaster recovery plans in place,” PRNewswire quoted neoIT CEO Atul Vashistha as saying.

According to the Business Process Association of the Philippines, the Board of Investments and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, the Philippine outsourcing industry is expected to create 103,000 new jobs in 2006, a 44-percent increase from 2005. This is in spite of the threat coming from other countries like India and China.

Additionally, the outsourcing industry is expected to bring in $3.7 billion in revenues this year. Among the outsourced industries in the Philippines are information technology, call center work, animation and software development. All these sectors are bullish about the prospects of growth. The Philippine animation industry is currently a $40 million business, while the global animation outsourcing industry is valued at $72 billion. The BOI also noted a significant increase of information technology-related projects that registered in 2005. The biggest growth is expected in the outsourced call center with a projected 70-percent growth.

The booming outsourcing industry in the Philippines is considered vital in keeping the country’s economy viable. The government recognizes this fact, which is why incentives had been drawn up for foreign companies planning to set up offshore offices here.

The local outsourcing industry is seen to continue growing because of an ever growing demand from the United States. The Philippines remains the most favored nation for outsourcing ventures, after India because of the Filipinos’ excellent knowledge of the English language as well as their familiarity with Western culture owing to the country’s historical affinity. Another factor is the Filipinos’ culture of hospitality which allowed them to carve a niche for quality customer service.

Franchising can be viewed from two perspectives: the franchisee and the franchisor. For the franchisee, a franchise is like a business wrapped in a package, with all the goods, services and operating manual in it, ready for roll out and operation. Counting on the elements of a well-established brand name and a tried-and-tested system of running the business, the franchisee receives many benefits, including access to information and technology that comes with the business, training and tech support of all aspects of the system, and the fact that a name that has already built its reputation for a number of years is a lesser risk than building a name from ground zero.

Franchising, from the franchisor’s point of view, has a different meaning. It presents an opportunity for business expansion; something that would have been difficult is done by them. Franchising for them is convincing the buyer (the franchisee), that their business is a good buy and worth investing in. Having a franchisee ran an outlet of their business means they can extend their products and services to more people in a wider coverage.

Buying and selling a franchise business in the Philippines is governed by the Philippine Franchise Association. This body gives guidelines and policies to regulate and promote fair practices on franchise activities by both local and foreign brand names. It is also tasked at providing assistance to franchise holders and buyers like financial programs, seminar workshops and information dissemination.

So much does a franchise cost in the Philippines? That would depend on a number of things, like the type of product or services offered, the size and location of the intended franchise outlet, layout / design of the outlet, beginning stock inventory, facilities and equipments needed along with its operating and maintenance cost, insurance and other pertinent expenses. Other equally important matters to consider include the franchise fee, training programs that the franchisor would be providing, royalty fees, feasibility studies to be conducted, marketing campaigns and advertisements.

Franchise for food cart businesses are generally cheaper to acquire, and prospective buyers can start owning these for as low as fifteen thousand pesos to an average cost of one hundred thousand pesos, depending on the type of food being sold and the size of the cart. A water refilling systems cost around two hundred to five hundred thousand pesos to operate. Other bigger franchise, like gasoline stations and food manufacturing and retail business, can go as high as five to ten million pesos, but the returns are well worth the investment.