The hero in the entrepreneur

GO NEGOSYO PILIPINAS

- ANGAT LAHAT! JOEY CONCEPCION

Not all heroes wear capes. I hear this all the time when people talk of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to help others. As someone who once dreamed of becoming Batman, I would have to agree that one doesn't need to wear a cape to become a hero. Batman's alter-ego, Bruce Wayne, did his do-gooding as a private citizen-billionaire and left the caped-crusading to Batman when he donned the mask and cape.

In real life, some heroes wear aprons, working gloves, hard hats or slippers; they are the heroes who save our neighborhoods, our cities and our country, simply by being entrepreneurs.

I have heroes on my mind because today, the country takes a break from work to celebrate the annual commemoration of the Philippine national hero Jose Rizal's sacrifice in 1896. Filipino schoolchildren everywhere know of Jose Rizal; he has admirers overseas who've built monuments to him. Some of our Southeast Asian neighbors even regard him as a champion of nationalism among countries in the region.

But I think it is interesting to also appreciate him as a model of the enterprising Filipino. He was clearly an intelligent man, but he also possessed a knack for calculated risk-taking, resilience, resourcefulness and enterprise – all valuable characteristics of a successful entrepreneur. He was also an overseas Filipino who wowed other nations with his intellect and skill as a physician.