Couple-Preneurship: The

Business of Love
A Case Writing Requirement

BA 297 -Management Case Writing

Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology

March 26, 2019

Authors:

Estrella Tesio
Faith Perez
Guiller Dosdos


The Business of Love

The shared idea of business ownership helps entrepreneurs keep going when
challenges escape hand and things get rough. It's what urges business visionaries to readily
impart data to their companions, instead of childishly shielding their standards of
accomplishment. It's the flame in the gut of eager entrepreneurs, who are forever discontent
with sitting still and settling for average. As an entrepreneur—or possibly somebody with an
innovative personality who one day plans to establish a business—there's enormous incentive
in immersing yourself with someone who you can share ideas and sentiments and
contemplating business partners who are encountering constructive outcomes.

Couple-preneurs, for example, have become more trending in a startup business.

Well, this is not new to a couple who invested in three business food chains and a nail salon.
This couple share not just business ideas but also emotional ups and downs.

Jericho Lim, 25 years old, a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Business

Administration Major in Entrepreneurial Marketing in Iligan Institute of Technology on April
2015. Armed with guts and confidence, Jericho started earning through hosting events such
as weddings, debuts, birthdays, pageants, among others.

Anne Cutis, a year younger, also graduated with the same course and university a
year after. During her college days, she already started a micro business of selling goods and
other stuffs.

“I have known the couple since their college days. They are both promising
entrepreneurs.”, said Steve Ferdie, a college professor and mentor in Business Administration.
Jericho and Anne are long-time lovers. They have plans of marrying but not as of the
moment. They want to focus first on their dream of putting up a business empire.

A local chain of business

“Anne and I had a lover’s quarrel one afternoon and what’s funny was that Anne,
instead of continuing our fight, roamed around the city and found an open space”, recalled
Jericho. Anne envisioned the place’s potential to prosper. As one of the identified P’s of
marketing, Anne presented the idea of putting up a snack bar since the area is populated
with students from the nearby schools.

A month after graduating college, Anne pursued her idea and this was supported by
Jericho. Established on May 8, 2015, “SaMer” Sarap Merienda, formally opened with crews
consisting of only the couple and Anne’s cousin. They started SaMer with a meager capital.
An illustration below shows the source of capital for their first business venture.

Estimated Start up Capital

20000; 20.00%
Debt from Family and
Friends
Own savings
20000; 20.00% 60000; 60.00% Tools/Utensils from Home

“I believed in the couple’s potential. So I willingly extended a hand on their business

venture. I also observed that their endeavor was risky because not only money was involved
but also their relationship, intimate relationship. Still, I believed in their entrepreneurial skills. ”,
Steve added.

The first two months of the business is quite challenging to them as the schools were
still on a summer break. Furthermore, the monthly space rental of P4, 000.00 fuels them to
find ways to increase their inflows. They targeted millennials specifically students near the
area. They offered products enticing to its target market such as foot long hotdog on a bun,
affordable snacks and trending foods. Affordability and innovative snack is the theme of its
business.
 Despite this, the couple continued its business and were able to realize profits when it
progressively became a hit to the students. “One thing I like at SaMer is that they don’t just
sell affordable meals but the place, it’s so Instagram and Facebook worthy.”, said one of the
loyal customers of Samer. This is one of the features of Samer that the couple wanted to
present in the market. Their marketing strategy helped paved them to a fast growth. More
and more customers were attracted to SaMer until they were able to save a considerable
amount enough to invest in another food venture. A year after SaMer was established, the
couple ventured into a new line of food business. Fraps in Cups, a café in Iligan that offers ice
blend coffee, milk teas, improved snack menus and other desserts. They believe that their
two business line are successful, so they put up more branches in Iligan to cater more
customers. They also entered into business outside food industry. They were able to assume
a nail salon business near SaMer branch 1.

“Our business decisions were mostly based on gut feel and instinct. Anne has more
guts and I supported her for every milestone we achieved or we wished to achieve” said
Jericho.

Table 2.0 – List of Business Entities established by Jericho and Anne.

Business Name Registered Business Owner

SaMer - Sarap Merienda Jericho Lim

SaMer - Sarap Merienda Branch 1 Jericho Lim

Fraps in Cups - Main Anne Cutis

Fraps in Cups - Branch 1 Jericho Lim

ToeNail Salon Anne Cutis

Above table shows how their business ventures were divided in terms business
ownership registration. Although the business differs in registered ownership, the actual
ownership are both to the couple. Anne handles the recordkeeping of all their business
ventures. Having an accounting subjects during their college benefits them, still, the
bookkeeping process for all their business entities makes it more challenging aside from
keeping their business kicking. There are also certain occasions when some of their close
friends would like to seek franchise for Samer and Fraps in Cups but the couple was hesitant
to enter into that idea. Knowing that having a franchise would mean added responsibility and
challenges along the way.

Paradigm Shift

Ever since their business venture started, the couple rest the recordkeeping task to
Anne. A simple and less complex recording of its income and expenses were observed by the
couple. Moreover, they call it a traditional way of recording the business’ operations by
simply recording the cash inflows and outflows. Purchases of supplies and goods needed for
the business operations were made by the couple ever since. “We do the marketing of
supplies every week and we allocate it to our stores. We then trust our employees for the
supplies we gave them. We based our inventory on trust. Whatever is consumed or
remained, the assurance that the declared consumption or inventory is based on our
confidence with our crew.”, Anne added.

Any surplus or deficit determines its financial performance. The couple also engaged
a third party bookkeeper to help them file taxes annually to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
This also saves them from incurring additional monthly salary for a bookkeeper to maintain
their books.

As the business venture expands, the financial figures become more complex. In
simpler terms, the accounting for the business ventures becomes intensified. Although the
couple knows this, they want to first focus on growing their business. They plan to expand
their food business outside Iligan. One Sunday morning, a friend of Jericho, Sam, invited the
couple to a coffee to discuss a proposal. Sam introduces an idea to the couple to expand
their business in Cagayan de Oro City where a larger target market is on its plate. There are a
lot of students in the city and the traffic of customers would bring a large volume of sales.
This idea brought a heavy anchor to the couple’s mind.
 “I’m not sure if we are to take the risk but it’s up to Anne to decide on this. As to date
we have no idea how much profit we are earning for all our business ventures but we believe
we made a green result in our financial performance. As long as we have plenty of cash and
we are able to make ends meet, then I think we are doing great.”, Jericho answered as he
was asked about what he thinks on their business ventures. The couple wants to assess their
business’ readiness financially and operationally for future business decisions. Would it be
beneficial to remain status quo or level up?