Filipino ‘Uberpreneur’ makes $250,000 a year

Rappler.com

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Filipino ‘Uberpreneur’ makes $250,000 a year
Gavin Escolar of San Francisco, USA, has turned his Uber car into a showroom for jewellery that he designs

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos are known to be creative entrepreneurs. On the streets of Manila, vendors can be found selling anything to motorists stuck in traffic – from washcloths, peanuts, water to things as random as coat racks and iPhone chargers.

A recent article in Forbes featured a Filipino living in San Francisco, USA, named Gavin Escolar, who demonstrated just that quality. He is an Uber driver who uses his car as his mobile showroom for his jewelry business. For this, he is called an “ubrepreneur.”

The writer discovered Escolar’s story when the Filipinio immigrant picked him up on an Uber booking. He writes: “Then it hits me: I’m not in Gavin’s car. I’m in his mobile showroom. He’s not just an Uber driver. Nor is he just an entrepreneur. He’s an Uberpreneur, using the ridesharing app to promote his jewelry business.”

The same report said Escolar was able to earn over $250,000 – or about P10 million – in one year. 

Escolar immigrated from the Philippines to start a jewelry company in San Francisco and became an Uber driver to make ends meet.

He recalled of his early days as an Uber driver, “My passengers surprised me…. I thought they would be silent or on the phone. But most people wanted to talk. When I mentioned my jewelry, they asked for business cards, but I didn’t have any.”

Then it struck him to go beyond business cards and actually sell the jewelry in his car. “I never solicit. I only keep subtle hints to spark conversation if they notice,” Escolar was quoted in Forbes. “If they don’t notice, they probably wouldn’t be my customer anyway.”

Escolar designs all his jewelry himself. “As a child, I was intrigued by the technical watercolor renderings of jewelry that my father kept on his desk, and I have been fond of gemstones ever since,” he wrote on his website.

And it turns out that the global ride-sharing app does not discourage their drivers from being entrepreneurial. 

Uber spokeswoman Kristin Carvell told Forbes, “One of the greatest things about the Uber platform is that it offers economic opportunity for a variety of drivers…in more than 260 cities around the world.”

According to CBS News, there are now over 160,000 Uber drivers across the United States. In the Philippines, Uber is only available in Metro Manila. Without giving an exact figure, Uber regional manager Michael Brown told the Inquirer that Uber will be signing “tens of thousands” of new drivers in Metro Manila. 

Will we then find the next “Uberpreneur” in the Philippine capital? – Rappler.com 


 

Uber Philippines’ Laurence Cua is one of our speakers in #ThinkPH The Next Big Idea: Platform Thinking. Learn more about the event here.

 

 

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