A banker quit his well-paid job. He invested the money in the Philippines
This text in the form of a first-person account is based on a conversation with Andrew Fletcher, a 27-year-old Canadian, former banker and currently a chicken farmer in the Philippines. This article has been edited for length and clarity.
I was part of the corporate world in downtown Toronto. I ironed my shirt every day and wore a suit and tie. And now I get my hands dirty every dayworking as a chicken farmer in the Philippines.
After two years in corporate banking, I quit my job and invested all my savings in starting a farm in the Philippines.
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I grew up in Nova Scotia, a small province in Canada, and moved to Ontario for my MBA.
At the age of 23, I got a job in corporate banking in Toronto, at Scotiabank – one of the five largest banks in Canada – with an annual salary of PLN 150,000. hole. Canadian (approx. PLN 450 thousand). I dealt with transactions and met with top management.
If someone had told me after graduating from high school that I would be working in a position like this in Toronto and making this kind of money, I would have been thrilled. However, this delight passed very quickly.
As the days turned into months and the months turned into years, I realized that everything was becoming very repetitive. I felt like I could be “glued” into any office building in Toronto and I would be just like everyone else.
One of the things I hated was that people around me were constantly “counting down.” When Monday started, they would say, “I can't wait for the weekend” or “I can't wait for my next vacation.”
My partner's family comes from the Philippines and is involved in the poultry industry. So I had a good understanding of this business and the market in the Philippines, which made me think: it's a place where I can multiply my money and create something of my own.
I left my bank job in August and moved to Quezon Province in the Philippines in October.
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No manual for raising chickens Andrew rented a smaller farm that houses 15,000. chickens at once
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Andrew Fletcher
Breeding chickens is quite a specific business. I didn't know where to start, because there are practically no educational materials on this topic on the Internet.
I looked for books about running such a farm and raising chickens – and found nothing. I just showed up and got going, relying mainly on the help of two employees I hired to teach me the basics.
I invest 100 thousand hole. Canadian funds (approx. PLN 300,000) from my savings into a farm on land belonging to my partner's family — the farm is currently under construction. In the meantime, I'm renting a smaller farm to learn how it works. It can accommodate approx. 15,000 people. chickens at the same time.
Caring for chicks is a 24-hour job and requires maintaining controlled conditions. You can't go away for the weekend and leave them alone. If the fan breaks or the power goes out for an hour, you could lose all your chicks and your money from the entire cycle.
Even though I don't always have to be on site, I like physical work. Sometimes I'm on the farm as early as 4 a.m., feeding the chickens, cleaning up the bedding, or carrying 45-pound bags of feed.
Immersion in a completely different business environment Andrew admits he relies on his employees for help
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Andrew Fletcher
I didn't realize how different the business environment in the Philippines was from what I had known before. The biggest change is this people run business here with virtually no technology.
I have four years of experience working in finance, using tools such as Microsoft Excel. There are large farms here where you won't find a single computer.
The second thing is that it is a largely cash-based society, which makes it difficult to track monthly expenses. I spend about PLN 5,000 on maintaining the farm. hole. Canadian monthly (approx. PLN 15,000).
At the end – I didn't realize how important food is to Filipinos.
I pay my employees a salary, but I also provide things like food. When harvesting chickens, up to 20 people show up and they all have to be fed. If a contractor comes to see you, you'll probably prepare dinner for him.
I think North America could learn from this. People here are willing to help others, and Filipino hospitality is amazing.
Building a life from scratch on the other side of the world Andrew is building a new chicken farm
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Andrew Fletcher
Rebuilding my social life was difficult. I struggle with the language barrier, I miss my family, and I never thought I'd say this, but I missed snow in the winter.
But there are also real advantages – I only pay about $500. Canadian for rent (about PLN 1,500), I eat meals for about $1. a day (approx. PLN 3) and I feel like I'm building something of my own.
I've only been an entrepreneur for four months and I haven't seen any revenue yet. However, I look in the perspective of years, not weeks or months. I may have a very bad month, but if in five or ten years the trend is upward, it means that everything is working.
Even if everything fails, I won't regret it. At least I tried.
The above text is a translation from American edition of Business Insider
