MyNimo.com: Cebu’s job website that’s “good for you”

Wesley ChiongbianApril 27, 2007

Earlier last month, I received a pleasant surprise: an e-mail from Wesley Chiongbian, one of my STC classmates’ sons (gee, I cannot relate to having children!), who also happens to be a friend of mine. His mom, Rosalyn Baytion Chiongbian, had recently visited San Francisco, and over pizza and coffee at Nordstrom Cafe Bistro, had given me the news that her sons were enjoying their interesting — and very engaging — internet business. It turned out that Wesley had been inspired by his “long enough” visit to the United States and had enjoyed the likes of popular community bulletin boards for job-seekers. Methinks he might have been inspired by my favorite Craig’s List.

Cebu’s job seekers and employers, look no further for job listings. MyNimo.com is here to serve you!

From: Wesley Chiongbian
Date: Apr 11, 2007 6:27 AM
Subject: Cebu’s Job Website
To: “Lorna Dietz, Credit & Financial Solutions”

Hi (Tita) Lorna,

How are you? I’m back in Cebu right now and guess what?? I just started my own “dot com” business. It’s a job website for Cebu. www.mynimo.com. The idea came to me while living in LA (I don’t know if my mom told you about this already).

We’re listing jobs for the local community. I’m proud to say that it’s currently the most popular website for Cebu jobs in the country.

The site is still pretty basic at the moment. We’re adding new features as we go along based on our users suggestions and the feedback we receive.

One of the more notable companies advertising on our site is Bigfoot Entertainment Philippines Inc. http://www.bigfootentertainment.com They’re a film production company based in Mactan. They do films mainly for the US and European markets.

Cebu’s economy is growing at a quick pace and we hope to be part of this growth.

That’s all… just keeping you updated about what’s happening at here.

Best regards!

Wesley

P.S.

The “telesales” articles are a big help!

And in-case you’re wondering… “mynimo” is derived from “eanie, meanie, mynimo.” It can also be the English translation of the Cebuano term “maayo nimo” or “good for you”.

LORNA’S NOTES: The telesales articles Wes was referring to come from Art Sobczak’s free weekly e-mails at BusinessByPhone.com. Art was my telesales trainer when I was employed at the San Francisco Business Times another lifetime ago.

MEET THE CHIONGBIAN FAMILY!

From left to right: Adrian Joaquin (AJ), 3rd in the family; Shannon, 2nd in the family; Steven, the youngest; Wesley, the oldest with parents Rosalyn and Bruce.

The Chiongbian Family: Adrian Joaquin (AJ), 3rd in the family; Shannon, 2nd in the family; Steven, the youngest; Wesley, the oldest with parents Rosalyn and Bruce

Here’s an article I found about the Chiongbian brothers’ business from Sun Star Cebu!

Monday, March 26, 2007

“Eenie, meenie, myni-mo!”

By Rhoda Angelie R. Macachor

ARE you a fresh graduate looking for the best job offering? Or an experienced employee trying to open up new career possibilities? Just repeat this familiar childhood catchphrase, “eenie, meenie, myni-mo!” and what do you get? The latest and most popular Cebu-based job search site that’s specifically geared to help Cebuanos find the job that fits them best-mynimo.com.

www.mynimo.com is the brainchild of four young Cebuanos: Wesley, Shannon, Adrian “AJ” and Steven Chiongbian, four brothers just initially wanting to provide an internet service for convenience for its users. After its conception last month, their little outfit surged into a massively popular site with more than 300,000 site views in just a little over a month!

“I realized that the local internet industry has a lot of opportunity because a lot of Cebuanos spend a lot of time online… to keep in touch, listen to music, watch video and movie clips, play games…” says 29-year-old Wesley. “When I consulted my family, friends, former co-workers, and teachers about the idea, they suggested that I should start a job website for Cebu since it would help a lot of people. That’s how it got started.”

Presently, the site, with just two full time employees, is even competing with large multi-national job sites. It easily has the most number of Cebu jobs listed online and is attracting not only locals but people from neighboring provinces who are looking for employment here.

“Our goal is to attract more people to live and work here in Cebu, which is easier since there’s a better standard of living, less stress, and less traffic compared to other cities in the Philippines,” says Wesley. “Having more people coming to Cebu will also help our local economy.”

Very noble aspirations indeed coming from the eldest of the bunch.

Proving also that business-mindedness runs in the family, the four brothers share the workload with Wesley in charge of overall operations. A.J., 23, runs the sales and customer relations and Steven, at 20 and still finishing his degree in Mechanical Engineering, keeps up to date with the current trends in Cebu.

Even Shannon, 26, who’s working as a physical therapist in California, keeps his brothers up to date with internet developments in the U.S.

They attribute the success of the site to the fact that they really listened to what their customers asked for. “All we had to do was to act on their suggestions and give majority of our users what they want. The site you see now is a product of all the input we have received so far. It’s easy to use and it’s direct to the point.”

Having already achieved so much and in so little time, the owners of Mynimo have bigger plans for their undertakings. “Our future plan for Mynimo is to keep on giving our users what they want because they are the REAL owners of the website,” the owners said.

For the brothers, the reward is so much more than the monetary incentive they get, Wesley said. “We enjoy receiving emails from people who thank us for helping them find their dream job.”

Success stories may come in many forms but apparently, they all share the requisites of hard work and patience, and in this case, an honest-to-goodness effort to help the city. So what else can we possibly learn from this tale of triumph? The Chiongbians said: “Start it now! There are so many business opportunities in the country today. All we have to do is find something we love to do and build on that. Once you find your passion, the rewards will shortly follow.”


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