A major strategy in developing Eastern Visayas is: attracting investors. The idea is to enable the region to convince people who have the capital to set up businesses here.

In the recent Visayas Business Conference, the major investment areas given importance were: Eco-tourism, food processing, and information and communication technology.

The past couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to meet a friend who has made his millions, so to speak working for nearly thirty years in the US.

He has decided to invest in Eastern Visayas in a facility that can be classified as eco-tourism oriented.

I was glad to know that he has been reading the EVISNet website (www.evis.net.ph) and has kept track of investment opportunities through this site even as we hadn’t talked much since he came over for a short stay last March.

I was pleasantly surprised that after that March visit he bought real estate property that will be the site of his eco-tourism investment.

He says it is to him “food for the soul”. He owes a lot to this region and he wants to help create jobs. The return on investment or ROI of his venture may be low at this time but he is still willing to invest and looks at it as a long turn endeavor.

About a year and a half ago, he came over for a brief stay to visit relatives and friends and I brought him some eco-tourism places which he must have liked.

So, in less than two years his business will be “up and running”. He is not in a hurry because he has other businesses to attend to but having started investing, he is determined to open his eco-tourism venture within that time-frame. (Perhaps, just in time for the opening of the new airport in Tacloban City.)

Lessons of the story? There are many. If we can have more of his kind, this region will be better off. We need capital from outside to create jobs and make life better here.

 Investors need friends they can depend on for information they can rely on. The decision to invest is a time-consuming process that can be delayed if the “business atmosphere” is perceived to be negative and not supportive.

A friend and an investor? In my line of work, I like that combination.