FORMERLY trying her luck abroad to seek a greener pasture back in the days, overseas Filipino worker (OFW)-turned-businesswoman Krizzia Ann Loyang Tanabe is setting her foot once again outside of the country—this time with a goal of bringing local brands to the global arena.
Her very own iFranchise Business Services Corp., which specializes in developing, marketing, and managing businesses across key industries, such as food and beverage (F&B), beauty and wellness, petroleum, and real estate, is expanding its footprint in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
“On the fifth year of my business, my aim is to have a global brand that us, Filipinos, can be really proud to bring our products outside our country,” she told reporters at the sideline of Global Women Empowerment Summit held in Okada Manila on October 3.
From local to global
TO become the chief executive officer (CEO) and president of iFranchise is a dream-come-true for Tanabe, who rose to success for her perseverance, hard work and sheer determination.
“I came from a humble beginning. I was raised by [my] farmer grandparents from Northern Samar. So I know the feeling of having nothing,” she recalled of her past.
Coming from a not so well off family, she was a working student back in college. During her stint in the homegrown food chain giant Jollibee, where she served as a service crew and cashier, she used this experience to where she is now.
“It really contributed me that much to achieve my dreams today. When I worked abroad, I was also in the food business as a manager of Mandarin [Hotel] and a wine connection business in Singapore. After working there, I went back home and started my own food business,” Tanabe narrated.
“I had more than a thousand food branches before the pandemic. But after the pandemic, we insisted to close down all the stores inside the malls since F&B is one of the most affected businesses during the time,” she said.
Such unfortunate event, however did not stop her to think of other way to turn around the business. That’s when she conceptualized WenDeli Meat House to go full blast with her commissaries in Quezon City and Antipolo, producing frozen meat products for national distribution that became a hit during the lockdown periods.
The success of this venture then resulted to multiple other F&B brands, such as BBQ Break, Food Caravan, and Coffee Spot. iFranchise also diversified into other businesses, such as iPharma Mart (pharmacy convenience store), iFuel (gasoline station), Faces&Curves (beauty and wellness), and iFarm (hotel and resort).
“Currently, we have 700 employees. I look forward to hire more and to give more employment opportunities to the Filipinos,” Tanabe said, while revealing the upcoming international expansion of WenDeli and iFuel.
Bringing Pinoy favorites offshore
ON December 8, WenDeli Meat House, a food brand named after her business partner actor Wendell Ramos will have its grand launch in Dubai.
This will be present to all “kabayan” stores in one of the wealthiest of the seven monarchies that comprise the federation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as in leading food platform Talabat.
“We’re going to have a tie up for distribution of our frozen meat and ready-to-eat food products. So [we’re] bringing the Filipino favorites to our kababayans in Dubai, [such as] tocino, tapa, longganisa, [and burger] patty, [among others],” the iFranchise CEO and president said.
Seeing the UAE as “the land of opportunity,” especially with further developments in Dubai for the next five to 20 years, iFranchise believes that it’s already high time to penetrate this market, according to her.
“I think it’s the best country to start a global brand, and not only that, we have millions of overseas Filipino workers there,” she added.
Apart from bringing local products to OFWs there, the franchising company will also give them the opportunity to have a business of their own back home by way of reselling.
“We want to offer them a livelihood business for their families. Instead of sending money to the Philippines, why not to give them a business, wherein we’ll train them in [our local] office [here]? So by the time that they want to retire, they will not have to start a business of their own,” she explained.
WenDeli’s next destination is Portugal, hopefully, next year to also cater to the thriving Filipino community there with the help of an OFW family organization.
Tanabe will be collaborating with a Filipina restaurateur, her very same partner in Dubai who is also a franchisee of other Filipino restaurants in the UAE.
Fueling global expansion
WHAT started as an independent petroleum brand in a war-torn province in Southern Philippines, iFuel now has 30 company-owned and 15 franchised outlets nationwide.
“My iconic branch is [located in] Marawi, Mindanao. It began when I supported the Bangon Marawi Program,” Tanabe said of the inception of her gasoline station business, which she never imagined will grow in various parts of the country and soon will make its presence felt in Africa.
The owner was thankful of her recent trip to Dubai for the set up of the office and commissary of her food distribution business. She considered it as a “blessing” because it also has opened door for the gasoline brand to go offshore when she was invited for an African event to talk about women empowerment.
“Almost [all] of them were really interested to invest in iFuel,” she shared of the positive reception her oil and gas company received from the attendees. “But through pre-qualification, there was one applicant that passed the requirements about putting up a business ‘coz she’s also in petroleum.”
The prospective foreign franchisee, per Tanabe, will be coming to the Philippines on October 14 to personally see how to put up the gasoline station and finalize the details of their partnership for its first international outlet .
“Then, we will fly there [in Africa] within November to see the location,” she bared. “The main target is to open iFuel Zimbabwe early next year.”
Given the external factors like the ongoing oil crisis due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, iFranchise intends to test the waters first by “slowly but surely” expanding its gasoline brand one branch at a time.
Rising from a male-dominated industry like petroleum, Tanabe was feted for her successful iFranchise business and humanitarian works through the iGive Foundation. She received the award for women empowerment during the summit from no less than the Princess of Bahrain, Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Khalifa Al Khalifa, who has also formed a business partnership with her.
“There were doubts because of my age and gender, but it served as an inspiration for me to grow my business to achieve more now that we are already in our fifth year, and to prove them wrong that women can empower businesses even here in our country,” Tanabe stressed.