Dexter Demoral is a kind, humble but proud CEO of HeySuki Mart, a new friendly neighborhood start-up wholesale mart and convenience store in the Philippines. Through this interview, join us as he shares his story of becoming an aspiring entrepreneur, his message for his fellow future entrepreneurs, and his big vision for his retail and wholesale company.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and describe the business that you have?

My name is Dexter Demoral. I’m the Co-founder and also currently the president and CEO of PinaSell commercial inc., which is the main company that I am in. Our trade name is HeySuki Mart. It’s pretty much a retail and wholesale grocer -a high breed convenience store and a mini-mart. Currently, we do have one branch located just outside of Metro Manila, but we plan to grow within the next few years and make it one of the leading retail and wholesale brands here in the country.

When did you start your business?

Our business started two months ago but we have been planning this out since December. We have been scouting for different platforms since last year until we found Loyverse.

What products/services do you offer?

We offer a variety of products, mostly products similar to what you can see in a 7/11 convenience store, but we have more SKUs. We will have food and acquire a local convenience store franchise of a popular donut brand. We also offer self-payment services and do printing and photocopying services.

What was your motivation for becoming an entrepreneur?

Since I was a kid, for the longest time, I’ve already been doing some side hustles. In high school, I was already selling caps and shirts provided by my teacher. And in college, I was selling hotdogs and burgers. So after college, I entered the corporate world. I became, somehow, relatively successful in the corporate world because I’ve been heading the training and quality departments of big corporate brands like Asia CC, Capital One, and BPO as well.

I was the head of the training and quality departments of various BPOs. But during that time, I was also doing some business. I had my own consulting company but eventually discontinued it. We also do consulting work with the government on a variety of projects, and I used to have a bar as well; a mini bar in Metro Manila that ran for four years. So I had always been in touch with business. I think the main motivation is being able to create opportunities because I live by the adage that goes “Find a need and fill it”. So, I think the motivation is answered by that. I always want to find opportunities where I can be relevant, where I can be of help, and then find solutions for those opportunities and, of course, be able to create opportunities for other people as well. I think those are the main motivations.

What is one characteristic you would say is crucial to being a successful entrepreneur?

I think to be a successful entrepreneur you must have a high adversity quotient. There have been a lot of talks about intelligence quotient, right? IQ, EQ, etc. But nowadays, especially in these trying times, we are faced with a lot of problems, economic, and health. I think a business should be able to weather all those challenges and if an entrepreneur has a very low adversity quotient, meaning he is not able to own or face, be responsible for any of the challenges he is facing, then the business wouldn’t flourish. So, I think that is one of the main characteristics that an entrepreneur right now should have.

What is your goal for the next 5 years of your business?

Thank you for asking that question. Actually, just yesterday, I was orienting our newly hired employees and I was sharing our vision. Our vision as a company is to be able to become the leading retail and wholesale, sales and services company in the Philippines. We will do that by igniting the entrepreneurial spirit and thinking of every Filipino, one Filipino at a time. That is our long-term vision. Our goal within the next five years is to be able to put up probably more branches in Metro Manila and in the provinces and strengthen our online brand to online selling platforms. So those are two of our long-term goals, or shorter rather, in five years.

How did you first learn about Loyverse and which features have been the most useful for you?

To be honest, I’ve never heard about Loyverse before. I’ve been doing research in google trying to find the best POS that suits my needs and I haven’t really encountered Loyverse until, as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been researching and planning for this since December of last year. I’ve been meeting up with a lot of vendors and suppliers for POS and I’d probably met about ten until I found this vendor who provides this POS alongside the POS system. That’s when I learned about Loyverse and he had me test it, and that’s just when I fell in love with the product, with the interface. I don't know if you are going to ask me this, but what I loved about Loyverse is that it’s very clean, it’s very crisp, and it's easy to use. I think when you were creating the interface, you were just thinking about the customer or the user. And if I need to look at my reports, it’s easy to do, by just clicking on a link. Uploading information, uploading data, and SKUs is very easy. I never had to really train for it. I just delved into it and then I practiced, I used the trial and then I pretty much learned everything without going through formal training with my vendor. So that’s I guess a testament to how easy the software or the app is when it comes to usage.

I think kudos to your company as well, another thing that I loved about Loyverse is how responsive the customer support is. Whenever I need something, or whenever I have some questions, I just open up the chat and someone will reply to me right away. If not, I always get a response. And I think whenever I have had issues, you have been very collaborative. In fact, I’ve had one or two issues before which were solved.

Do you have any last words or messages for other future entrepreneurs?

I was just talking to my team about the word “Ikigai.” It’s a Japanese philosophy of doing what you love but at the same time earning from it. You are also impacting the world. Find something that you love and try to convert that into something that will provide financially to you. I think that would make your work, your life really easier. I think, take risks. Don’t be afraid to fail. Because only through failure will we learn more and be able to create and solve problems. Continue to be risk takers and don’t be afraid to fail. I think those are the three things that I’d like to impart to new or future entrepreneurs.

You can visit their facebook page: https://web.facebook.com/heysukimart