CMA Mental Arithmetic targets to improve Filipino kids` math skills

Entrepreneur
E4 Wednesday, July 10, 2013
CMA Mental Arithmetic targets
to improve Filipino kids’ math skills
A
Editor: Max de Leon
What is
quality time
to you?
By Jennifer A. Ng
SK 30-something young
professionals how they
performed in math subjects
when they were in school
and most of them will say they hated
math. Many are intimidated by numbers and people cringe when they hear
Algebra, trigonometry or Calculus. Anthony Esguerra, president and
chief executive officer (CEO) of the
Philippine franchise for CMA Mental
Arithmetic Inc., hopes to correct all
these via the rollout of an innovative
math teaching technique developed
in Taiwan in 1984. “CMA Mental Arithmetic is a successful franchise outside of the Philippines. From Taiwan, it has branched
out to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China, New Zealand,
Australia and Singapore,” Esguerra
emphasized.
The math teaching technique
works well with younger children as
they are at a stage when it is easier to
develop their brains. The CMA methodology makes use of the abacus to
train children. A CMA student is first taught the
basics of the abacus, followed by visualization training. CMA Mental
Arithmetic said this enables the child
to execute mental sums by picturing
an image of the abacus in his or her
head and then manipulating in virtual
image the beads of the virtual abacus as though he has it in his hands.
Traditional math education uses
only the left brain. CMA Mental Arithmetic taps the creative right brain of
the child as he is trained to visualize
the abacus while using the logic of his
left brain to manipulate the virtual
abacus. The concept of the two-hand
mental arithmetic requires the combined use of both the left brain and
the right brain.
Esguerra said he hopes that through
its math tutorial technique, CMA
Mental Arithmetic could make math
subjects attractive to Filipino children.
Armando O. Bartolome
[email protected]
H
OW does a person make use
of quality time? Every day as
I travel, I see people in the
jeepneys, buses or MRT appearing to
be busy. This is only to discover they
are “busy” playing the latest game on
their phone, updating their Facebook
or simply “killing“ time. There are only
24 hours in a day. The waking hours
may be between 12 and 16 hours. The
remaining time is left for sleeping. If we
are to account for the hours we spend
and check on quality time, we may be
surprised how little it may be.
The ultimate goal, he said, is to encourage them to pursue math- or sciencerelated courses so the country could
have more engineers and scientists
in the future. The CMA Mental Arithmetic technique was introduced in the country last
year. Esguerra said the company made its
debut at the Franchise Asia Philippines
(FAP) 2012 and was one of its exhibitors.
“We were one of the exhibitors in
Franchise Asia Philippines last year
and the response we got was overwhelming. Visitors really flocked to
our booth,” he recalled with joy.
Esguerra said he got to know potential franchisees during the FAP
2012. A year after, the interest in
CMA Mental Arithmetic has not
waned. In fact, the company now has
four franchisees. “Franchise Asia Philippines has
been very effective for us. The event
is a good venue to introduce a particular brand,” he added.
Because of its positive impact on
the company’s marketing efforts, Esguerra said CMA Mental Arithmetic
decided to again join the 2013 edition
of FAP as an exhibitor.
“We created a series of video to better explain what we do at CMA Mental
Arithmetic. This is because we noticed
that people don’t grasp what we are all
about through flyers,” he noted.
FAP 2013 is Asia’s biggest fourin-one franchise show, which will
be staged from July 17 to 21 at the
SMX Convention Center in Pasay
City. It is a premier event that brings
together key franchise players in the
domestic and international fronts
for a valuable sharing of global best
practices.
Now on its 21st edition, the country’s longest-running franchise show
will feature a two-day International
Franchise Conference, a three-day
One-Stop Shop International Franchise Expo, a Certified Franchise
Executive Program, and educational
seminars for would-be franchisors
and franchisees.
For inquiries, visit www.franchiseasiaphl2013.com.ph or e-mail pfa@pfa.
org.ph.
How can we manage both the high achievers and the low performers?
By Bó Lè Associates
I
FRANGURU SPEAKS
T is obvious to those who study organizational development, as described by
The Social Enterprise Alliance, that four
interlocking tasks: productivity, process, employee satisfaction and shared goals, must be
managed simultaneously in order to sustain
a healthy organization. Consequently, four
types of employees help drive each task’s
success: achievers are responsible for results;
agitators are responsible for getting things
done right; negotiators are responsible for resolving interpersonal conflicts; and navigators are responsible for making sure everyone
on the team is committed to the same goal
and moving along in the right direction. As
the leader of a team that promises to deliver,
how can you properly manage all your direct
reports, both the high achieving ones as well
as the underperforming ones, to ensure that
everyone reaches their potential?
According to the Wall Street Journal, 42
percent of companies had low performers
actually report being more engaged than
middle and high performers. Hence, they
are more motivated and they enjoy working at their organization more. The problem arises when high performers are asked
to stay overtime at the office to correct the
work of lower performers. Not only does this
undermine high performers’ efforts, it also
gives underperformers an excuse to not take
ownership of their own work. More important, all these additional, tedious work will
create unnecessary stress and frustration for
high performers. In order to avoid this type
of disengagement, high performers might
be prompted to leave the company. From a
management point of view, there could not
be a worse scenario—all your top performers gradually leaving while low performers
stay behind and continue to leech off other’s
hard work.
Reasons companies are not able to retain talent boil down to poor management
and uninspiring or confusing organization
vision. In order to effectively manage your
subordinates, you must divide them into
the top 20 percent, the middle 70 percent
and the bottom 10 percent. Former General
Electric CEO Jack Welch once said the top
20 percent should be constantly praised and
rewarded with financial benefits while the
middle 70 percent should be given proper
coaching so as to motivate them to move to
the top, mentors to guide them as they set
goals are also advised. While it seems obvious that the bottom 10 percent needs to be
replaced immediately, it would be beneficial
to first find out the reasons behind their poor
performance.
The ideal workplace is built around
a harmonious, respectful environment
where expectations are delivered clearly
and feedback from both sides are communicated and understood. Ability and
motivation go hand in hand to impact performance; so efforts that aim to improve
both turn out as the best strategies. At
such a workplace, leaders who are able to
properly manage and motivate their subordinates will yield the best results for their
companies. Therefore, it is recommended
that senior executives should review the
way they handle their office dynamics as
there can be a long-lasting effect on the
company’s performance.
BÓ Lè Associates is the largest executive
search firm in Asia with a well-developed network of 25 wholly owned local offices worldwide,
over 550 staff including 500+ experienced consultants and researchers, and 50+ support staff
including Finance and Accounting, IT, in-house
Recruitment and Training, and Marketing and
Communication specialists. We have been
ranked No. 1 in China and Indonesia and also
in the top three in Vietnam, the Philippines and
Malaysia. Our core competencies are in handling
senior level positions including CFOs, CEOs, regional heads, general managers, and functional
and business heads.
Operating since 1996, we have placed over
13,000 successful candidates. Our Top 10 clients
are all Fortune 100 companies and have consistently accounted for over 30 percent of our total
revenues. Out of our more than 1,200 clients, 33
percent are from the consumer industry, which
includes FMCG, retail, hospitality, while 30
percent are from the financial-services sector
and 28 percent are from the industrial sector.
Other major sectors include technology, pharmaceuticals, and property.
BAKERS PARTNER WITH GLOBAL-LINK
MP FOR CEBU FOOD EXPO 2013
THE Cebu Bakery Association (Ceba) has renewed its ties with Global-Link MP Events International Inc. (GLMP), the country’s
biggest and most recognizable brand in trade show organizing and managing, to co-organize the Cebu Food Expo 2013. Shown
at the contract signing are (seated, from left) Ceba Secretary Marilou Bordalba, Ceba Assistant Treasurer Grace Gallarde, Ceba
President Elizabeth Go and Ceba Auditor Aida Sianson; (Standing, from left) Ceba Director Leo Nepomoceno, Global-Link MP
Events International Inc. CEO Patrick-Lawrence Tan and Global-Link Cebu liaison officer Kat Pedrosa. Cebu Food Expo will be held
at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino from July 25 to 27. “These eventful gatherings allow both local and foreign participants to
witness the exchange of ideas in culinary scene and permit participants to explore potential market,” Go shared. For information,
visit to www.globallinkmp.com
So what is quality time?
To quote Wikipedia quality time is
an informal reference to time spent with
loved ones (e.g., close family, partners
or friends) that is in some way important, special, productive or profitable.
It is time that is set aside for paying full
and undivided attention to the person
or matter at hand. It may also refer to
time spent performing some favorite
activity.
If we are to follow the definition,
quality time calls for a total undivided attention. Each person may have
identified persons, places or hobbies
to spend. At work, an employee who
devotes his time in carrying out his
tasks diligently eventually gets a better
performance rating. Today’s technology advancement may also be a great
distraction. Example is the presence
of Facebook. This is both good and
bad. Many people find this a big boost
in connecting with long lost friends,
classmates or even a point of promoting a business. It is distraction because
during office hours, employees may be
found online. It may be on their computer or the smartphone. Productivity
therefore is affected. There are now
employers who have written specific
policies on Facebook usage.
Speaking of Facebook and other
social media format, companies need
to spell and enforce stricter procedures
on who is authorized to write on behalf
of the company. Remember, anything
written out of context may be detrimental to the image. Franchisers have
began including guidelines in their
franchise agreements. The guidelines
detail whether a franchisee may or may
not put up another page promoting the
franchised branch.
Quality time may refer to the time
spent with the family. Bringing concerns from work to your home is not the
right way of having quality time. Entrepreneurs, especially working from
home, are faced with this challenge.
Engage the children to a healthy discussion. This may be about life experiences or topics that are trending. Having parents take time to talk about the
subject matter will open their minds.
No less than Pope Francis stressed the
importance of rebuilding family values.
Leaving the children with the television,
computer or mobile phones as their“tutors” is not the ideal way of rearing up.
Just the other night I was watching an
interview of a successful entrepreneur
mom. What struck me was, despite her
busy schedule, whenever her phone
would ring or if she gets an SMS from
any of her children, she would always
excuse herself and attend to it.
What is the value of having amassed
so much money and luxury in this
world if one’s family is decaying?
Thus, to be in business these days
call for the importance of striking a balance of spending quality time at work
and family.
Perhaps it would be good to always
review each week how we have shared
quality time with people close to us.
The next time you find yourself bored
or plainly looking for things to do, instead of playing with your latest game,
try giving a call to your loved one.
Readers who wish to share their
insight are certainly most welcomed. I
may be reached at philfranchiseguru@
gmail.com. Visit my web site http://www.
franchiseconsulting.ph