{"id":70581,"date":"2025-07-19T19:29:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T11:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=70581"},"modified":"2025-07-14T15:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T07:31:10","slug":"converge-powers-a-small-scale-enterprise-in-olongapo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2025\/07\/19\/converge-powers-a-small-scale-enterprise-in-olongapo\/","title":{"rendered":"Converge powers a small-scale enterprise in Olongapo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christine Sibal\u2019s journey as a business owner began in a small spot in Barreto, Olongapo, where she put up a cozy caf\u00e9 called 153 Coffee Co. A typical day for her business looks like tables filled up with students, remote workers, and regulars sipping on sea salt lattes or their house-blend 153 Special.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy husband and I love coffee,\u201d she shared. \u201cHe even trained as a barista. At first, we just wanted a place where we could enjoy good coffee and maybe hold a few meetings. But eventually, it turned into a full-blown cafe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christine opened the shop nearly two years ago. What started with just five to ten cups a day has grown into 50 to 100 cups daily, with additional income from doing event coffee carts and loyal dine-in customers who treat the caf\u00e9 like a second home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But 153 Coffee Co. is only one half of her entrepreneurial story. About a year later, Christine launched Muy Bien Ihaw-Ihaw, a grilled chicken business that continues a mission she\u2019s long been a part of \u2013 helping members of her church community build livelihoods through small business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMuy Bien actually came from a church initiative almost 20 years ago,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt started as a way to help members earn extra income, and now it has grown to around 40 outlets across different provinces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her outlet in Barreto is one of the newer ones, and a pilot for a more dine-in\u2013focused model. But whether it\u2019s chicken or coffee, Christine runs both businesses with a mix of passion and purpose. And behind the scenes, there’s one modern tool that keeps it all running smoothly: fast, stable internet from leading fiber broadband and technology provider Converge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven before we opened the caf\u00e9, we were already using Converge at home. So when we started the businesses, it just made sense to use something we already trusted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christine now runs both shops on Converge flexiBiz plans. The internet powers everything from her POS system to CCTV for remote monitoring. \u201cI can check sales even when I\u2019m not at the shop. I can log in, see what\u2019s happening, and make sure everything\u2019s running right. It\u2019s really helped me stay hands-on, even from a distance,\u201d Christine added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also admitted that a fast internet has now become a customer essential. While some caf\u00e9s shy away from \u201clong stay\u201d customers, Christine sees it differently. \u201cA lot of our customers use our internet for their work or study. We offer it for free to our dine-in customers. That\u2019s one of the reasons people keep coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with both businesses thriving and the systems to keep them moving efficiently, Christine is looking forward to putting up more branches. She also offered some pieces of advice to fellow entrepreneurs who are just getting started. \u201cFor me, I believe passion comes first. So whatever it is you love to do, whatever you believe in, go for it. Even if people say it\u2019s not trendy or popular right now, if that\u2019s what you enjoy and if your heart is into it, that will succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christine opened the shop nearly two years ago. What started with just five to ten cups a day has grown into 50 to 100 cups daily, with additional income from doing event coffee carts and loyal dine-in customers who treat the caf\u00e9 like a second home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":70582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[4837,96,2727,1656],"class_list":["post-70581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-converge-ict-solutions","tag-technology","tag-technology-adaption","tag-technology-investment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70583,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70581\/revisions\/70583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}