Kenri Ang’s passion for entrepreneurship began when his parents introduced him to the stock market when he was only 13. Back then, trading was merely a hobby, yet little did he know that this would lead to what he mostly does in his free time now.

When asked about what got him engrossed, he says, “I just knew that I never belonged to an office desk and the typical 9-to-5 job. I wanted to do something I enjoyed.”

The first step to it all, Ang says, is to educate yourself. While his friends were busy playing video games, he spent hours browsing through forums and watching YouTube videos about trading.

“I know some might say it’s boring, but I find analyzing charts and companies’ financial statements fun. At the end of the day, who doesn’t like earning money?” Ang attributes his success to his dad, a stock analyst. “Without my dad, I’m 1,000 percent sure that I wouldn’t grasp the concepts needed to understand the charts,” he says.

Ang knew how lucky he was to have a mentor. And he knew other prospective traders weren’t as lucky. So he founded his own trading mentorship program called Axis Circle. So far, he has helped over 1,000 low-income Filipino teens learn how to trade through his Discord server.

“I just want to be there for others, just like how my father was there for me,” he said.

Now 17, Ang is excited about his other ventures, such as his side hustle as a streetwear reseller, his real estate business where he buys old houses and flips them, while also trading in the crypto market.

Breaking a family cycle

There was only one thing in Pia Bautista’s mind, and that was to break free from the cycle that has been plaguing her family. She is the daughter of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), whose parents were also OFWs. But becoming one was not her cup of tea.

She knew the struggles of an OFW. By getting into entrepreneurship, she wanted to carve her own path.

Back in 2016, she knew only about how to save money. On every birthday, she always saved the money she received as gifts. One time, when she was depositing money to her account, she thought about whether money should just remain stagnant in the bank.

“Successful people don’t just leave their money sitting. They make their money work for them. So that’s when my curiosity for learning more about financial systems began,” she said.

Bautista began her journey in trading. She spent her time learning about how to digest and analyze the data of stocks on the Philippine Stock Exchange. She still recalls the login details to her first-ever demo trading account where she would test out her strategies.

“I know telling you these things makes it seem easy; that you can just go to YouTube, check charts and there, you earn money. But, it’s really not like that. You can lose money also. Practice and research is what you need,” she says.

For the 17-year-old, the most important step to making money is budgeting. She shares her system of how she allocates money. Since the money that people put in trading should be money that they can afford to lose, she prioritizes allocating a budget for low-risk investments, while also holding midrisk investments such as her trading portfolio.

Nowadays, Bautista is an influential figure in helping other Filipino female investors like her who may initially seem hesitant to explore the world of stocks.

“There is this fear that I noticed among my female friends about the stock market. I understand that there is a lot of risk, but you can always learn different strategies to avoid losing money,” she says.

She has been invited to speak to over 30,000 Filipinos as part of the talks organized by Stocks-Ed, a company dedicated to simplifying trading for Filipinos by providing free educational resources. She hopes to help other female investors like her create a better future for themselves and their families.

When asked about the most important ingredient to their success, Ang and Bautista, both incoming freshmen at De La Salle University, stressed the importance of taking control of your education.

“The greatest investment you can ever make is on yourself,” they say.

—CONTRIBUTED INQ