Hitting it big in Dubai with 'just' AED50!

A former overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who decided to open his own business but was running terribly low on funds, got the universe conspiring to give him a break in a most unexpected way and turned his venture into a successful enterprise.

It all happened on a sweltering Dubai summer afternoon of 2006.

Wind gusting like a blow dryer on his face, Mark Legaspi, the OFW-turned-entrepreneur, parked his old, broken-down car, which was almost out of gas, by Sheikh Zayed Road’s by-lane. He stepped out and decided he’d walk it through the thoroughfare’s five-star hotel row to hand out brochures about his start-up audio visual company to prospective clients.

“My plan was to go to Sheik Zayed (Road) and give copies of my company’s profile. But I only had AED50. My car’s gas tank was nearly empty and I didn’t want to spend that money on gas. What if I suddenly needed to treat someone for coffee or something?” recalled Legaspi.

It was crunch time for the 27-year-old Filipino chasing a dream. And so, he braved the heat.

“I went to each hotel till I reached the last one at the other end of the road. Then I walked back. And that’s when I noticed some construction activities happening.

"At the site, somebody was delivering something behind a hotel. I saw a man in a hard hat and thought that maybe he was an engineer,” Legaspi said.

He said he managed to join and walk with the group, without raising suspicion.

And voila! Legaspi came face-to-face with the hotel club owner.

“He was a nice guy. I approached him and I found out that they were looking for a company to design, supply and install their sound and lighting system. That’s how I got my first project,” said Legaspi.

Now 44, Legaspi runs two audio-visual (AV) companies merged together, one of which already has its own brand of equipment available on the market. He also owns a music and content production studio that caters to musicians looking for affordable and quality recording space. Likewise, Legaspi has entered into partnerships with an events and entertainment company as well as a night club.

Looking back, Legaspi said he has no regrets getting out of his car and walking the proverbial extra mile that dust-blown day.

“I started my company with AED 50. When I finally decided that I would open my own AV company, I only had AED 50 in my pocket,” he said.

‘Learning curve’

Legaspi, who took up journalism at Centro Escolar University in Manila, said things were “never easy” after getting his first project.

“I guess it was the learning curve of the business. Knowing how to do the technical side is one thing. But you also have to deal with the accounts, permits, staff, marketing, suppliers, while looking for a client – the list goes on,” said

Legaspi, whose Dubai-based mother flew him to the city in 1993 to finish high school. He relocated to the Philippines in the late 1990s for college.

“It can be very overwhelming. I was young and naïve, trying to navigate through this ocean of problems. It’s madness trying to learn the other elements of the business and survive at the same time," he said.

Legaspi added that he is forever grateful to his wife who, he said, “housed, fed and gave me everything until I got my breakthrough project, which she financed to the point where I maxed out her credit card.” His mother also stood by him as well as a close friend, who mentored him throughout his journey.

Business launch

After returning to UAE in 2004, Legaspi began working as sales and design support executive at a professional sound and lighting distribution company, taking care of the night club market. Then after two years, he launched Phoenix LAS, which specializes in night club AV design, supply, integration and maintenance.

In 2019, Legaspi and his team, procured another AV company, Laser Jockey Electronics LLC, gave it a makeover and transformed it from a small retail shop tucked away somewhere in Naif, a district north of Dubai, into a full-service outfit offering sound, lighting, pixel-mapped strips and LED screen design, supply and installation services along with rentals.

The company is now also distributing popular industry brands such as Lars Audio amplifiers, Arborea Cymbals, and Maono Audio equipment for portable podcast production.

The company has likewise recently started manufacturing their own show lights and LED screens from China brand-named “LJ Lighting” and “LJ True Vision Led Screens.”

“We are proud to have had projects at Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions in addition to many prominent nightclubs and events around the UAE,” Legaspi said.

The existential question

Before he ventured into running his own business, Legaspi worked several jobs, first as fastfood hand where he quit after four days because it was “hard,” taking consolation in the thought that he get to enjoy free meal.

“From then on, I developed a renewed respect for money and realized that it, indeed, doesn’t grow on trees,” said Legaspi, who, during his college days, also had to work as a waiter, barback, bartender, then eventually, a DJ/emcee at a night spot in Manila.

The idea to open his own business came when, after having gone through these jobs, Legaspi finally faced up to an existential question and realized where he would rather be.

“I started telling myself, ‘This (running his own company) is what I want to do for the rest of my life: lights and sounds. Where I get up in the morning, excited to go to work.’ I love what I do and I can see myself doing this day in and day out,” he said.

Meanwhile, lights, sounds and music go together, which was why Legaspi also became engaged as vocalist with Gatilyo (Filipino for gun trigger), the first hard rock band in Dubai to be signed by Warner Music Philippines.

The experience, which got the band invited to open at Dubai gigs for various renowned Filipino bands such as Franco, Kjwan, Parokya ni Edgar, and Slapshock as well as to a week-long roller coaster ride in the Philippines, which entailed radio guesting and a five-leg tour with these legends along with Razorback, led to Legaspi branching out to “The Box Studio,” a music production, label and an online platform for Dubai-based musicians. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News