Chikka: more OFW programs for 2008

Chikka is one of the few companies that we got to feature in the Philippine Internet Review.

Given its minimal capital in the beginning, Chikka started during the dotcom bust. However, customer service, innovation, and good technology are the company’s competitive advantage. The company protected its initial competitive advantage, the Chikka.com Instant Messenger, by patenting it.

Dennis Mendiola, CEO of the company and name as the 2006 Ernst and Young Information and Communications Technology Entrepreneur of the Year, strongly protects value in the chain by building on businesses that are viral in nature, where community begets community. Having the first mover advantage will make it expensive for rivals to get to the same level as where the company is now. His business wisdom was greatly influenced by his early dotcom ventures. It taught him to manage well his operating cash flow, have financial discipline, prudence, and sensibility in making projections.

Since 2003 when this interview was made, the company have all confidence to scale up because of its technology, knowledge, and rich implementation experience, on how to do Internet and mobile marketing the right way.

Instead of doing everything on their own, they expanded (and still expanding) through franchising by finding local counterparts in immediate target markets. The company already has operations and/or partners in China, Singapore, Malaysia Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, and United States.

The company is the first local entity to strike a major deal with Google. It is one of the few organizations that have attained all CMMI Level 5 organization, ISO BS7799, and ISO BS15000.

In 2007, Chikka expanded its service offerings to the United Kingdom and Spain. It also won in the services category of the DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards.

For 2008, as Michelle Pestano shared in the video enclosed here, the company will focus and launch new services that shall cater to the global Filipino in connecting them with their families.

Chikka.com is driving and pulling the SMS marketplace forward. It plays a great role on what makes the Philippines the most sophisticated and advanced SMS user in the world today.