Read This First
Aileen is the registered owner of Nana Bambi's Place. Every contract is in her name. Every BIR filing is in her name. Every member of staff is employed in her name. Every loan is in her name. Every permit is in her name.
If this enterprise fails, it fails on her name.
That is not a burden to feel sorry about. It is a fact to understand, accept, and act on. Every decision Aileen makes — or fails to make — has her name on it. This document describes what the job actually is.
The café has a Head Baker, an Assistant Baker, a Morning FOH, and an Afternoon FOH. Four people. That is a full team. If Aileen is behind the counter taking orders, or in the kitchen washing dishes, or running food to tables, it means one of two things: either someone did not show up for work, or Aileen has not learned to delegate.
The CEO's job is to make sure the right people are in the right positions. Not to be in those positions herself.
What a CEO Actually Does
A CEO does not produce. A CEO does not serve. A CEO does not cook. A CEO does not clean. A CEO does not plant. A CEO does not harvest.
A CEO:
- Makes decisions
- Manages money
- Builds relationships
- Reads financial reports
- Solves problems
- Plans for next year
That is the job. Everything else is someone else's job.
The Truth About Twelve Spokes
Nana Bambi's Place is not a café. It is an enterprise with twelve spokes. Every spoke has staff, costs, revenue, compliance requirements, and problems. The CEO's job is to be across all twelve — not buried in one.
Each spoke generates revenue, incurs costs, employs people, and has regulatory obligations. A CEO who only watches one spoke will miss the other eleven failing.
1. Financial Oversight
- Monthly profit and loss review with Grace
- Cash flow monitoring — know what comes in, what goes out, what is due
- Approve all expenditure above agreed thresholds
- Maintain oversight of all bank accounts
- Payroll approval — verify before release
- BIR compliance — filings on time, every time
- Asset register — know what the enterprise owns and its condition
- Fleet finance — fuel, maintenance, depreciation
- Quarterly review with tax accountant
- CAPEX decisions — when to invest, when to wait
2. Legal and Compliance
- Manage the relationship with the enterprise's lawyer
- Sign contracts only after reading them — every page, every clause
- Pugod land title process — follow through until complete
- Co-ownership arrangements with Arianne and Rojan — understood and documented
- BIR, DA, LGU, SSS — all government obligations current and compliant
- Aido's 13A visa — understand the requirements, support the process
- Permit expiry dates — tracked and renewed before lapse
- Employment contracts — every staff member has one
3. People and Team Leadership
- Hire the right people for the right roles
- Set clear standards and expectations
- Hold people accountable — fairly, consistently, without fear
- Weekly spoke check-ins — ten minutes each, structured, purposeful
- Manage Grace directly
- Manage the FOA directly
- Resolve disputes before they become crises
- Recognise good work — publicly and sincerely
- Address poor performance — early, honestly, with documentation
- Build a team that can operate without the CEO standing over them
4. Supplier and Government Relationships
- Department of Agriculture (DA) — water quality demonstration site partnership
- Slow Food Philippines — Bacolod connection, Ark of Taste programme
- Isuzu Naga (Henson Cantre) — fleet relationship
- Lawyer — land, contracts, compliance
- Tax Accountant — quarterly reviews, BIR strategy
- LGU Ragay — permits, community, local government relations
- Suppliers — panaderia ingredients, animal feed, fingerlings, packaging
- Banks and lenders — credit, accounts, loan management
5. Strategic Planning
- Stage 1 construction — completion, commissioning, operations launch
- Stage 2 triggers — know what conditions must be met before expansion
- Café menu development and function hosting strategy
- Aquaponic expansion planning
- Livestock growth pathway
- Delivery network development
- Annual budget — prepared, approved, monitored
- Three-year plan to 2028 — where is this enterprise going?
6. Office and Administration
- Works from the hub daily — present, available, visible
- 8:15 AM briefing from the FOA — every morning, no exceptions
- All correspondence approved before sending
- Diary managed by the FOA — CEO does not manage her own calendar
- Document management — files organised, accessible, current
- Social media strategy direction — approve content, set tone, do not post personally
What a CEO's Week Looks Like
Every Day
- Morning briefing from FOA at 8:15 AM
- Review messages and correspondence
- One spoke check-in (ten minutes, rotating)
- Urgent decisions — made promptly, not deferred
- Financial alerts — reviewed and actioned
Every Week
- Sales review by spoke — which are performing, which are not
- Payroll approval
- Supplier payments — reviewed and authorised
- One external meeting — supplier, government, or partner
- Staff issue — at least one conversation about performance or development
Every Month
- Profit and loss review with Grace
- Cash flow review — actual versus forecast
- Asset register update
- BIR calendar check — upcoming filings and deadlines
- Supplier relationship check — pricing, reliability, alternatives
Every Quarter
- Tax accountant review — compliance, optimisation, planning
- Lawyer update — land title, contracts, any legal matters
- Enterprise performance review — all twelve spokes
- Strategic review — are we on track for the three-year plan?
- Staff performance conversations — formal, documented, constructive
What the CEO Is Not
The café has four staff. If there is a rush, that is a staffing or training problem — not a reason for the CEO to step behind the counter. Stepping onto the café floor to help during a rush is not leadership. It is avoidance of leadership.
Aileen can walk the farm. Aileen should walk the farm. But walking the farm means inspecting, observing, asking questions, and following up. It does not mean planting, harvesting, feeding, or watering. That is production work, and production work belongs to production staff.
Deliveries have a driver and a system. The CEO does not load a vehicle and drive to customers. The CEO ensures the delivery spoke has the right people, the right routes, and the right vehicle maintenance schedule.
Grace does the books. The tax accountant does the filings. Aileen reads the reports, asks questions, and makes decisions. She does not prepare the accounts. She reads them and acts on them.
What Aileen Needs to Learn
- Sit with Grace monthly — learn what each line on the P&L means
- Read the tax accountant's quarterly reports — ask questions until it makes sense
- Learn cash flow — understand the difference between profit and cash in the bank
- Read every contract before signing — every page, ask questions about anything unclear
- Attend DA and LGU meetings personally — do not send a representative for important meetings
- Understand the 13A process — what it requires, what the timeline is, what happens if it lapses
- Have honest conversations early — do not wait until a problem becomes a crisis
- Praise publicly, correct privately — always
- Weekly spoke check-ins — ten minutes each, structured, with follow-up actions
- Keep a notebook — ideas, observations, questions, patterns
- Review it monthly — what keeps coming up? What needs attention?
- Sit with Aido regularly — discuss direction, not just daily operations
Aileen and Aido — The Working Partnership
Aido brings thirty years of experience across trade, hospitality, and logistics. He arrives in September 2026. He will bring systems, construction knowledge, operational discipline, and strategic planning capability.
But Aido cannot sign contracts. Aido cannot borrow money. Aido cannot hold title to land. Aido cannot hire or fire staff in a legal capacity. Only Aileen can do those things.
This is not a limitation. It is the structure. Aileen is the legal owner, the registered entity, the person whose name is on every government document. That role cannot be delegated, outsourced, or avoided.
| Aido's Domain | Aileen's Domain |
|---|---|
| Operations and production systems | Legal ownership and contracts |
| Construction and infrastructure | Financial oversight and bank accounts |
| Process design and SOPs | BIR, DA, LGU, SSS compliance |
| Supply chain and logistics | Hiring, employment contracts, payroll |
| Technology and POS systems | Supplier and government relationships |
| Training programme design | Permit management and renewals |
What Bambi Would Expect
This enterprise carries Bambi's name. Not a business name invented by a marketing agency. Not a brand designed by consultants. A grandmother's name. A real person who lived a real life in Ragay and left a legacy that her family is now trying to build on.
She was a midwife who rode a pony to mountain barangays to give vaccinations. She did not wait for a vehicle. She did not wait for someone to drive her. She did not make excuses. She got on the pony and she went, because people needed her and the job needed doing.
Bambi would not have understood spreadsheets or profit and loss reports. But she understood responsibility. She understood showing up. She understood doing the hard thing because it was the right thing.
Bambi rode a pony over mountains to do her job. The least her daughter can do is sit at a desk and learn to read a profit and loss report.
That is not harsh. That is honest. And Bambi, more than anyone, would have understood the difference.