Jorge Wieneke and his Legacy of Motivation through Music

“Kaya ang sabi ko nga, at 54 years old, my strength is my leadership,” confidently stated Jorge Wieneke.

Similar to a priest in the confessional, the Potato Corner co-founder and Tokyo Tempura founder was privy to the secrets of several food entrepreneurs’ hearts, the anguish and despair brought about by the pandemic. He spent many sleepless nights not dishing out sound business advice to alleviate their predicament, but lending a sympathetic ear instead. He admits that he is not an expert and he can’t just wave a magic wand to make their problems disappear.

He served as the Association of Filipino Franchisers Incorporated (AFFI) president.

Smiling from ear to ear during our short chitchat after the AFFI Heroes Awards Night, Jorge Wieneke shares how thankful he is because those talks led him to forgetting about his own problem. His current company, Tokyo Tempura, also struggled during the pandemic. “Actually, all my stores are closed. I have no sales,” he recounted.

He also faced the ire of his wife, who reminded him that their business needs looking after, not the organization that is AFFI comprised of small to medium entrepreneurs needing his guidance. He knows her reasoning is justified, but then, someone needs to lead and talk to rental owners, and ask them for leniency regarding rental prices.

“I took the lead. Kinausap ko yung DTI secretary. Kinausap ko si Mr. Joey Concepcion. I went to TV Patrol. The last airing of TV Patrol, I was there, begging,” he narrated.

He decided to be creative in motivating people and remembered how music moved him many times, specifically Gary Valenciano’s Shout for Joy. He took his chance and asked Mr. Pure Energy even though Jorge thinks that he is a nobody for the celebrity to say yes to. However, he has this reason to still hope for a positive outcome. “Again, I am also a preacher of innovation. Innovation…one thing I teach about innovation is you challenge all the assumption. If you have the idea…the problem…the idea dissolves because you don’t wanna challenge the assumption. So ako, lagi kong sinasabi, challenge the assumption. You will never ever ever ever find out the answer if you don’t challenge the assumption.”

He started out by pitching his concept to advertising companies, and told them his goal of motivating small to medium entrepreneurs. They’re willing to support it. He then presented it to Gary Valenciano and his team. Jorge was pleasantly surprised that they loved it and agreed to do it right away.

And the rest, they say, is history. Pwede Pang Mangarap, released under Universal Records, became the theme song of AFFI. The official lyric video was just released 10 days ago and the song was performed by Gary V. himself at the awarding ceremony, along with a couple of his hit songs.

Before Jorge Wieneke turned to leave, he pointed to his balding crown and said that he got it during the pandemic. I guess for every strand that was lost, a life of an entrepreneur was saved.