Making a profit was the last thing on the mind of National Artist and Ramon Magsaysay honoree Ryan Cayabyab when he and his wife Emmy put up the Ryan Cayabyab The Music Studio in October 1986.Their primary motivation then was to provide some employment to friends from the Voice department of the UP College of Music in Diliman whom they thought were too just good to be out of a job. These pioneer teachers included Jonathan Velasco, Nolyn Cabahug and Aileen Espinosa, who may be familiar names now in the world of music, but in 1986 were young graduates who could not immediately get a full-time teaching job because universities required professors to have at least a master’s degree. “They were one big group of friends, so I told Emmy, let’s hire all of them,” shares Cayabyab, president of the music school. Thus, in October 1986, the music school opened in a 149-square-meter space at the Sunvar Plaza in Makati with a staff complement of four voice teachers, two piano teachers and an office assistant, with the capital coming from pooled savings. There was no official business plan to speak of and any financial projections they had were down to the simple computation of how many students they needed to be able to pay the staff and keep up with the rent and utilities. While profit was not the main factor that made them put it up, they were not so naive as to think they can live on good intentions alone. They had to bring in enough money to at least cover their expenses. It was not exactly the textbook way to start a business but then again, Cayabyab is not the type to conform and they firmly believed that there was a hidden demand for the services that they can provide. Their first day in October 1986, however, could have shaken that faith. “That first day, we just waited, Mrs. C and I. Nakatingin lang kaming lahat [sa pinto] at walang pumasok! (We were just looking at the door and no one came),” Cayabyab recalls with a laugh.By word of mouth, students did start trickling in. And that trickle started to build into a steady stream when Cayabyab became one of the judges of the popular Ang Bagong Kampeon singing contest. It was his stepping stone into the glittery world of television and eventually, the viewers got the