Inspiring Lives: Purpose-Driven Youth

Armil Velos is a glowing example of a purpose-driven youth whom anybody would be glad to have as a friend, a colleague, or a mentor.

He was a Cebuana Lhullier scholar in college and graduated cum laude in B. S. Computer Science at the Cebu Institute of Technology.

Barely 6 years after graduation, he has already become an SEO for an Australian online marketing company. (For the un-initiated, SEO or Search Engine Optimization is essentially maximizing the earning potential of an internet website).

He even has become a shareholder of an online IT outsourcing company known as New Era Outsourcing, and serves as internet marketing consultant for several technology industries. He was also responsible for the conceptualization of the LingawHoldings Inc., an investment company established to create business opportunities for the welfare of others.

His life was not all "bed of roses" though; it was in fact an uphill climb full of struggles and heart-breaking moments.

Take the time he was still a young lad about 12 years at grade 5 and chosen to recite a declamation piece in front of the entire populace of his elementary school. He was thoroughly practiced, all geared up, raring to go, and even brought his favorite grandmother along to watch. Yet he was not called onstage because his teacher forgot to include his name in the program.

Or the time in college when he missed graduation honors as a magna cum laude by mere fractions of a point.

All these experiences would have embittered an ordinary person, but Armil was not just an average anybody. Instead he eagerly proceeded forward, each and every time lifted and renewed by his spiritual strength.

His entrepreneurial soul also steadily matured. To help augment the family income as a small boy, he peddled on the streets whatever fruit was in season. When he grew up and became a college student, he vended household products on commission basis door to door. Today, he has set up his own promising and growing businesses, a perfect marriage of his career and education.

Still very much single and the eldest of 3 siblings, Armil nevertheless sees financial independence as only a means to a greater goal: to educate and aid other people achieve spiritual and economic fulfillment. He is so focused on this end he has set himself a fixed date: 4 December 2012, his 32nd birthday, when he could devote full time to helping others.

Even at present, in spite of his regular employment responsibilities and other technical activities, Armil is actively preparing young members of the church he belongs to, the Iglesia Ni Cristo, propagate hope and truth through faith.

With such laudable and selfless dedication to his visions, Armil Velos is sure to attain his aims, perhaps sooner than he expects.