Some people can't stand being with their families for long periods. Many people can't take working long periods. Now imagine combining both of these things and liking it. Christine and Abigail Yap of the Yapster e-Conglomerate don't just imagine it. They live it. JAIME BAUTISTA sits in on their little family shoptalk.

With the interest in the Internet growing everyday, many young entrepreneurs have put up their own IT companies believing that a dotcom company will take them down the information superhighway to success. According to cousins Christine and Abigail Yap, this holds true for the second-generation members of the Yap family, but with one marked difference: they're taking the family car down that road.

Christine and Abigail (or Abi for short) are two of seven cousins who head the Yapster e-Conglomerate, the newest and perhaps most ambitious venture of the Yap family. While other young upstarts usually strike out on their own and create a single website, the Yap cousins have created an entire holding company that has interests in Internet companies. And following Chinese tradition, this conglomerate is an expansion of the existing family businesses.

The e-Conglomerate is divided into two main areas: the e-Business Subsidiaries which provide online services; and the Infrastructure Companies, which support and enable their dotcom companies. A Yap cousin heads each of the companies under the conglomerate. Under the e-Business Subsidiaries are four companies: Yapster e-Trade, Inc. (www.2TradeAsia.com) deals with online stock brokerage and is headed by Christine. Yapster e-Travel (www.2TravelWorld.com) does online travel management and is run by their cousin Annabelle. Their other cousin Sherman, oversees the e-Insurance company (www.2InsureAll.com), which handles online insurance policy management. And their e-Learning company (www.2StudyIT.com), which provides web-based training in IT and business courses, is headed by their cousin Arlene. Under the Subsidiary Companies, you have Active Business Solutions, Inc. (www.Activebizness.com) which is run by Abi. It is a consulting company that develops web applications for companies, automates back office systems and provides business consultation. There is also Yapster Shared Services (www.Ysharedservices.com), which provides Internet hosting for companies with mission-critical Internet operations; www.SourcePilipinas.com, which provides a horizontal exchange with local businesses; www.miningxchange.com, which serves as a venue for vertical exchange for the global mining industry; and XIC Global which is a web-based call center that provides support and online marketing. These companies are run by people hired by the Yap cousins and who have the necessary expertise in their respective fields.

Abi's brother Patrick serves as co-CEO while Christine's brother Bryan is the CFO of the conglomerate. Felipe Yap, one of the first-generation Yaps (who heads the Philippine Stock Exchange and heads Lepanto Mining) acts as chairman of the board.

Rather than create a whole new set of companies for themselves, the Yap cousins decided to instead elevate their existing family businesses to the Internet. Their family has a lot of businesses, ranging from stock brokerage, retail in Davao, textile, garments, brick and mortar companies. After studying at the University of Vancouver in Canada, the cousins came to the Philippines to take over the family businesses, like many Chinese youths do. But they didn't just take over, they decided to bring their companies to the next level.