Feature: Dreaming Enterprise

Monday 11th of June 2012

Dreaming for improvement in life is a free enterprise. For One-Town One-Product (OTOP) program producers in Davao del Norte, this has inspired most micro entrepreneurs to improve their products despite their old age, lack of finances, and lack of technological expertise.

Grass into mats

Engineer Joaquin lives in Ilagan, Barangay Limbaan, New Corella. This man in his 60s is the producer of Tikog mats exclusively sold at SM Malls nationwide. He also weaves Tikog into hats, bags, hammocks, lamp stands, and slippers. He vies not only for local and national markets but also for international markets. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) sends him to showcase Philippine-made products during national and international trade fairs.

A mechanical engineer by profession, he has retired early from government service as a worker of the National Irrigation Administration. For 18 years now, he devotes his time and energy into his Tikog handicraft products that bear the trade name, Silagan Handicraft.

With his wife Clara Silagan who will soon retire from her government work as the Alternative Learning System (ALS) District Coordinator of New Corella, he is dreaming of crossing countries with his Tikog mats and handicrafts. He hangs on to this dream though the local supply of Tikog is dwindling as swampy areas where such grass grows have been planted with bananas.

“Banig lang ang akong gisaligan. (I am banking only on my mats),” he said.

Silagan now gets a 50-kilo supply of Tikog locally in a month. He buys much of his Tikog raw materials from Kalingayan, Bayugan, in Agusan. He continues to look for more supply to meet the demand for his Tikog mats and handicrafts.

Waste water turned vinegar

Young Mandaya chieftain of Buclad Tribal Council, Joel Andoy, 41 years old, confessed of dreaming a better life for his tribal council members, among whom were Dibabawon, Mangguwangan, Muslim, other than Mandaya.

Indigenous women in Buklad used to have no productive undertakings, but now they are into vinegar and coco-shell accessories production. This is an offshoot to the partnership that the tribal council has tied up with St. Mary’s College Business Resource Center (SMC-BRC), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and DTI.

A vinegar production house now stands in their community, making use of the coconut juice that used to be just thrown away when producing copra. Mang Bernard Aquino, 66, goes around the nearby coconut plantations to collect the coco juice to be fermented into vinegar. Some women help in fermenting and bottling of vinegar, while others are into the production of coco-shell craft made into accessories and handicrafts.

“Kung mag tapok-tapok sila karon, aduna nay panginabuhian nga gibuhat (When they come together now, they are into livelihood production),” Andoy said as he conveyed thanks to partner agencies that extended values education and entrepreneurship training to the members of his tribal council.

Fresh banana to flour

AMS Employees Fresh Fruit Producers Cooperative (AMSEFFPCO), aside from producing fresh bananas for export, widens its business ventures to food-grade flour production to make the most of the huge market demand. It used to supply the Universal Food Corp (UFC) about 60 tons of food-grade flour from 2007 to 2009, and Anselma Ronquillo, AMSEFFPCO Chairperson, wishes such demand to come again as it means more business opportunities for the cooperative.

AMSEFFPCO is working to get a Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) certification as proof of assurance that the flour it is producing is safe for public consumption. AMSEFFPCO eyes not only big food companies but also supermarkets so it can widely sell its banana flour which bears the trade name, “Musa.”

While complying with the stringent standards of BFAD, Ronquillo takes comfort from the support given by OTOP cooperating agencies, particularly DTI and DOST, which have continually assisted AMSEFFPCO to improve its product as well as its labeling. The Department of Agriculture-Mindanao Rural Development Program (DA-MRDP) is also awarding it a solar dryer, worth P1.5 million.

When asked about banana chips production, however, Ronquillo referred to Aling Yeyeng, an AMSEFFPCO member who, Ronquillo said, got so serious of such venture.

Just a few kilometers from AMSEFFPCO farm is the house of Aurora Ganade, who in her 60s showed enthusiasm to go for the best in life. Ganade is popularly known in the neighborhood as Yeyeng.

Banana chipper

Aling Yeyeng narrated on having acquired a machine for banana chips production. She expressed gladness for the assistance from DOST, which helped her with product labeling as she showed us the list of her orders for Manila and for local cafeterias.

Though she has the same fate with AMSEFFPCO, as she needs to get the BFAD certification before she can commercially mass produce and sell in supermarkets her "Yeyeng Banana Chips," she said that she still wants to improve her life.

“Bisan ug tiguwang nako ma’am, gusto pa ko molambo akong kinabuhi (Though old, I still want to improve my life)," she said.

These are only few accounts on OTOP entrepreneurs, but it can be seen that these entrepreneurs bravely push for the improvement of their microenterprise. Their hearts are filled with hopes that their lives would get better as they continually upgrade their products. (RIGA/JDA, PIA 11)