MANY Filipinos think that a good future lies overseas. And Floraiwin “Bing” Cainglet, of the town of Leon, Iloilo, thought so, too — at first. But in 2000, Bing asked her husband, Romel, to come home after he had fulfilled two work contracts as a seaman.
National winner for 2012 Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards Floraiwin Cainglet with Citi Country Officer for the Philippines Batara Sianturi.
“Mahirap pag wala siya. Gusto ko magkakasama kami [It was hard without him. I wanted us all to be together],” says Bing.
While others might regard Bing’s decision as a bad move, in hindsight it was actually her first step toward ensuring a better life for her family.
This is because 12 years later, in 2012, Bing would be declared as the National Winner at the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards for having successfully expanded a backyard two-piglet piggery into a P2.5-million livestock enterprise using innovative technologies that her husband designed.
Launched in 2002, the annual Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards program aims to increase public awareness for microfinance by recognizing outstanding entrepreneurs with assets of P3 million or less, who have achieved remarkable growth as indicated by employment generation, profits and sales turnover as well as contributed to community development. Funded by Citi Foundation, this nationwide search is a partnership among the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Citi Philippines, and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc.
How Bing, now 39, managed this feat is a testament to her hard work, persistence, entrepreneurial spirit, and, most important, innovation and creativity in the face of challenges. But that, as people say, is getting ahead of our story.
After her husband’s return to Iloilo, the family subsisted on Bing’s income from selling puto (rice cake) cheese and Romel’s earnings as a tricycle driver. In those early years, life was hard, but the family was happy and content, especially since the couple was blessed with two children.
In 2004, Bing’s puto cheese business was coming up against more competitors, so she thought of going into hog-raising instead. With a starting capital of P2,000, Bing, with her husband’s support, bought two piglets.
After the piglets had matured and delivered their litter, most of the piglets were sold. “Pero yung iba ginawa ko ring breeders para dumami ang stock [But I kept some as breeders to increase the stock],” says Bing.
After the piglets had matured and delivered their litter, most of the piglets were sold.
With little industry knowledge and an even smaller capital, it was an inauspicious start for the young entrepreneur. “Bina-budget ko talaga ang pera namin noon [I really budgeted our money],” says Bing. “Bumibili kami ng damit sa ukay-ukay at yung pagkain budgeted din — isda, gulay — pero di naman nagkukulang. Para mapalago ang negosyo [We bought secondhand clothes and food, though there was always enough, was often fish and vegetables. We did everything possible to make the business grow].”
Bing recalled a particularly difficult time when the pigs were getting sick and dying by the day.
Fortunately, a favorable development renewed her hope: Valiant Rural Bank agreed to help finance the microenterprise. “Nagpapasalamat ako sa Valiant kasi sila lang ang nagtiwala sa akin [I am grateful to Valiant for trusting me when others would not],” says Bing.
An initial bank loan of P50,000 in 2009 was used partly to purchase stock animal feed. The rest Bing used to fund research and development on innovations that would make the piggery more productive and cost-efficient.
Instead of getting outside experts, however, Bing encouraged her husband, an electrical engineering graduate, to apply his technical know-how and innovative mind to design farm equipment using recycled materials.
What Romel developed included an automatic swine feeder that fed all the hogs simultaneously and a sow-piglet separator that prevented the litter from being crushed to death under their mother’s weight.
He also invented a multi-power water pump, and converted the pigs’ wastes into biogas to reduce LPG expenses.
All of these homegrown innovations helped to significantly cut overheads, reduce the mortality rate, and increase operational efficiency, finally enabling Bing to expand the microenterprise.
Today, the piggery boasts 60 piglets and 70 fattening hogs. Bing has also diversified into quail egg production, harvesting an average of P3,000 worth of eggs daily.
Needless to say, the family is now much more comfortable financially than when Romel used to work as a seafarer sending a few thousand pesos a month to his wife.
The farm can provide as much as P150,000 a month in revenue, or almost P2 million a year.
The bulk of earnings, said Bing, comes from the piggery, which yields about P125,000 each month. But the quail egg sideline isn’t chicken feed either, adding about P27,000 per month to the total income.
When Bing won the top prize at the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards last year, she received P200,000 in cash, health and life insurance, and a business management training course.
What did she do with the cash prize? Apart from investing the money back into the farm, Bing said the first thing she did was buy Christmas dresses for the young children who attend her informal day care (she and her firstborn, daughter Pymy, 14, take turns teaching the youngsters the alphabet, drawing, and other basic academic skills) and the family’s weekly feeding program. She said these outreach activities are their way of giving back to the community and the Lord.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, she advises: “Tutukan nila ang negosyo nila. Talagang dapat hands-on at huwag iaasa sa iba. Dapat din marunong makisama sa tao, lalo na ang mga katulong sa negosyo. At tingnan ang maitutulong ng microfinance. Witness ako kung paano ito nakakatulong sa negosyo [They should focus on their business, be hands-on, and avoid depending on others. They should also learn how to handle people, especially those who help them grow their business. Consider also microfinancing. I am a witness to how it can benefit one’s business].”
(From Business World Online)