Local livelihood project makes P1-M sales
WHEN TONG-ITS PLAYERS TURN BANGUS PROCESSORS
WHEN others could have easily given up on the first sign of organizational problems, the tenacity and determination of a grandmother to succeed in her first business with her neighbors made the difference.
From a start-up capital of P15 each from its 15 original members, this group of women led by Milagros Buenafe, 69, president of the Binmaley (Pangasinan) Rural Improvement Club Seafood Products, established in 1989, the venture finally registered P1 million in sales last year.
Buenafe told The PUNCH during the Rimat Ti Amianan (Brilliance of the North) trade fair at the CSI Atrium here on Nov. 7, that she originally hoped their livelihood project would encourage her fellow mothers to be productive, instead of whiling away their time playing tong-its, a card game.
She recalled that they started operating the bangus processing business under a mango tree at her residence in Barangay Buenlag, Binmaley and sold their deboned bangus (milkfish) where they could.
With zero capital, they could only depend on their daily sales to keep the business going. But as in most businesses, the problem of cash flow and diminishing sales remittances of her partners plagued their operations.
Disappointed, she did not lose hope, reorganized her group and attended seminars and managed to avail of a part of a loan extended to the wife of the town’s late mayor by the provincial government.
She and her group initially tried to venture in garments but soon moved to fish processing, her original core business.
The break came when the regional office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Science and Technology came around to extend both material and fund assistance and opportunities for training.
Joining trade fairs not only in Pangasinan but also as far as Manila proved fruitful. They won more clientele and today, their products are sold in Palawan, Tuguegarao, Laguna, Antipolo, in the cities of Makati, Mandaluyong and Baguio as well.
“We are happy we prospered. We had P1-millon sales last year,” Buenafe said.
Their products include marinated bangus, shanghai bangus, rellenong bangus, smoked bangus, bangus tocino, bangus longanisa, bangus siomai, bangus sisig and chicharong bangus made from bangus skin and bottled bangus sardines.
Buenafe also proudly described how they have succeeded giving back to the community and do reach-out projects with the youth through employment and training.
“I have reached my goal,“ she said as she pointed out that her partners no longer play tong-its because their economic status in life has improved.
“It was not mere luck or by chance that we succeeded. We really gave our best and used our failures to succeed,” she added. Indeed, hard work and determination made her business group become the envy of many. (Tita Roces)
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