Women entrepreneurs of today

CEBU, Philippines - Gone were the days when men largely dominated business management and even employment opportunities. Today, reality would tell us that women these days have developed the strength and drive to become successful entrepreneurs.          

Many deprived women in the community hoped to find ways to improve their lives – and starting an enterprise is one great example. However, the lack of access to business skills, education, technology and the much needed startup capital have often prevented these women from pursuing their plans.

But three women entrepreneurs from Mandaue City have proven that, in some ways, it does not really require principles and theories to be a self-made entrepreneur.

Erlinda Ocifer, Flordelyn Patigayon and Mary Claire Abarquez have attested that hard work and sincere engagement with people in the society are two vital traits that would make people truly successful in business.

These three ladies are candidates for this year’s WINNERs (Women In Need, Now Entrepreneurs and Role Models), a search for outstanding female micro-entrepreneurs who are able to rise from poverty through their enterprises. The search is one of the highlights of the yearly Mandaue Business Month.

In an exclusive interview with The FREEMAN, the three Cebuana shared how they faced life’s challenges and slowly reached the dream of becoming the “boss” of their respective enterprises.

Hard work at a young age

Barangay Tipolo resident Ocifer, 44, experienced making money at a very early age through selling packed peanuts, green mangoes and santol in Cebu City’s Carbon Market where she personally learned how ordinary vendors survived amid life’s adversities.

“Bata pa lang gyod ko gitudlo-an na ko sa among papa unsa-on pagpangita og kwarta,” she said. She said their father did not send them to high school and college because he believed that they would just get married and become housewives.

“Ingon among papa, mas maayo kuno nga mag-negosyo na lang kay dako pa og kita,” she added. “Nisunod na lang mi sa iyang gusto pero wa man pud masayop among papa kay tinuod gyod nga ang negosyo usa pud ka paagi para molampos ka di lang ang edukasyon.”

At 17, she got married to a fast food worker, a fact that further pushed her to strive in selling whatever she could to support her growing family. Using the salary that her husband gave her, she decided to open a small sari-sari store in her house and sell ready-to-wear clothes to friends and neighbors.

Later on, her family moved to Quezon City in 1999 and stayed there for 10 years. She thought the family’s decision to continue the business in Manila would be as successful as it had been when they were still in Cebu.

The chaotic city life only exposed her family’s business to robbers and scammers that led her to bankruptcy. The situation prompted her to borrow from loan sharks or from foreign lenders known as the “Bombays”. When their place was destroyed by typhoon Ondoy, they then decided to return to Cebu to start anew.

Coming home to Mandaue City was an opportune time for her to pursue her childhood dream and passion to design clothes and gowns. Ocifer shared her obsession for fashion designing – learning how to weave and crochet -- started even when she was still young. She said her classmates desired her designs which she normally brought to school. It was then that she told herself that someday she would sell gowns and dresses.

She studied dressmaking at TESDA, and after finishing the course, she decided to open her own sewing services. Her shop Isheylindz Fashion which offers gowns and costumes for rent has allowed her to use her talent in having a successful enterprise.

“Dili gyod sayon ang pagdako (sa negosyo) kay daghan pud mga pagsuway,” she stated. “Pero kung di lang ka magpadaog ug moatubang sa mga problema, malabyan ra gyod nimo ning tanan ug molampos ka.”

Love and passion

Flordelyn Patigayon, a 43-year-old resident from the city’s barangay Canduman, came from a wealthy family in Bukidnon in Mindanao. She decided to leave her hometown and came to Cebu to finish high school in Mandaue where she met Jose Nelson who later on became her partner.

Knowing the low social status of Nelson, Patigayon’s parents strongly opposed their relationship and never gave them any support. She eventually realized that she had to earn money to support her family. “Naninguha ko pinaagi sa pagpamaligya og banana cue, mga utanon ug biko sa among barangay. Isuroy gyod to nako kada adlaw aron lang makakwarta.”

The love and passion of Patigayon for orchids and ornamentals made her an extraordinary entrepreneur. Her selling of orchids to barangay residents and visitors generated good revenues which helped build her six-year-old company, the Babel Landscape and Maintenance Services.

Patigayon shared  that Chairman Mariquita Salimbagon-Yeung of MSY Holdings is one of the people who helped her business become successful. “Nipalit ni siya og orchids nako worth P250, 000 ug nagka-ila mi with the help sa usa ka doctor dinhi sa Cebu,” she said, adding that wives of seafarers and foreigners have also contributed good revenues to her enterprise.

To keep the customers’ loyalty, she made sure that the prices of her products and services are reasonable. Her company earns P61,000 or more every month; her landscaping services already served Manila Memorial Park in Liloan, Deca Homes, Maria Luisa, Green Hills Subdivision, among others.

Entrepreneurial spirit

Cebuana Mary Claire Abarquez from Barangay Guizo of Mandaue is a self-acclaimed natural entrepreneur. The 30-year-old businesswoman recalled the time when she and her family would go to the public market to sell plastic bags, spices and occasionally kitchenware.

Despite the low profit, the family was able to make ends meet. When she was in high school, Abarquez would go around her school to sell any food to students and teachers. She believed that she had to help her parents and her other nine siblings.

She used to work as barangay secretary and engage in direct selling which gave her the chance to mingle with other people. Later on, she decided to invest on a sari-sari store to generate a steady income for her family. She spent a capital of P50, 000 to start her business of selling rice and corn and general merchandise.

When asked about guiding values, hard work, patience and faith have always topped her vocabulary. Abarquez says dreaming big is always free, a reason why she now plans to build another store in Mandaue City to also create jobs for other people. 

The stories of these Cebuano businesswomen prove that women play a vital role in the society’s economy. For the last decades, women entrepreneurship has been considered as untapped source of economic growth.

The existence of market failure discriminates the possibility that females could become successful in the world of business. However, the truth is that women entrepreneurs play an important role in the entrepreneurial economy in creating jobs for themselves and also for others.  (FREEMAN)