Unwrapping the sweet success story of a mother turned entrepreneur from Occidental Mindoro

By DTI-Regional Operations Group
December 11, 2020

MAKATI CITY – While motherhood and running a business might be a ‘tight-rope walk’, Jerlie Daseco, owner of Triple P Food Products from the Municipality of Paluan in Occidental Mindoro, embraces both her vital roles.

Triple P Food Products’ flagship product is pastillas. A sweet milk-based confection made with carabao’s milk, pastillas is a popular pasalubong in the municipality of Paluan, as it is in any part of the country. The enterprise offers a variety of pastillas flavors, from purple yam (ube), jackfruit (langka), cheese, pandan, coconut, and chili, showing the diverse taste palette of Filipinos.

Occidental Mindoro is also home to cashew, expanding her product line to roasted and fried cashew nuts. More of Triple P’s products include, sampaloc candies, papaya relish (atsara), and honey.

With an initial capital of P1,500.00 just enough to produce and sell pastillas in their small community, backed by the owner’s passion to help her family, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) MIMAROPA’s support, the enterprise grew remarkably. From a monthly gross sale of P12,000.00, Triple P Food Products hit P200,000.00 to P300,000.00 gross sale per month. Furthermore, the enterprise was able to employ two full-time employees and 6 part-time employees.

Since DTI MIMAROPA’s interventions, Triple P Food Products has attended several free business development trainings and seminars, product packaging and label designs assistance through the Regional Integrated Product Development Assistance Project (RIPDA) under the One Town One Product (OTOP) Program, laboratory analysis support, and participation to numerous municipal, regional, and national trade fairs. Ms. Daseco is also a member of the Paluan Food Processors Association (PAFPA), cooperator of Milk Processing Shared Service Facility, and a beneficiary of the Livelihood Seeding Program – Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay (LSP-NSB), among others.

Triple P Food Products takes pride in helping their community, especially the indigenous peoples (IPs) and farmers, by buying their produce at fair prices.

DTI’s interventions helped Jerlie Daseco to reach out to more aspiring and existing Mompreneurs, having hired as one of the trainers of the Department on pastillas and cashew nut processing in the province. This stay-at-home mom turned entrepreneur is a perfect example of how one can ripple change to the community through entrepreneurship.

Triple P Food Products has also tapped the online market, enrolling their products to several digital platforms, as assisted by DTI. They supply their products to different stores in Occidental Mindoro and nearby provinces in the region. Likewise, their product distribution has extended to Manila, Batangas, and Tarlac, through retailers and distributors.