A woman,
together with her husband, Mario, once started a bakeshop in their
barangay in 2009. Both did not have the know-how in business. Her
husband was a construction worker who lost his job while she was a
plain house wife.
Their business started to flourish; they hired a baker and 3-5 more to
help in the operations. The bakeshop was then registered in DTI and
in the municipality Alvin’s Bakeshop. Their main target market are
the people in the public markets as they also recognized that they
sell more in the “tabo-tabo”. Tabo is a traditional way of trading
and barter of goods such as root crops, vegetables, meat, poultry,
kakanin, rice, clothes and other items.
Their top selling product
among others was the snack-bite miki bread, these are mini milky
bread sticks in small packs – a healthy substitute for chips. They
were known for this plus other cookies and hard bread such as roscas
and galletas.
They were identified by
DTI as an assisted MSME and various interventions through trainings
were received by Ms. Ida. She was also a graduate of the Kapatid
Mentor Me Program in 2017.
“Malaki po ang naitulong
sa akin gng mga training and seminar ng DTI kasi natuto po ako
magnegosyo ng tama at lalo na paano dumiskarte,” says Ida.
The business was growing,
it sustained their daily living, supported the studies of their
children. Not long, this business resulted to Ida’s sari-sari store.
Her sari-sari store became one of their sources as well for living.
Located at home with their bakeshop, the sari-sari store has almost
everything needed by the nearby households.
When this pandemic
happened, their bakeshop reduced their operations. Their employees
stopped from working, they were not allowed to sell in the market
since tabo-tabo is prohibited because it draws crowed in the market.
What was left of them was their sari-sari store.
She then realized that
this sari-sari store has every essential item that a person would
need. She thought, this could help them survive the pandemic.
True enough, the sari-sari
store was frequently visited by their kapitbahays. People run to
their store for every little cooking ingredient and personal
essentials. They got very engaged with the sari-sari store; however,
they needed help in sustaining its supplies and to recover from the
setback they have experienced. A much needed capital for the goods
is necessary.
She envisions it to expand
by being helped by government agencies that is why when she heard
that she is one of the beneficiaries of the Negosyo Serbisyo sa
Barangay- Livelihood Seeding Program to be granted with a Sari-sari
Store Restarter Kit, she cannot help but be thankful that DTI once
again is there to help her in the recovery of her business.