Peanut Butter Getting Better

Couples Ronald Rodriguez, 35, and Lolita, 43, got into the peanut butter making business by chance. Lolita attended a production demonstration workshop held locally and that gave the initial push to venture into a new project. The couple have been into a variety of small income-generating activities to support a growing family of three children. From selling charcoal to kakanin, a revolving capital of P5,000 would earn for the couple a net earning of P1,000 weekly. To augment this meager earning, a daily revolving capital of P300 for breakfast food would yield another P120 daily for the family.

For the new project, Lolita borrowed P7,000 from DIMASAFI. With a peanut grinder equipment acquired from family savings, initial production last October was at 150 bottles which sold at P70 per 420-ml. bottle. Ronald says that they would make a P22 net profit from each bottle sold which translates into an additional P3,300 income. Finding an expanding market for their home-made peanut butter, the couple produced 250 bottles for November. Production quantity is basically determined from orders being placed.

At the moment, the equipment operates at barely half the capacity. But even with its present level of production, additional income generated from the new venture already affords the family more economic stability than before. They are also able to infuse capital from their earnings for buying and selling a few heads of hog.

The couple is only thankful to the microfinance program for providing easy access to affordable capital for their budding enterprise. The program is a quantum improvement over the “five-six” loan scheme which they used to avail before due to difficulty sourcing out needed capital for their livelihood.

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Egg -Layer Lays Additional Income

Joselito Salem, 34, is a casual government nursery worker earning only P175 a day. Married to Lilibeth, 27, and with 11/2-year-old son, making ends meet is a pressing challenge. Lilibeth helps out in a day care center and contributes about P2,000 to the family income.

Joselito obtained a loan of P5,000 last October from SPACFI for additional acquisition of egg-layers. He now has 100 heads on which he invested P25,000 including the chicken coop. From the egg-layer venture, Joselito earns an additional P130 a day, net of expenses, which does not really take much of his time.

Availability of microfinance has helped generate additional income for Joselito and Lilibeth, who would have depended only on Joselito’s meager take home pay from the government.

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Cooking up Profit for an Eatery

Josebel Bardo, 29, single, runs an eatery located in Vinzons market. The eatery used to belong to a cousin but after quitting during her first year in college, Josebel decided to come home from Manila to run her own business. She has been running the business for nine years and has then been expanding her operation.
She is a client of Countryside Multi-line Cooperative (CMC) for three years now. From an initial loan of P10,000 when she first began with CMC, the cooperative extended a loan of P25,000 until recently. With bigger capital, Josebel earns a net income of P700 a day. The business is big and profitable enough for her to hire two workers.

What attracts her to the microfinance service is its low interest; she pays P250 per day for the borrowed capital for six months. With a stable base of customers (suki ) from among students and government employees, she is confident of recovering her investment. Josebel also availed of a housing loan of P30,000 from CMC—a clear indication of how microfinance has helped expand her business generating additional income for the improvement of their living conditions.

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Market! Public Market

Mang Pedro Belando, 50 and wife Evelyn, also 50, have a small stall in Talisay Public Market where they sell vegetables. They are microfinance clients of CMC. Like, Ailene Buenvenida, they used to borrow from “bombays” for lack of access to loans. They started with P10,000 loan which they pay at P102 a day for 123 days.

The small vegetable buy and sell business earns for them P250 a day, already deducted from it what goes to their loan. Compared to the 45 days repayment period of the “five-six” scheme, CMC’s repayment schedule and low interest allows for growth of the micro-enterprise. Mang Pedro augments his income with rice produce from his small farm. With two grown-up children who already have their own respective families, Mang Pedro and Manang Evelyn practically make a living for themselves. On occasions, their children would ask for financial help. With an average of P5,000 savings at the end of the year, the couple would have enough resource for modest celebrations or acquisition of simple home appliances.

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What’s in Store for This Sari-sari Store?

With an estimated inventory of at least P50,000, there is plenty to buy in Ailene Buenvenida’s sari-sari store. Starting with a capital of a few thousand pesos, the store grew in size within five years thanks to CMC’s microfinance service. Ailene, 29, and her husband Fernando availed of microfinance from CMC for two years now. Starting with an initial loan of P10,000, CMC extended a loan of P30,000 for the couple’s fourth loan cycle.

The ease with which they were able to secure additional capital can only be matched by the difficulties they went through when their main source of capital used to be loans from the notorious “five-six” scheme. The present situation under CMC auspices provides great convenience to the husband and wife team in paying back their loan, thanks to the low interest they pay. From the store, Ailene and Fernando can now make a net earning of P500 to P700 a day, in addition to which is income from Fernando’s family’s fishpond. With 4 children to support of ages ranging from 9 to 4, continued growth of the store is the only viable option. Ailene looks forward to her fifth cycle loan which will begin in December after her last amortization is paid.

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