FROM THE MARGINS
Yesterday, we celebrated Fathers’ Day to honor our fathers or father figures, grandfathers, uncles, mentors or community leaders who have provided or are providing paternal guidance and making a positive impact in our lives. I thank my wife, children, grandchildren, friends, and colleagues for their gifts and greetings! I have many titles, but “Daddy” and “Lolo” will always be my favorites.
Let me greet my friends in the microfinance industry “Happy Fathers’ Day,” especially all hardworking “Tatays” who struggle to ensure a better life for their families. You are my inspiration!
Most microfinance clients are women, but we also have male clients – husbands invited by their wives and men who join microfinance institutions (MFIs) after seeing the positive impact of microfinance in their communities. A prime example is 61-year-old Teodoro Ganancial, Jr., from Jordan, Guimaras, who joined an MFI and ran a successful business with his wife, Fenina. I remember them because their family’s story is very inspiring.
Mango magic
Teodoro used to work as an inter-island vessel seaman and dreamt of working abroad. His overseas application, unfortunately, was unsuccessful. Luckily, Fenina was able to work as a helper in the Trappist monastery, where she learned polvoron-making and other recipes. Teodoro returned to Guimaras and convinced his wife to establish their own business. With ₱5,000 initial capital from their savings and a little borrowed amount from their son, they began producing banana fries, yema, polvoron, and mango sweets in May 2002. They were able to sell these at the popular Trappist monastery gift and souvenir shop in Guimaras.
Attending trade fairs inspired Teodoro’s entrepreneurial spirit. He sought the support of DTI and DOST, and worked with his wife in developing different food products with mango as primary ingredient. They sold dried mangoes and mango-flavored piaya, biscocho, tart, scotch bars, butterscotch, serafina, otap, barquiron, barquillos, pudding candy, pastillas, and cookies. They also sold pinasugbo, oatmeal cookies, banana chips, and cashew nuts.
In 2018, Teodoro and Fenina decided to join our MFI and secured an initial loan of ₱5,000 as additional capital. Because of their excellent repayment record, they were able to borrow bigger amounts, which helped them grow their business.
Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic created havoc on their business. They incurred an income loss of 80 percent. Despite this, they still chose to help others at that time. Teodoro shared that rather than letting their food products expire, they distributed these to medical frontliners and community workers. They gave to their employees the raw materials that they cannot return to their suppliers. They produced and sold bread as a secondary source of income, providing free delivery throughout the San Miguel area. They got a few orders from the community, just enough to cover their daily needs.
Dedication and hard work helped them survive, says Teodoro. When the quarantine restrictions eased up in 2021, they borrowed ₱25,000 from the MFI to resume their business. They were able to repay this and in 2022, they borrowed ₱100,000 to increase production. After repayment, they again borrowed ₱100,000 in 2023 for business expansion. They paid this loan just recently.
Going digital
Teodoro says digitalization has helped their business. They use their Facebook page, Boboy's Delicacies, to market products online. Their customers use GCash and online banking to make payments, as well as the konek2CARD mobile app. He reported a 30 to 50 percent increase in clients and a 50 to 60 percent increase in income from using these digital platforms. Their business now has more than ₱2.6 million in assets, with about ₱1 million annual revenues.
Aside from digital platforms, their goods are also sold at trade fairs, the Buenavista Pasalubong Center, the fruit booths in Guimaras, all Pitstop locations, and at the Iloilo Airport. They employ 10 people, three of which are graduating students. Teodoro is like a father figure to these employees, as he provides them with things they need in school, such as laptops, as a way of paying it forward.
Microfinance fathers
Let me end this article by greeting my fellow-fathers in the microfinance industry. They are model “family men,” with their partners and children as the center of their lives. They also serve as father figures to their younger colleagues and to our clients. I am proud to call all of them friends.
Greetings also to the “Father of Microfinance,” Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Laureate and founder of Grameen Bank. The Yunus Center is organizing the 14th Social Business Day – an annual global gathering to celebrate the accumulated experiences of social business leaders and entrepreneurs spearheading our path to a just sustainable future. I look forward to attending this momentous event sometime in June.
Again, Happy Fathers’ Day to all fathers and everyone who embraces the spirit of fatherhood!
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“A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.” – Unknown
(Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip is a poverty eradication advocate. He is the founder of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually-Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI).)