GO NEGOSYO team
Philippine Star

Cecilia Cañalita knows from experience how harsh life can be. With the death of her mother at an early age and with eight other siblings, young Cecilia worked in the farm and sold goods at the market.

When she had her own family, Cecilia’s husband opted for early retirement because he was too weak to work after undergoing major surgery. Their hospital bills reached P137,000. They survived by borrowing money from relatives and neighbors.

Although 50-year-old Cecilia never finished her degree in chemical engineering, she was knowledgeable about weaning and raising piglets.

The key to raising piglets, she said, is to keep the piglet warm using a lamp when taken away from its mother. Heat from the lamp makes the piglet’s body more resistant to cold or any form of infection.

With the effective knowledge and skills, sufficient water supply and a starting capital provided by the Cebu Micro-Enterprise Development Foundation, Inc., Cecilia turned backyard hog-raising into a very profitable business.

With her success, Cecilia also started lending capital to her neighbors for raising piglets. She aims to meet the high demand for pork in the markets of Naga and Talisay City, especially during the Christmas season.

Cecilia’s merchandise store started out as a small sari-sari store beside their nipa hut. With the profits from her hog-raising business, she slowly added more merchandise. Cecilia’s neighbors are regular customers because her store sells goods at prices lower than other stores in their community. Today, the sari-sari store beside the nipa hut is now a merchandise store that stands beside a concrete house.

Looking back, Cecilia says she lived on the foundations of hard work and strong faith to carry her through those trying times. “Ang kakugi, duna jud kay ma-ani. Naanad man mi og kakugi aron mabuhi (If you work hard, you will earn. We survived because of hard work,)” she said.

As her way of showing gratitude, Cecilia holds a banquet every December at her home where all relatives and neighbors are invited. She says her business continues to thrive because she maintains good relations with clients and understands them when they are unable to pay.

These days, Cecilia divides her time between duties as a mother, wife, entrepreneur and public servant as the first councilwoman of Ilaya.

Keeping the vows

Imelda Alinsonorin is more than lucky to have a supportive husband by her side in the most trying times of her life. Discipline and earnest resolve in making a living not only kept their marriage intact but also put their lives in order.

Currently, her business endeavors – the cull chicken business and the general merchandise store – are both doing well and have, in fact, enabled them to stay together and not have to work abroad and leave their children behind.

Imelda believes that her main measure of success is being able to provide for their four children, three of whom are in school (her eldest is in college). Still, there are more years of work ahead, as her youngest has yet to reach proper schooling age. But this only inspires her to work harder.

If her past is any indication, it is that she is relentless in achieving her goals. There is nothing that would make her give up on her dreams.

Imelda was only 22 years old when she left her strife-torn hometown of Catbalogan in Western Samar and moved to Cebu. She stayed with her relatives and worked as a dressmaker for a clothing company, earning P10 for every pair of short pants she made. Imelda considered her first job literally “back-breaking,” having to finish more than 100 pairs every day to meet her needs. It was during this time when she met her husband, Aurelio.

When they got married, her husband worked as a laborer while she sold food items and general merchandise in the neighborhood to further augment their incomes.

Their big break came after her husband quit his job and decided to work in a poultry farm in his hometown in Pangdan, Naga. This incident turned out to be their window of opportunity for the cull chicken business. They bought live cull chicken from the poultry where he was working and sold them to retailers and direct customers, slowly learning the ropes of the business.

As business progressed, there came opportunities for expansion, but Imelda had to borrow capital from the Cebu Micro Enterprise Development Foundation Inc. (CMEDFI). She made sure to properly pay her dues on time. Currently, she avails herself of minimal loans, having learned discipline in handling finances.

Imelda believes that hard work and perseverance make any endeavor successful. She also acknowledges how having a business has changed their lives and made her relationship with her husband more fulfilling, as they have become partners not only in marriage but also in business.

Cecilia and Imelda will be two of the Most Inspiring Cebuano Micro Entrepreneurs to be honored on June 20 at the Go Negosyo sa Cebu, the latest leg of the continuing Go Negosyo campaign spearheaded by Presidential Consultant for Entrepreneurship Jose Concepcion III, at the Cebu International Convention Center.

Go Negosyo 2 is presented by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship in partnership with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Edward Gaisano, Cebu Go Negosyo chairman Jay Aldeguer, and Cebu Business Month 2008 chairman Tess Chan.

Go Negosyo sa Cebu will also be graced by Presidential Management Staff Director General Cerge Remonde, who heads the Inter-agency Committee helping the Micro SMEs. Member agencies will be present to reach out to the participants.

The Micro Finance Council of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Citigroup, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc., Cebu Micro Entrepreneur Development Foundation Inc., and Taytay sa Kauswagan Inc. endorsed the awardees.

Go Negosyo sa Cebu is also made possible with partners PLDT SME Nation, Smart Communications, RFM Corp., San Miguel Corp., Condura, Ariel Detergents, Nokia, Splash Group of Companies, Banco de Oro, Vintel Logistics, Sterling Group of Companies, Lamoiyan Corp., and President Social Fund.