At eighteen years outdated Catalina married her childhood sweetheart Edwin with nothing however love in her coronary heart and steadfast hope for his or her future. Right now, she is the proud proprietor of “Chickenjoy,” probably the most well-known fried rooster meals cart enterprise in her hometown of Sibunga, a municipality within the province of Cebu, Philippines, a model identify cheekily adopted from the trademark dish a nationwide quick meals chain.
Once they began life collectively, Catalina and Edwin tried their luck promoting fruit and veggies. Sadly, the revenue from this microenterprise was not sufficient to assist their younger household. They determined to maneuver to the capital Manila, hoping to earn extra however quickly realized that life was not simple for individuals who didn’t end formal schooling. Catalina stopped going to highschool after her 3rd 12 months in highschool and Edwin solely attended one 12 months of school.
They determined to maneuver again to house and began promoting popcorn, ice cream and juice within the cities of Sibunga and Carcar. In addition they bought toys throughout city fiestas. Steep competitors pressured Catalina and Edwin needed to work further laborious, cooking and packing the popcorn and making the ice cream at evening in order that they may begin promoting early the next day. Their consideration to delivering the very best quality earned them a repute available in the market. Finally they have been promoting 450 to 500 cups of ice cream a day at PHP3.00 per cup, sufficient for a gentle revenue to assist their household. Not one to relaxation on her laurels, Catalina quickly turned her consideration to increasing her product stock to incorporate peanuts, juice and extra importantly, fried rooster. Her secret weapon? A recipe handed on to her by her father-in-law, one he realized from the kitchens of a Chinese language household he labored for years in the past.
In September 2006, Catalina heard about Negros Girls for Tomorrow Basis’s (NWTF) Venture Dungganon and realized how being a member may assist her increase her enterprise. She joined and used her first mortgage of PHP 3,000 so as to add to the revolving capital of her popcorn and ice cream enterprise, enabling her to promote extra and enhance her day by day revenue. By 2009, Catalina was assured of each her entrepreneurial expertise and the sustainability of her current enterprise to increase into the fried rooster enterprise she had all the time dreamed about. The scrumptious, crispy fried rooster was an prompt hit and she or he bought 10 kilos a day when beginning out.
Now Catalina sells a mean of 35 kilos per day and employs seven distributors who promote her merchandise across the neighboring cities in bicycle-powered carts. She has additionally added two tricycles to her fleet of meals carts in order that she may promote her merchandise farther afield. Catalina is an knowledgeable businesswoman. She is meticulous and arranged in sustaining stock ranges whereas conserving a strict high quality commonplace for all her merchandise. She makes certain that 20% of her revenue is reinvested again to the enterprise to maintain development.
Catalina additionally believes in giving again. She is all the time beneficiant in donating to the church particularly throughout fiestas, and is all the time prepared to assist her neighbors of their time of want. She shares her blessings as a result of she believes that having a very good enterprise shouldn’t solely assist her household – it also needs to enable her to assist others as effectively. She acquired a bit assist from Venture Dungganon with the intention to obtain her goals—why can’t she give others the identical likelihood?
