Anita Consuegra with her products

Waste disposal is a chronic problem in our society.  And most solutions have been to look for a wide area where to dump everybody’s garbage, not giving regard to the possible health hazards it may bring the populace in the area.  A modest citizen, in the persona of Anita Consuegra, took into her own hands, a solution, which bears both environmental and socio-economic yields.

“Anita”, as she is commonly called, is one of the loyal program members of KMBI in General Santos who is now benefiting from her 10th loan.  She started her business in November of 1997 by making envelopes and paper bags out of scrap materials.  Her primary markets then were the sari-sari stores in her neighborhood.  Through her loan at KMBI, she was able to expand her production and diversified into the manual fabrication of folders and different types of envelopes.  That is also when she began generating employment within the community.

Currently, Anita supplies folders, envelopes, and paper bags to Kristan Educational Supplies, one of the two leading office and school supply stores in General Santos.  In order to augment her earnings, most especially during times of low demand for paper supplies, Anita ventured also into sourcing out of scrap materials like plastics, empty gallons, containers, tin can labels, sacs, tuna cans, and cartons from big tuna factories in General Santos.

Meanwhile, scrap materials like cooking oil cartons are recycled into different shapes and sizes. Plastics, cellophanes, tin cans and various containers are also supplied to some of the big companies in Mindanao for recycling and other purposes.

She claims that it is all by God’s grace that the business has grown and there is just “no stopping” for her.  Within this year, Anita intends to buy a larger piece of land where she will have her storage warehouse constructed.  She also aims to purchase a six-wheeler truck that would ensure better delivery service to Davao and farther areas.