Entrep Stories

PWD: Perservering with Determination

Maxima Calud

Business Location:

North Cotabato

Business:

Sari-Sari Store and Hanging Nets

As the adage goes, “disability does not equal inability.” This is what the story of Maxima Calud from Kabacan, North Cotabato, wants to tell us. Despite her blindness, Maxima makes and sells hanging nets to make ends meet. Her husband, Joaquin Calud, serves as her eyes and helped her establish their own Sari-Sari store.

Because of her disability, Maxima is often shut out of basic livelihood opportunities. She related that some lending institutions are doubtful of her ability to generate enough income to pay off her loan. But with KMBI, her disability did not hinder her chance of getting additional capital. She used the loan she got from KMBI to expand her business.

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Plowing through Progress

Eldy Tutor

Business Location:

Sarangani

Business:

Ginger

A better life is inclusive. For someone like Eldy Tutor, wishing for personal progress can be something more. She desires for her community to progress with her.

A 44-year-old businesswoman from Maasim, Saranggani Province, Eldy started ginger cultivation with her husband using their 1-hectare land. Their first marketing move was to look for volume buyers from nearby towns and provinces. They borrowed two sacks of ginger from a farmer who agreed to have him paid after they sold it.

Convinced of the great potential of ginger, the farmers soon moved from corn to ginger production. Eldy supported their transition by giving them the capital needed to tend their lands. She never imposed interests on the money she was lending them. She also lent fertilizers and even opened their credit line from her sari-sari store.

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Working Hands to Success

Marisa Ganding

Business Location:

General Santos City

Service:

Massage Suites and Wellness Center

This 2018 Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards (CMA) recognized KMBI Program Member, Marisa Ganding, as the Special Awardee for Start-up Microbusiness. She runs a spa and wellness center with three branches in Mindanao.

Marisa started out as a masseuse in General Santos City, earning PhP 50.00 per massage with a maximum of 5 clients a day. She had worked like this for a decade, and decided to move to a medical spa where she realized that the time was ripe for starting a business.

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Trip Down the Aisle

Heidi Alimios

Business Location:

Calinan, Davao City

Product:

Gown Rentals

For Heidi Alimios, this is the average budget she had to work with when she started out her wedding planning business 6 years ago.

“When I first started my business, I had to rent to my client the gown I used during my wedding,”

she said, as she reminisce the old days with a smile. Heidi would often find creative ways to find solutions to her client’s needs as she struggled to carve a name for herself in Calinan, Davao City.

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