Your income will be based on how you used your capital

“Spend the money from your loan program as your capital for your business.” This is an advice from Mr. Leonardo G. Patingga, one of the successful clients of KASAPI Microfinance Rural and Development, Inc. (KMRDI). He is a 56 year old resident of Pinopoc, Alcala, Cagayan; a good father for his family and a good member of the community who is just not working hard but also working smart. His story will set an inspiration for the Filipinos on how to start and manage a business. 

His knowledge in business enhanced when his family lived in Manila. He started a small business in Divisoria with the help of his Chinese wife. His business operated for three years; unfortunately, there were many competitors in the said place and experienced many crises that led them to go back in Cagayan. For Mr. Leonardo, this decision wasn’t intended to give up; but the decision to stand-up, continue and start again. 

Mr. Leonardo met KASAPI Microfinance when they went back to Cagayan. KMRDI introduced loan programs to him and made him convinced to undergo loan program and decided to form his group going back to 2014. From his first loan program cycle, he continued his program until his business became stable. He reached nine loan cycle of his program with his group. Being on a loan program, he also managed to help and to share his knowledge to other clients in handling capital for business. There were times that his group mates stopped the loan cycle but he stayed in the program and continued to help other clients. 

“Your income will be based on how you used your capital.” Mr. Leonardo added. He is a farmer in vegetable crops such as eggplant and corn. His harvests are being sold in their community. But he did not just stick in farming; instead he also spends his time in livestock. He used the money from his loan program for his piggery and for his crops in his farm.  

Mr. Leonardo enumerated some reasons why he stayed in KASAPI Microfinance loan program. He said that KASAPI employees have a good approach to their clients that also help his business to become long term. Sometimes we can’t get away with problems in business such as calamities like typhoon, also there were times we lack in capital. Based on him, KASAPI has fast loan process that helped him in this kind of situations. He experienced another obstacle in life when his wife died last December, 2017. But KASAPI is currently doing its action to help him for the loss of his wife. He added that these benefits from KASAPI will be a big assistance for him.  

“Love your family because you get strength from them.” This is one of the principles that Mr. Leonardo believes. Through his business with the help of KASAPI, he provides education for his child which is currently studying as Senior High School. He also believes that working hard and smart are the attitude you need to possess to become successful despite of obstacles in life. He added that when you abandon your plans in life, you will also be left behind. 

The story of Mr. Leonardo G. Patingga proves that managing business and handling capital is not easy. But because of the principles he has, attitude that he keeps and with KASAPI’s help and guidance, success is not distant to reach. 
 

Turning dreams to reality

51-year old Demetria Mejia from Dagupan, a wife, a mother of five children, was once a baranggay health worker. With little compensation she receives monthly, she has decided to put up a small sari-sari store and applied a loan in KASAPI Microfinance. She currently has 24 cycles with P19,000 savings.  

“Maliit lang sinasahod ko n’on sa center bilang health worker tapos ang asawa ko naman hindi rin ganoon kalaki ang sweldo n’ong nagtatrabaho pa siya, kaya hirap din kaming pagkasyahin ang sweldo namin sa aming pang-araw araw na gastusin”. Their 5 children are all studying in which they need a stable source of income to provide their daily needs in school. She has decided to put a sari-sari store to get an enough resource for her children’s needs.

With her willpower to achieve sustainable income, she wisely handles her finances and sees to it that there is equally-sufficient budget for her business and her family’s needs. “Tamang diskarte ang kailangan para umangat ang buhay.”, says Mrs. Mejia. In her second cycle, she was able to maintain her business with the starting capital. She was able to put up a dirty kitchen for their house from the returns of her business. In the following cycles, she utilized the profit for expanding her business and purchased a refrigerator in storing frozen good, soft drinks, and additional grocery items and also bought set of computers for PisoNet. As her business progresses, she always looks back to her humble beginnings and is always open-handed to her neighbors who are in need.

She has dreamed to give her family a sustainable and comfortable living and now, little by little, she is turning this dream into reality. Now, she is continuously achieving her aspirations for her family and small business with the assistance of KASAPI. “Malaking bagay ang KASAPI para sa kinabukasan ng aming pamilya. Sa sipag, tiyaga, diskarte, at kanilang tulong, unti-unting guminhawa ang aming buhay.” added Mrs. Mejia.

Strengthened by experience

Having been wrought by the challenges of life, Antonio Santos, a 56-year-old sari-sari store owner from San Isidro, San Fernando City, Pampanga expresses how he was able to surpass the challenges of life in making a great decision to put up a business that will sustain the necessities of their everyday living.

“Since I was a child, I have learned to wisely handle my finances.” says Mang Antonio while looking back on his adolescence. A story of triumph over life’s inevitable hurdles, he reminisced how he cope with the consecutive demise of his parents. He was compelled to raise the family despite being the youngest among his eight siblings. He was able to simultaneously manage his studies and provide to the needs of the family. From the stint of his youth, he sells balot and junk foods at night and works as a house helper to get extra income for their everyday expenses. He also worked a student assistant to support his expenses in school. With sheer determination and hard work, he was able to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce.

He had learned the value of monetary resources through his remarkable experiences. Along the encounters, Mang Antonio had the urge to build a business in the front of their house from where he allots the capital he earns from working in an office. After getting married, Mang Antonio, as the breadwinner, came to see the growing needs of his own family. He decided to change careers and extend the income by expanding his business.

With great fortitude to provide his family a comfortable living, he joined at the Pangkabuhayan Loan Program of KASAPI where he availed an initial loan of P 5, 000 and allocated it in buying more products for his sari-sari store.

“I used to buy retailed products every week but when I was able to release my loan with KASAPI, I am now capable of buying more products per boxes every month that has really lessened my expenses in transportation as well as my convenience and time.”

From his initial loan of P 5, 000 with only two years of consecutively being a good payer, he is now availing P 17, 000 with a total P 10, 000 savings. He was also able to build another store and a storage room for his other products.

With his perseverance and knowledge in the business, Mang Antonio is optimistic that the fruits of his success will continue to grow abundantly as he wisely manages his trade with the assistance of KASAPI. He shows how the obstacles in life teach us to be wiser, stronger and more capable of handling situations for the sake o. Indeed he represents a model of unyielding strength that has taught him to defy inevitable circumstances of life. It truly states “Experiences are best teachers.”