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.”