Success in the Souvenir Industry

Mr. Jonathan Jay Aldeguer, like many tourists, had a natural compulsion to buy souvenirs.

It was on one of his travels that his entrepreneurial eye spotted its universality and huge potential for a new bsuiness. He realized that souvenirs comprised a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide, yet there was not a single major brand that offered premium quality souvenirs, particularly in the Philippines. The industry lacked creativity in design, visual merchandising, quality and branding.

In 1992, Mr. Aldeguer established Island Souvenirs. The shop deviated from the ethnic-looking designs which were the norm, and showcased the Philippines as a sunny and tropical country. He packaged his products as a totality of the unique experience of a locality, reflecting its dynamic personality.

In just one year, Islands Souvenirs' sales grew by 300% and expanded to malls and in various places around the country.

The company also began operating internationally and opened outlets in Japan, Macau, US and Singapore at the invitation of the Singaporean government. Mr. Aldeguer has also created other tourism-oriented companies that complement Islands Souvenirs. These are Islands Souvenirs International, Inc.; Francis Ventures, Inc.; Islands Pasalubong Center; and Destinations Media, Inc. He also embarked on co-branding marketing efforts in tourism-related activities with Cebu Pacific, ABS-CBN, Globe Telecom, SM and Sony Ericsson.

Mr. Aldeguer has received numerous recognitions for leading the company. He was the youngest to be awarded as TOYM for Business Entrepreneurship. He was also awarded as Entrepreneur Philippines' 10 Most Outstanding Filipino Entrepreneurs and has recieved an Agora Award for Business Entrepreneurship. Recently, Mr. Aldeguer recieved the International Young Design Entrepreneur of the Year - Philippines by the British Council. He was also given the Tourism Kalakbay Award and the Entrepreneur of the Year Toruism award by the Cebu Chamber fo Commerce and Industry.

Islands Souvenirs has been cited three times as an Outstanding Retailer of the Year by the Philippine Retailers Association and the Department of Trade and Industry for its excellence in visual merchandising, operational excellence, customer service and store concept. The company has also been named into the Outstanding Retailers Hall fo Fame.

In the next five years, Aldeguer envisions Islands Souvenirs as a one-stop shop which sells souvenirs, novelty items, food and travel services. (source: Top Entrepreneurs)

Pag-asa sa Paglaya Multi-purpose Cooperative-Cebu

Whoever said that an ex-convict has no chance to live and be a productive member of society?

Yes, ex-convicts who have gone out of their prison cells and who have that determination to sever the tie that binds them to criminality and firmly assure themselves that they have passed through the “Bridge of No Return”, have all the reasons to be given second chances.

The objective of the Pag-asa sa Paglaya (PSP) Multipurpose Cooperative-Cebu is to give former prisoners another chance to become productive members of the society again.

It was in 1993 when PSP started its experimental livelihood project for ex-convicts and their families. They started with less equipment and less financial support but went a little much ahead. In 2004, they decided to go full-blast with the project even with the very limited resources.

As if in a miracle, the project grew beyond expectation.

Many generous benefactors helped PSP sustain the momentum of the project. PSP’s candle making venture grew with the help of volunteers and friends, until the people started to take notice that ex-convicts can be productive, honest, hardworking and creative.

Why candle-making?

Candles are aide memoirs for ex-convicts of what they desire: hope, freedom and life.

In January 2004, PSP won the “First Philippine Development Innovation Market Place” competition sponsored by World Bank. Now, the PSP Multi-purpose Cooperative has benefited more than 80 families of renewed ex-prisoners.

In August 2005, PSP received its new status as a National Cooperative,a status that gives them authority to extend operations anywhere in the Philippines.

The PSP Multi-purpose Cooperative has gone a long way since it started its struggling operations in 1993. The PSP farm in Tawagan1, Barangay Sirao,a mountain barangay in Cebu City, that temporarily served as the training and integration center of PSP, is now theirs as the farm was already donated to the cooperative in January 2004. It has an area of 10, 600 square meters.

Today PSP has its own machine that is capable of producing 60,000 dipped candles a day. Aside from candle making, PSP has expanded into organic farming and has included other services for newly-released convicts such as driving lessons, practical electricity, carpentry and biogas masonry, organic poultry, hog raising, organic food processing and many others.

The cooperative now has a total of over P6 million including capital for candle production.

PSP boasts of its own showroom for their finished candle products situated at 32 Gororodo Avenue, Cebu City.(business profile)

Garing National High School's success in paper making

Students of Garing National High School (GNHS) of Consolacion town in Cebu province save and make money by producing their own writing paper out of waste paper.

This project was spearheaded by the local government and school officials in 1997. Despite the school’s lack of equipment, like shredder, cutter and grinder, students were able to produce handmade paper using their own creativity and improvised tools under the supervision of science teacher Rizza Palang and technology and livelihood education teacher Florencio Cortez.

Following a simple process, they shred waste paper into tiny pieces and soak them in the water to soften them. They pound the pulp and put this into the molder, smoothen it with a roller and let it dry. Finally, the handmade, chemical-free paper is removed, ready for use—without any cost except for the waste paper as its main material. The finished products are not only good for writing but they are also compatible with computer printing.

After teachers check the students’ paperwork, the students get the sheets of paper and recycle them. This project has had immense effects. First, it means no trash. Second, it helps students save money since they won’t have to go downtown and buy paper. Third, it develops the entrepreneurial skills of students because they learn to produce and sell.

For its implementation of a practical and environment-friendly project, GNHS won for itself a P200,000 Henry Ford conservation and environmental grant in January 2005.

The grant is a legacy of the late American automobile maker Henry Ford, known to be an environmentalist during his time. With the support of Solid Waste Center, GNHS will use the grant to build a separate center for paper making in GNHS.

They are currently doing the paper production at their science laboratory donated by the Aboitiz Group Foundation Inc. They will soon propose this project to be implemented and promoted in other schools in Consolacion and eventually in the whole province of Cebu.

For now, the school’s student organization sells the recycled paper to classmates who don’t make their own paper. The school requires all students to use handmade paper.

In three months, they can earn P1,000.

They plan to sell their paper in the town once they can increase production. (SunStar Cebu)

Serging's success in farming

Barangay Tabayag is an upland village an hour away from the town of Argao in Cebu, Philippines. In 1981, this was one of the first two villages assisted by World Neighbors. At that time, there were less than 100 families living in this village, which was almost devoid of the top soil needed for agriculture.

The story that follows is from Sergio Arobo, nicknamed “Serging,” a young man who grew up in the mold of a program that has inspired and helped community members improve their lives over 20 years.

“Traditionally in my village, farmers planted only corn, weeded their farms occasionally and used no form of fertilizer,” Serging said. “The corn produced by the farmers was never enough for their families. But that all began to change in 1981 when World Neighbors came to our village to teach contour farming. I became interested in the World Neighbors program when I witnessed the visible changes other farmers made in their farms. Their hillsides had become flat, making it possible for them to plow the field with carabao. I was very compelled when I saw the dull soil that had become fertile and productive.”

After graduating from elementary school in 1986, at 13 years old, Serging asked his father for permission to join an Alayon group that was practicing contour farming. Although he was very young, the group accepted him and Serging began to learn how to dig the hard ground and set stones along the contour lines.

His group was composed of seven members, and working only three times a week, they devoted one workday to each member’s farm. Because they worked on Serging’s farm only once every two or three weeks, it took the group 13 years to establish contour rock walls on Serging’s one hectare hillside farm.

After several years, more people began to participate in Alayon activities and they formed a formal community organization to keep the group’s momentum moving forward and address other community needs.

“Most people are now farming using the appropriate techniques because they were inspired by the food security that contour farming provides,” Serging said. “We have also seen many improvements in living conditions. When my grandparents were still alive, our corn harvest could not last for one month so we had to work on other people’s farms just to survive. I would get paid a can of taro per four days of work. My family mixed the taro with corn to extend our food supply. But now, we have corn from our farm all year-round and we do not have to work as paid laborers. Before contour farming, farmers planted three times a year trying to produce more corn. Now, we only plant twice a year, we have enough to eat and we even have surplus corn to sell in the town market. There have also been tremendous changes in our natural environment. We have more trees and an abundant water supply.”

After 10 years, Serging’s community could hardly believe they had accomplished all their plans. They now have a water system that provides water to all households in the village and electricity, which had seemed impossible before. They also have a cattle and hog fattening project, an added source of livelihood, which has developed assets of over $5,000. Vegetable gardens have generated around $1,500, and the women in the community now use abaca weaving as a special livelihood project.

Serging says that the most unbelievable accomplishments are the corn mill and the truck that transports their farm products to the city.
“Ten years ago when we started dreaming of a community-owned corn mill and a vehicle, some people laughed at us because they thought we were crazy,” he said. “Now, we have become a model in our municipality.”

Serging said that his secret to success has been raising livestock. “I think that this is key in paying for big family projects and creating a savings account,” he said. “We sell goats to be able to hire people to help me weed. We also sell chickens to be able to buy fish and other food supplies.”

The home that Serging and his family live in was built solely from money gained through raising livestock. First, he raised goats, sold some of them and then purchased galvanized iron sheets for the roof and plywood for the upstairs walls. He raised a cow and when it was sold, he was able to make concrete walls downstairs. To help pay for electricity, he raised a boar. Then he raised another boar so his family could add on to their home.

Serging’s family now has a formal savings account from the sales of smaller animals like chicken, goats and pigs.“People who migrated to other places are always surprised when they come back,” Serging said. “They say our village used to be bald where grasses hardly grow. They are amazed at how productive our soil has become. They also are inspired by the improvement of our living conditions, such as houses with roofs made of galvanized iron sheets instead of grasses and a working road network. People now have enough to eat from their own farms.”

After being in the program a few years, Serging got married, and he and his wife now have two children, 12-year-old Mary Grace and Glen Mark, who is 9.“My wife and I planned to have only two children, and we think that is enough because we do not want our children to experience the difficult lives we had when we were young,” he said. “We want them to get a proper education and finish college. We dream that Mary Grace will become a teacher in our village and Glen Mark will become a veterinarian because we need animal doctors in the rural areas. We are planning to do cattle fattening to help fund their college educations even though it is still years away.“

I cannot contain my happiness over all the success in our community. Our success is a gift from God after our hard work. We spent many nights developing our community plans and identifying resources to make them happen. Now, the lives of our community members have greatly changed. People’s ideas have expanded, and their visions are brighter. If World Neighbors had not come to us, we would have remained extremely poor, never knowing what we could become.”
(world neighbors)