Tags: Cottage Industries, Entrepreneurship, Handicrafts
By KC Santos
PARAŇAQUE CITY, METRO MANILA- Couple Ricardo and Jocelyn Pacheco maintains a level of perseverance to run their home-based business smoothly.
The couple owns RIC-JO International Enterprise, which markets export quality bags made from buntal fibers derived from the buri palm.
The venture stems from Ricardo’s drive to revive his family’s buntal business and supplemented by Jocelyn’s background in business management.
“It helped that he was knowledgeable with the production aspect while I do the marketing techniques. From a simple idea, everything just sort of fell into place,” Jocelyn shares.
With only 500 pesos in hand, the couple initially crafted banig or native mats they had sourced from Divisoria. The lining of the prototypes have been made by a dress maker.
“With meager know-how on actually crafting the bags, we were surprised that these became really marketable,” Jocelyn says, adding that they started producing more designs as the demand from huge mall outlets increased.
With the demand came trials and errors. Jocelyn says they had to produce several samples to fit the requirements of clients. Eventually, Ricardo had to quit his day job and go full time with Jocelyn in running the bag business.
The couple also decided to switch from using pandan to buntal which they source all the way from Sariaya in Quezon. The production is labor intensive which is why choosing a viable material is required to come up with quality products.
“Buntal is a really expensive material that the end result is appealing enough. We don’t even have to put any embellishments because buntal looks very sophisticated,” Jocelyn says.
She says an added bonus is that the business also helps out-of-school youths and relatives who earn from weaving the bags.
“It’s becomes easy in the long run that even children can choose to do it for arts and crafts or when their idle. Also the material their working on can be used several times so it really doesn’t matter if you make a mistake the first time,” Jocelyn says.
She says retaso or scrap materials are often added in the designs, particularly for the buntal pouches.
In this business, Jocelyn says it’s important to take care of your relationship with clients.
“Be honest to them if you can’t meet their demands. You have other opportunities to show you’ve improved instead of disappointing clients by not delivering what they expect of you,” she says.
The couple is also able to sell designs in regional trade fairs where replication is a constant risk. Jocelyn says that while this can be problematic, entrepreneurs must be able to take the risks.
The buntal bags have a signature pleated design and are sold in fairs from 100 to 900 pesos. RIC-JO International Enterprise also makes clutch bags, pouches and unique Asian-inspired bayongs.
The couple makes sure they are hands-on when it comes to business. “You have to be constantly present in every phase of your business especially in the decision-making process. If you don’t persevere, you’ll never succeed,” Jocelyn says.
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