To achieve a successful business, you have to be open-minded. Learn from experiences, from other people, and online is what Joan Crisostomo of Brgy. Mapisi, Nagbukel, Ilocos Sur did to succeed to her hog raising business.
Before venturing into a piggery business, Joan and her husband were renting land to farm corn, but it stopped when the land owner decided to sell the property. “Nawalan po kami ng pagkakakitaan noon dahil wala kaming mahanap na bukid na maaari naming rentahan (We lost income because we couldn’t find a farmland that we could rent),” shared Joan.
“Buti na lamang po at mayroong ibinigay ang DSWD Field Office 1 – Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) na puhunan pang negosyo sa amin noon (Fortunately, the DSWD FO1 – SLP provided us with business capital),” she added. Because of that, she then gathered information from her neighborhood and entrepreneurs within their community and saw potential in the piggery business. That is when she started her enterprise.
Although she has little to no knowledge and no prior experience with hog raising, she asked her neighbors that are skilled in the industry and maximized the internet to watch and learn proper feeding of pigs and waste management.
Through her hard work and perseverance to learn, Joan managed to expand her piggery business. From one pig, a sack of feeds, and vitamins, it has now grown into a total of four sows and twenty-four piglets.
“Mahirap mag-alaga noong nagsisimula kami dahil kinakapa pa lamang namin ang aming negosyo, ngunit nang lumaon ay mas napadali na ito (It was difficult when we were starting because we were still figuring out how to do our business, but later on it got easier),” Joan stated.
Because of the expansion of her enterprise, she was able to send her children to school, bought an electric water pump, built a wider pig pen, and properly managed their finances to increase their savings.
Hindi ko lubos maisip kung ano ang magiging buhay ng aming pamilya kung wala ang DSWD FO 1-SLP kaya nagpapasalamat ako sa programa sa ibinigay sa aking oportunidad (I can’t fully imagine what our family’s life would be like without DSWD FO 1-SLP, so I am grateful to the program for giving me this opportunity),” Joan tearfully shared.
Her story is proof that with the right support and determination to learn, individuals can break free from poverty and achieve a better quality of life. Accessing financial resources through DSWD FO 1–SLP and her willingness to gain knowledge in a certain business brought her to where her life is currently in right now. (by: John Chris B. Zureta, Social Marketing Officer and Marriane A. Tomarong, Monitoring Project Development Officer, Sustainable Livelihood Program)
