Silver Handicrafts
Aklan

Rose Flores Nepomuceno used to work in Manila as supervising corporate accountant at the National Food Authority (NFA). Driven by the need to raise the family’s income and her desire to be her own boss and to improve the quality of life of the people in her community in Numancia, Aklan, Ms. Nepomuceno established Silver Handicrafts in 1998. Her product offerings include loom woven raffia rolls, placemats, throw pillow cases, woven nito trays, coasters, boxes and home furnishings, which find their way to the display shelves of Tesoro’s, Balikbayan Handicrafts, Rosa’s Arts and Crafts, and other shops that offer various handicrafts.

The company has actively sought and availed of government assistance in various forms in the past couple of years. After several years of producing traditional designs of nito products and plain loom woven raffia pillows and placemats, Silver Handicrafts availed of product development clinics conducted by the Product Development and Design Center of the Philippines (PDDCP) and came up with at least 30 new designs for the National Trade Fair, Fiber Festival, Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) and Kalibo Ati-Atihan Products Showcase. These new designs drew attention of both local and foreign buyers, who had placed orders through exporters based in Manila. Sales generated for January-May 2003 reached P364,000, representing 22 percent increase over the previous year.

In early 2003, the firm received P650,000 loans from SB Corporation, which went into the completion of its factory, showroom and office in Barangay Albasan, Numancia, Aklan. The second tranche of another P650,000 was release in mid-2003.

Ms. Nepomuceno has undergone one-on-one consultation on Market Matching and attended trainings/seminars on Business Plan Preparation, Introduction to Export and Sales Negotiation (conducted by DTI in coordination with APFTI), and the SME Forum. Skills trainings on nitocraft, conducted on the barangay level in coordination with LGUs generated almost 118 additional workers/suppliers of nito products. Silver Handicrafts now has 208 workers (regular and seasonal). Majority of the products are being sub-contracted to neighboring municipalities. Monthly production capacity of the enterprise has doubled, from 500 pieces to 1,000 pieces. All these have been translated to an increase in asset size from P2.5 Million for 2002 to P4.5 Million, just for the period January-May 2003.

With things looking up from all sides, Silver Handicrafts is planning to go into on-line marketing, specifically with the U.S. market. It also intends to participate in the Selling Mission to Canada with the Gifts, Toys and Houseware Association to increase sales performance.

Initially a micro enterprise, Silver Handicrafts is now a small enterprise. It was one of the 16 Outstanding SME Graduates honored in Malacañang during the SMED Week celebration in July 2003.

From Sulong Pinoy! Stoking the Fire of Filipino Entrepreneurship vol. 1