How do you measure a profit? For Ethel Sacristan, 51, a micro-entrepreneur, it is not just about the money.
For her, profit is the people she has touched and changed through her business.
She believe that to earn more profit is to help more people.
Guided by this principle, Sacristan did not only uplift the living condition of her family, but also of her fellow individuals.
She provides work to her jobless neighbors and shares her knowledge of running a business with her co-vendors. She gives free lectures on basic bookkeeping to help vendors inventory their business.
“I always reminded the vendors to record even a small amount because this will help their businesses grow,” Sacristan said.
She noted that bookkeeping is one of the important things that most of the small entrepreneurs often neglect doing.
“Many vendors here do not know about bookkeeping. One doesn’t need to earn college degree to learn it. A simple recording of your business is enough,” she added.
Sacristan learned the significance of bookkeeping in business through the seminars and lectures initiated by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) Micro-finance program.
She borrowed her starting capital from RAFI’s Micro-finance to open to a batchoyan.
As a secretary of the Market Laborer Lapu-Lapu Organization (MALL-O), she also voluntarily gives free business lectures to the Lapu-Lapu City vendors and assists them in their membership application to government agencies, such as Pagtutulungan sa Kinabukasan Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya, at Gobyerno (Pag-Ibig) and Social Security System.
Asked if she was not threatened by the other vendors in their area whom she had helped, Sacristan replied, “Kita dili ta dapat maghunahuna ana. Ang atoa makatabang ta sa atong mga silingan aron sila molambo pod (We should not think of that. What’s important is to help our neighbors grow their business).”
In fact, Sacristan stopped selling soft drinks in her batchoyan to give way to another vendor nearby who is also selling beverages.
Customers at her eatery would buy soft drinks from the nearby store after eating batchoy. It is still a win-win situation for Sacristan and her neighbor.
“Don’t be selfish. Share your graces to help others because these will come back to you,” she said.
From a small batchoyan, Sacristan now has three eateries in different areas in Lapu-Lapu City and acquired a medium-sized fishpond for bangus-and prawn-raising business.
Sacristan’s eateries also offer billiards and videoke.
Through her business, she has given income to her 12 jobless neighbors. She also sent her daughter to work in the United States, where she got married.
Although busy, Sacristan still finds time to meet the core group of MALL-O at least once a month to hear the concerns of the vendors.
Her husband is president of the organization that now has 30 members composed of vendors.
The mother of four would always remind small scale vendors to work hard and believe in the products that they offer.
Sacristan, a high school graduate, never sees her educational attainment as an obstacle to handling a business.
She said she was not able to pursue college due to financial problems and her father’s belief that women are just for household chores.
The road to success was not easy for Sacristan.
She sold beauty products at the Mactan Export Processing Zone Authority (MEPZA) in Lapu-Lapu City, where she used to work. She was one of the company employees laid off.
Persevering and determined, Sacristan started from scratch again.
She joined every business opportunity she could find but only in RAFI Micro-finance did she find sustainability.
“That is why I wanted to help starting micro-entrepreneurs because I understand it is not easy to start a business,” she said in Cebuano.
Aside from ensuring the financial stability of her co-vendors, Sacristan also provides resources and materials for free to small entrepreneurs, such as offering her bangus and prawns from her fishpond to people who wants to sell fish but do not have enough capital.