Engineer sees bright future in digital printing business

If there’s a will, there’s a way.

This adage holds true for Melcan Signe who now runs his own digital printing company that he started in August last year.

Having two kids proved financially challenging for Signe and his wife who are both working in manufacturing companies based in Mactan Economic Processing Zone.

Soon his wife had to quit her job because they couldn’t find a decent nanny to take care of the children.

“My wife often gets frustrated especially when the kids get sick and she had to be absent from work. It was very difficult so she had to stop working. That made it more difficult for us financially,” said Signe.

To earn additional income for the family, Signe, who works as a product engineer, would sometimes repair computers during his free time.

This situation changed when his brother from Bohol asked him to be his partner in a business venture.

“We agreed that I will loan the capital to buy a CISS printer and heat press so that we can start a business offering digital t-shirt printing. And he will resign from his job to manage the business full time in Bohol,” said Signe.

With an investment of 15,000, Signe already had the equipment ready for the business. Then his brother got promoted from his job and he wasn’t available anymore to manage the business.

Signe had no choice but to take charge of starting the business while still working full-time with his company. He also had moved his family to Bohol and had rented a room in Lapu-Lapu City for his business.

Signe said he couldn’t quit his job yet because it was his main source of income to sustain the needs of his family.

His first printing job were orders for 54 T-shirts from a women’s group from Danao, Bohol.

“I started with many orders right away and just got the design from them,” said Signe.

Signe’s printing rates range from P186 to P235.

He also found a partner – a fellow worker at the MEPZ firm.

“My partner knows how to make designs so he is tasked to handle that while I do other tasks like the accounting and marketing,” said Signe.

Wanting to learn more on how to run a start-up business, Signe then joined the Kapamilya Negosyo Na which is organized by the University of San Carlos College of Commerce and ABS-CBN.

“From them I learned the basics is running a business and was even one of the Top Winners and was awarded the Most Promising Business just this January,” said Signe.

At present, Signe’ture Prints has already earned some customers from schools, companies, and individuals.

Signe said that he was happy that his brand was slowly becoming known to people.

On the average, Signe said that he and his partner were already earning at least P6,000 a month, which was already impressive for a start-up company that’s only based in his rented room in Mactan.

Signe plans to setup a shop and a “mobile unit” which will allow the business to expand its presence more to Cebu clients.

“For the shop, I plan to hire one attendant who I will train to do the printing and  to attend to our customers because for now, I still cannot quit my job,” said Signe.

At present Signe and his partner rely on their Facebook page for print orders and the referrals from previous clients.

For the mobile unit, Signe said they would need a minivan equipped with a printer and heat press so that they could offer their printing services in different locations where big events would be held.

“We can go places through the mobile unit and expand our reach” said Signe.

Having their own brand of T-shirts that will include mini tees and slim-fit shirts is also a goal that Signe wants to achieve within the year.