Like most mothers in the quiet barangay of Agnocnoc up in the hills of Tablas Island, Romblon, 57-year-old Monica Gacilo had dreamt of helping her husband generate enough income to meet the needs of their family. With two more children to put through school, the homemaker and mother of five thought of ways to make money. Inspired by her sister who makes and sells beaded curtains and shawls, Gacilo thought of starting a similar home-based business. “[I thought,] if she could do it, maybe I can too,” she shares. She observed then copied what her sister did, and then took a boat to Boracay to peddle the finished wares to anyone interested to buy. Though people would comment on how pretty the products were, it was still a difficult and rarely rewarding way to make money. Tears come to Gacilo’s eyes whenever she reminisces on that tough time.

The hardships didn’t put her off her dream, though. Instead, they strengthened her resolve to make her struggling enterprise bigger and more profitable. Together with her friend Resilina Martin, who had worked as a sewer in a factory in Manila, Gacilo would frequently walk the nearly 21 km. to the town of Odiongan to ask for financial help from local government agencies. “We had no money even for fare so we wouldn’t eat whenever we were in town,” she recalls. “I’m naturally shy, but that experience taught me that being shy won’t get me anywhere.”

The two women encountered more closed doors than open ones but they kept on. The tide seemed to turn their way at the local office of Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) where their products were appreciated—until DOLE gave a condition: They give grants only to associations.

Instead of getting disheartened, the women grabbed the opportunity and started organizing other mothers in their barangay to come together and form a livelihood group. Gacilo explains, “I really wanted other mothers to get involved and benefit from this because we all know how farming and fishing aren’t stable sources of income for our husbands. We all have the same dreams for our families.”

Thus, in 2014, the Abundant Grace Livelihood Association was created, with Gacilo as the president. Currently with 11 members, the association creates and sells handmade curtains, canopies, shawls, and throw pillows out of cheese cloth and decorated with embroidery, wooden beads, shells, and pearls. From the Php340,015.00 loan that the group received from DOLE, Abundant Grace was able to purchase three sewing machines and the raw materials they needed for their first batches of products.

With the help of her older children, Gacilo was able to get a small nipa hut built and set up as the women’s workspace. Here, she taught the other mothers how to sew, embroider, and do beading, and together, they labor over the meticulous details of their designs. “Before, the mothers would stay at home, doing nothing except gossip with each other all day,” says Gacilo with pride. “Here, they can make a living somehow. They’re able to bring additional money home to their families.”

Members can work at the hut after they have finished household chores and sent off their children to school. They get paid for every piece they finish, with the rate dependent on the difficulty and the size of each product. For example, simple tastas-buhol (unraveling and knotting of threads) earns them Php15 per shawl, Php50 per curtain, and Php60 per canopy.

Getting registered and receiving a grant were just the association’s first few victories. The rest of the community was initially skeptical about Abundant Grace, its products, and what the women could accomplish yet Gacilo persevered because her belief in her vision was strong. “Many people would remind us that plenty of other livelihood efforts in our community had failed. They judged us and doubted that our products would click with a market,” she says. “It was painful to hear but it also gave me the courage to continue.”

It’s been almost three years since Abundant Grace’s tough beginnings, and the mothers take obvious pride in their work as their modest earnings help them buy daily necessities and even send their children to school. Gacilo is proud to say that her fourth child has graduated cum laude with a degree in criminology while her youngest is in 10th grade; both children’s educations have been partially funded by her income from the association. “My dream is for all of my kids to finish school. I’m grateful to God that I’m able to help them do that.”

DOLE may have jump-started Abundant Grace Livelihood Association’s operations with its grant, but Romblon’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) office has nurtured their growth. In 2014, upon learning that an association of Agnocnoc mothers was one of DOLE’s most recent grantees, DTI’s business development division immediately got in touch with Abundant Grace to offer aid with its programs for micro, small, and medium enterprises.

The first one was skills training to improve on what the members had learned about sewing and embroidery from Gacilo. This was crucial to product development, especially with DTI’s plans for Abundant Grace to participate in its national trade fairs. “Since 2014, we’ve been to four of those already with their help,” says Gacilo. “Whenever there’s a trade fair, DTI always includes us. Our products have reached SM Megamall, Baguio, even Malacañang. We heard that someone had bought our canopy and gave it as a present to the president.” They began finding buyers from Manila, Mindoro, Dasmariñas, and more, some of whom place custom orders. At the MIMAROPA Naturally trade fair in October 2016, their shawls caught the attention of a buyer for Rustan’s Makati who made an order for a hundred pieces and promised to make a new one once the stock gets sold.

Market-matching is another program that DTI assists Abundant Grace with. At every trade fair, aside from helping the association find buyers for their products, the department sets consultancy meetings with a designer who would evaluate the products and educate the women on current market trends and new designs. Based on the results of these meetings, a new training workshop would be organized and funded by DTI to augment the members’ skills. Gacilo says, “They have really been a blessing because they bring designers here to train us even though our place is so far from town.” From creating simple designs, Abundant Grace’s product portfolio has since expanded to include tie-dyed items and more intricate details.

And more, bigger things are in store for them. DTI Romblon’s Jerome Madrona reveals that managerial training is in the pipeline this year to help streamline the association’s financial and personnel management. “We usually do this earlier for other MSMEs but at least with them, the women will learn about costing while actually handling money.” There are plans too to improve and expand the women’s workspace, and DTI constantly communicates with the provincial government to help find other sources of funding for the association’s needs.

They are also working on solidifying product branding by developing a logo for the group that could then be used in calling cards, promotional collaterals, product labels, and packaging. The ultimate goal, Madrona says, is for Abundant Grace to become ready for exporting. It’s still a long way off but he’s confident that the association will be able to learn and master all the necessary steps to get there. “DTI is about empowering people: customers, consumers, middling businesses,” he says. “The family is the foundation of society, and progress is real only when it is started on the grassroots level. We’re happy to see these women able to generate income even as simple homemakers.”

Gacilo also has big dreams for the group, specifically the expansion of operations so that more mothers from the community could find employment. “It wasn’t really my intention to create an association,” she admits. “I started out simply wanting to help my husband.” But when every hurdle showed her that collaborating with others was the way forward, she took on the challenges and broadened her vision. To women who also wish to be able to do something for their families, she advises, “Whatever ambitions you have in life, especially if it’s providing a better future for your children, I say go for it. Any challenge can be overcome. It’s through hardships that we learn something valuable.”

Beyond step one: How to grow your budding enterprise

Learn how to sell your products and services more effectively

Aside from learning new handicraft skills, Abundant Grace Livelihood Association members have also been learning how to present their products and talk to potential buyers. “With these trade fairs, I’ve learned how to engage with customers,” Gacilo says. “I’ve learned how to entertain questions from clients and how to display our items to the best of their advantage.”

Always look forward not just in terms of profit but also the cost of expansion

After deducting the women’s salaries and the payments to be made relating to operations such as electricity bills and taxes, Abundant Grace puts whatever is left from their profits in the bank. These serve as contingency funds for when they participate in trade fairs and when they need to buy raw materials for newer designs.

Keep your finances clean and orderly

Abundant Grace is proud to be able to submit financial reports every quarter to DOLE, whether they’ve earned or not during the covered period. In fact, they’re the only grantee from their year to be able to use the money they had received productively. “We want to keep their trust and be transparent with our finances,” says Gacilo. An orderly financial record, in turn, helps them attract more potential investors.

This was a commissioned story for the Department of Trade & Industry’s 35th anniversary coffee table book Sikap, which was published in 2017. The published version is much shorter (and, in my opinion, much duller than what I originally wrote, but I guess that’s the government for you). All images are lifted from Sikap.