Single mom runs a business while working full time
By Niña Catherine Calleja
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:33:00 01/12/2008
LOS BAÑOS, Laguna -- Fe Frialde, 53, only accepted a friend’s offer to be a “cooperator” in a government pilot project to produce handmade paper out of indigenous materials.
She never thought she would end up managing a thriving business while remaining as a full time employee.
Frialdo is a personnel officer of Forest Products Research and Development Institute (FPRDI) of the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, a single parent of two kids, and running the Los Baños Handmade Paper Enterprise
The Paper Enterprise started as part of FPRDI’s project in 1986 to help the dependents of forest resources find alternative raw materials to produce paper like abaca fibers, cogon grass and rice straw.
A cooperator backed out and Frialde took the place thinking the project would not materialize without someone adopting the new technology in handmade paper.
“Of course, I also wanted to earn some money to augment my low salary, but I was hesitant. I knew nothing about running a business,” she says in Filipino, adding, she was just a personnel aide at that time.
By 1989 , Frialde was exporting paper products to Australia, South Carolina and Spain. She developed various designs of handmade paper sheets, boxes, and wreaths out of silk flowers and natural materials. What followed were orders of wedding invitations and giveaways.
Frialde says that apart from her patience and perseverance, many institutions helped her put up and maintain the business.
When the International Rice Research Institute (Irri) learned about the papermaking project that uses rice straw, it immediately extended help by giving her the rice farmers’ waste materials.
Irri’s Communication and Publications Department became her first client with its order of 2000 paper sheets it would use for the department’s Christmas cards.
Frialde, however, realizes that managing a business is not as easy as she once thought. “You will begin to see the real problem in the production,” she says.
One of her problems with her first order from Irri was lack of capital in producing the number of paper sheets on the target date.
“I told the head of the communication department of Irri my problem. Then, he gave me the down payment for me to finish the order on time,” she says, referring to Dr. Tom Hargrove.
Irri also helped by producing a video production featuring her business and the procedures in papermaking from materials like rice straws.
“Our business was broadcast on television and radio. They (Irri) also wrote a story about our business and disseminated it to all foreign ambassadors,” she says.
Irri helped them attain recognition and obtain buyers here and abroad, she says.
“It came to a point when I had so many buyers inquiring about my products but my problem was I did not have enough capital,” she says.
That was the time the Technology Resource Center lent her a sum of P110,000 without a collateral.
As orders for her products increased, she became more interested in the paper industry.
“I became aware that I could create different paper designs. From then on, I regularly browsed lifestyle magazines to look for new ideas and trends,” she says.
Frialde enjoys making paper products, especially during Christmas when she would create a collection of Sta. Claus images made of paper. She would also join trade fairs and mall exhibits where she met export buyers.
But a thriving business took its toll on other aspects of her life—her children and her work in FPRDI.
“There was a time when I was neglecting my own kids. One became sickly and the other had failing grades in school,” she recalls.
In 1998, she decided to focus on the local market. Since then, the bulk of her products went mostly to local establishments. She admits it was difficult to give up the export market because it was growing.
“Plus, my family and my neighbors were benefiting from the business,” she explains, adding that it also provided ways for entrepreneurs in the paper business to avoid the cutting down of trees.
“The fact that we are using rice wastes that are usually being burned means so much for the environment,” she says.
Although Los Baños Handmade Paper usually subcontracts work to the people in her neighborhood, it hires five regular workers who are on call when there are bulk orders.
Frialde says she has been lucky dealing with the right government and nongovernment agencies. But she admits her persistence plays a major role in sustaining her business.
“I am not really a business person but I learned how it is to be one. Now, I can tell the materials of a paper by merely touching and smelling it,” she says.
Frialde plans to retire early from FPRDI so she could continue producing paper products.
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