CEBU City—When the 2008 financial crisis hit her export company with a big wham, former Miss Cebu Tourism title holder Janice Minor knew it would take more than just beauty and brains to pass though this major test.
To her, it was a challenge that would determine how long Janice Minor Export Inc. (aptly named after its founder) would foray in the competitive world of furniture and home accessory items.
“Those were the bad days when I felt that the worse had yet to come. Even though I wanted to keep my workers, I had to let them go. Everyone else in the furniture industry has problems,” says Minor, a business administration graduate from the University of the Philippines Cebu.
She had to retrench 120 out of the 150 employees in their factory found in Barangay Calawisan, Lapu-Lapu City.
This left her and husband, Paul, in the position of “digging deeper into their pockets and going to the extent of considering selling some of their properties to give workers their separation pay.
The company had no choice. Orders from the United States and Europe declined month after month, and she literally witnessed how sales rapidly went down.
The slowdown started in 2006, she says.
From 50 to 60 containers regularly shipped to Europe and the US, it went down to 25 to 30 containers and at times, even lower.
Before crisis
This was not the picture Janice saw when she opened her business in 1986, still fresh from her reign as the first Miss Cebu Tourism winner.
It was September 1986. Janice, in her mid-20s then, was just married to Paul William Minor, who was working in Cebu as a factory manager.
“I started with a basket business. There was still no competition from China then and it was the cheapest way to enter the market,” she tells Inquirer’s Business Monday.
She invested P50,000 and found herself entertaining walk-in buyers in her small shop in Mandaue City. The baskets were made of coco twigs, buri and pandan mostly sourced from Antiquera town in Bohol.
From baskets, the Janice Minor line moved to furniture and home accessories sourcing materials such as rattan from the Cebu towns of San Remigio, Bogo, Barili and Danao.
Her major breakthrough came in 1991 with the Janice Bistro Chair that sent waves of interest (translated into sales) in the export market.
“The idea was to mix two materials. We came up with a metal frame chair woven with rattan. We attended a furniture show at the Cebu Plaza (now Marco Polo Plaza Cebu) and it was a big hit,” Minor recalls.
The runaway success of the chair opened more markets for them. They were soon supplying to high-end markets in the US, Europe, Iceland, Australia, Middle East, Latin America, North America, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and New Zealand.
Janice Minor practically captured the world’s attention that even the 1997 Asian financial crisis did not disturb their business operations.
That time, the US still captured 60 percent of their export market while the remaining 40 percent was distributed among European countries.
Recovering
Picking up the pieces after retrenching 130 people in 2008 became a point of reflection for Janice. It was not easy to let go of people who have worked with the company for more than 20 years.
“What prevailed was our respect for each other—me and my employees. We both know that we are in a peculiar, difficult situation but I assured them I will give what is just and fair. It was painful but it was the right thing to do,” she stresses.
And she paid all of them, which involved cashing out millions of pesos.
Soon after, some of the retrenched employees put up their own cooperative, which now serves as Janice Minor’s subcontractor.
Choosing to let go people and paying millions worth of separation have perhaps accorded Janice good karma because in 2009 she saw signs of recovery and an opportunity to diversify in business.
She currently has 20 full-time employees but is planning to hire more with a renewed hope for her newest line of business.
New beginning
“The market is something that might just collapse. I should have looked at other markets. But it’s all good, we have learned,” she says.
Since staying in shape and in fashion is inherent to her, Minor decided to enter the world of fashion producing bags, footwear, belts, jewelry and hats.
All these are under the brand, Binibini.
In September 2010, she attended a show in Paris, France and Milan, Italy bringing a few pieces which picked the interest of some attendees.
In October 2010, Minor displayed some items in another show in Manila, which “caused quite a stir.”
She officially launched the Binibini line in a fashion show inside her Lifestyle Gallery in Banilad, Cebu, last July attended by Cebu’s top and well-known personalities.
Minor says she is confident that her new pieces will gain international recognition with its unique offering.
The jewelry collection, for instance, celebrates Philippine gemstones such as Philippine petrified wood, archipelagic malachite, onyx jaspers, pyrite, chalcedony, amethyst and tectiles.
“The gemstones are unique … They are organically asymmetric in shape and under processed to bring about their natural qualities,” she explains.
Bags are made of raffia fiber sourced from Bohol. She is still looking into sourcing more materials from other Philippine provinces.
Yes, the crisis might have hit her. But it doesn’t mean that she is not ready to bounce back and recover.
Beauty and brains did not solve her woes. But Minor found the apt solution by placing heart between the two.