Sell footwear, clean a river

From left: Marinette Franco, Myrene Bea Battung, Angela Joy Lagman and José Isabel Rea man the Prima Facie booth

For many riverside communities, the unbridled proliferation of water hyacinths can be an environmental mayhem. They can clog waterways and cause flooding, choke aquatic life and create a rich breeding ground for mosquitoes and other pests.

But a group of high school girls from St. Scholastica’s College Manila’s Leadership Academy saw an opportunity to harvest the much-maligned water hyacinths to create synthetic leather for the production of high-quality sneakers.

Nineteen girls from the Accounting and Business Management academic strand of St. Scho’s Senior High School Unit established Prima Facie, a start-up company that designs, produces and sells footwear under the brand “Ananda,” which means bliss or happiness in Sanskrit.

The girls want their business to revitalize the local shoe industry while fostering environmental sustainability and making profits.

Also, corporate social responsibility is top-of-mind for these young entrepreneurs. For every pair of Ananda shoes sold, Prima Facie gives a pair of slippers to less privileged children.

Prima Facie was named “Company of the Year (COY) 2018” in the Philippines by Junior Achievers (JA), a century-old nonprofit organization that seeks to activate the youth for the future through cutting-edge experiential learning in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship.

Last March, four top representatives of Prima Facie went to Beijing to compete in the JA Asia-Pacific COY tilt. They bagged second prize, bringing honor to the country.

Student companies from 13 other territories—Brunei, China, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Vietnam—competed in JA Asia-Pacific COY.

“After harvesting, the water hyacinths are transformed into [synthetic] leather through a meticulous process of drying, scraping and flattening done by hard-working housewives. The shoes are assembled and our production team gives them an extra coating for protection. After passing quality control checks, we then pack it in a box and add a drawstring shoe bag,” Prima Facie chief executive officer Jose Isabel Rea said during the group’s presentation in Beijing.

“Our challenge was to determine the right production mix of sizes but we overcame this by doing a survey to find out the most popular sizes and later on adjusted it based on sales trends,” she said.

Prima Facie sells its Ananda shoes for $30 a pair and earns a margin of 32 percent.

The girls sold the shoes in bazaars, tapped social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram as well as e-commerce site Shopee. They got endorsers and uploaded a dance video and a video look book online.

Ananda shoes

“Our product caters to 15-25-year olds who live a fast-paced lifestyle, follow fashion trends, and care about what they’re wearing. Our marketing survey revealed that our customers want a comfortable white sneaker that costs between $20 and $40,” said Angela Joy Lagman, Prima Facie’s marketing head.

Some P69,000 was infused as capital to jump-start Prima Facie’s business, 40 percent of which was pooled by the girls from their own pockets while their school contributed 40 percent, said the team’s adviser and mentor, Emilie Nolledo-Tan.

The remainder was covered by small fundraising events such as a harana (serenade), rummage sale and sale of food items.

“Our ROI (return on investment) is a remarkable 44 percent! And we’ve achieved break in just one month,” said Marinette Franco, Prima Facie’s PR head.

Prima Facie’s human resources department has so far arranged a company town hall, a team-building activity, a mentoring session and a CEO forum.

“Our success is due to our great teamwork, core values and sharp focus on our goals,” Franco said.

The CEO and the production department members led by Hana Sebe work on the design of the shoes, which are then manufactured in Marikina.

Like any other startup company, Prima Facie had its share of tough times.

The girls had to balance their academic requirements with the demands of the new business. Also, sneakers with water hyacinth material was unheard of in the market. The girls had to exhaust their creative juices to introduce this unique product to the market.

Each Ananda shoe is covered with synthetic leather while the quarter panel and tongue components are made of water hyacinth material, deviating from the norm of using animal leather.

The design is unisex. Another key feature is the soft insole, which makes the shoes comfortable to walk in. The outsole uses high-quality rubber, which makes the shoes durable.

Riding on the company’s early successes, Prime Facie has decided to continue the business and introduced its new product line, Reis, a slip-on sandal that also uses the water hyacinth material.

It also seeks to expand its market reach using a new campaign, Prima Faces, where ambassadors from different universities in the Philippines will model its products.

Adviser Nolledo-Tan said Prima Facie was now looking for investors who will not only help fund the business but also mentor them so that they can take the venture to new heights.

“They are currently producing the next batch of shoes and the first batch of their new product Reis since both of these products have pending orders already. They are also in the process of updating their website to be able to handle more payment options. They also had the opportunity to meet DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) Secretary Ramon Lopez who was interested in their product and will help support their efforts,” Nolledo-Tan said.

Exploring business overseas is also part of these girls’ aspiration.

“In the next five years, we want to go global and expand to China, Thailand and Vietnam, where they also experience flooding due to water hyacinths. Together, we can turn these water pests into profits,” Rea said.