Some best-kept secrets of entrepreneurial success are being passionate about what one tries to achieve and focusing on the mission and vision of the business. For Payatas, Quezon City resident Jeryl C. Manocay, her entrepreneurial success is directly aligned with the said secrets. Jeryl is a solo parent raising two children. Her first-born child is smart, understanding, and responsible who at a young age assumed the role of co-parenting her sibling who has a developmental delay (GDD). It was something out of her control just her failed relationship, but how she will respond to it is a decision she has complete control. With just the three of them, Jeryl decided to use her ability in cooking to create a better life for her and her children. Moreover, with bills to pay; Php 3,500.00 for rental, additional thousand pesos for electricity, water consumption, and food allowance, she must seek every opportunity that even others do not see. So every morning, with sheer determination drawn on her face, she sells her breakfast dishes and kakanin around the neighborhood.
When she heard of the sustainable livelihood program of DSWD in 2019, she applied for the said program with high hopes of strengthening her business. Trusting the process, her application paid off when she was interviewed through a phone call for DSWD SLP validation and assessment in February 2021. She was granted cash assistance amounting to Php 15,000.00. As it turned out, her prayers had been heard, so she used the money as additional capital for her food business. Her once simple kakanin was transformed into pancit palabok, spaghetti, pancit bihon, shanghai, maja blanca, fried chicken, puto and kutsinta.
Since what she offers is a bilao of native delicacies and classic fiesta dishes, her name appealed to the community and was spoken about often on birthday celebrations, anniversaries, and other occasions. Thus, aside from her daily source of income-generating morning breakfast business, she now has an occasional delight that earns her more than a week’s earnings, that is Php 2,500.00 to Php 2,800.00 per food package multiplied by 3- or 4-times order of her specialties a week.
With greater income than before, she was able to buy brand new cellphone and second-hand refrigerator for her daily orders, provide an allowance for her son’s online studies, and can now be able to save money amounting to 50 pesos a day in her personal thrift box or 200 to 300 pesos every time she had a combo order. In the advent of a pandemic, her business was among those who didn’t thoroughly suffer loss. Since she operated in a pre-pandemic delivery mode, adapting to the new protocol of business operations became less difficult for her. Jeryl is thankful for DSWD SLP.
“Nagpapasalamat po ako ng marami sa DSWD SLP na ako ang napili dahil napaka laking tulong po lalo na sa akin na solo parent. Nakatulong yung binigay na pera pangpuhunan at sisikapin ko pa na ito ay mapalago. Alam naman natin na sa panahon ngayon dapat talaga diskarte at sipag at tyaga ang dapat gawin. Maraming maraming salamat po at sana ay marami pa po kayong matulungan na mahirap tulad ko.” (“I am really thankful that DSWD SLP chose me because this is a great help, especially for a single mother like me. It was an effective additional income and I will do my best for it to flourish. As we all know, now is the time to be more resourceful, hardworking, and determined. Thank you very much and I hope you’d be able to help more poor people in the same status as me.”) said Jeryl.
Having the passion to sacrifice some of her sleeping hours just so she could build a better life for her family makes her native delicacies and treats even sweeter and more fulfilling. As she makes fortune with her ventures, she trusts that being a single mom is not a setback for entrepreneurship but rather a drive to thrive through using her wealth in skills, support, and inspiration.
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