Microenterprise Access to Banking Services

RB Mabitac (Cabuyao, Laguna) micro loan client Jennilyn Antonio at her home, which doubles as a manufacturing facility for homemade peanut butter.

JENNILYN ANTONIO: Spreading Her Peanut Butter’s Sweet Success

Mrs. Jennilyn Antonio may be at the right place at the right time when her idea fairy experienced a spark of insight. It was one of those ordinary days at the grocery store when she laid her eyes on some dried peanuts for kare-kare (a Filipino dish) on display. She thought, “If I added some sugar and salt to these, would I get peanut butter? What if I do try it?”

At that time, Mrs. Antonio’s family was in the throes of a financial crisis: they were in debt, she couldn’t pay her children’s school fees, and there wasn’t even enough food at the table. Her salary as a factory worker combined with her husband Vicente’s wage as a driver were not enough to support even the basic needs of the family. Resourceful by nature, Mrs. Antonio wanted to find ways on how to augment the family income.

Then came that fateful day at the grocery store; Mrs. Antonio bought a kilo of dried peanuts, added some sugar and salt to the mixture, had it ground until the mixture flowed thick and smooth from the grinder, and – voila! – homemade peanut butter! The trial mixture was just right for her taste and the price was affordable, so she started selling her homemade peanut butter to her co-employees and to some neighborhood bakeries.

To further improve her product, Mrs. Antonio attended seminars on peanuts and peanut butter production. She also improved the product’s packaging and, true enough, her peanut butter landed on the display shelves of small but numerous bakeries around town.

Yet her eyes were wandering towards the display shelves of the more fancy bakeries. However, knowing that her product was not that “fancy” and her trainings on peanut but<div class=”mceTemp mceIEcenter”><dl id=”attachment_53″ class=”wp-caption aligncenter” style=”width: 460px”><dt class=”wp-caption-dt”><a href=”http://rbapmabs.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/jennilyn-antonio-peanut-butter4.jpg” mce_href=”http://rbapmabs.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/jennilyn-antonio-peanut-butter4.jpg”><img class=”size-full wp-image-53″ title=”Jennilyn Antonio” src=”http://rbapmabs.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/jennilyn-antonio-peanut-butter4.jpg” mce_src=”http://rbapmabs.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/jennilyn-antonio-peanut-butter4.jpg” alt=”Jennilyn Antonio” width=”450″ height=”352″ /></a></dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>RB Mabitac (Cabuyao, Laguna) micro loan client Jennilyn Antonio at her home, which doubles as a manufacturing facility for homemade peanut butter.</dd></dl></div><div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″> <h4><span style=”font-size:10pt;font-family:”color:#333399;letter-spacing:-.2pt;font-weight:normal;” mce_style=”font-size:10pt;font-family:”color:#333399;letter-spacing:-.2pt;font-weight:normal;”>JENNILYN ANTONIO: Spreading Her Peanut Butter’s Sweet Success</span></h4> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”>Mrs. <span>Jennilyn Antonio may be at the right place at the right time when her idea fairy experienced a spark of insight. It was one of those ordinary days at the grocery store when she laid her eyes on some dried peanuts for kare-kare (a Filipino dish) on display. She thought, “If I added some sugar and salt to these, would I get peanut butter? What if I do try it?”</span></span></div> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”>At that time, Mrs. Antonio’s family was in the throes of a financial crisis: they were in debt, she couldn’t pay her children’s school fees, and there wasn’t even enough food at the table. Her salary as a factory worker combined with her husband Vicente’s wage as a driver were not enough to support even the basic needs of the family. Resourceful by nature, Mrs. Antonio wanted to find ways on how to augment the family income.</span></div> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”>Then came that fateful day at the grocery store; Mrs. Antonio bought a kilo of dried peanuts, added some sugar and salt to the mixture, had it ground until the mixture flowed thick and smooth from the grinder, and – voila! – homemade peanut butter! The trial mixture was just right for her taste and the price was affordable, so she started selling her homemade peanut butter to her co-employees and to some neighborhood bakeries.</span></div> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”>To further improve her product, Mrs. Antonio attended seminars on peanuts and peanut butter production. She also improved the product’s packaging and, true enough, her peanut butter landed on the display shelves of small but numerous bakeries around town. </span></div> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”>Yet her eyes were wandering towards the display shelves of the more fancy bakeries. However, knowing that her product was not that “fancy” and her trainings on peanut butter production were not really that big-time, she was wary that her peanut butter might not pass the standards of the bigger and “classy” bakeries.</span></div> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”>Not seeing these weaknesses as a roadblock, Mrs. Antonio sought ways to improve her product. Together with her husband, they consulted with the Department of Health’s Bureau of Food and Drugs (DOH-BFAD) on how to uplift her homemade peanut butter’s standard. And as required by DOH-BFAD, the Antonio couple upgraded their manufacturing facilities and introduced food processors, such as roasters, ovens, grinders, and peelers, to their manufacturing process.</span></div> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”>This was where the Rural Bank of Mabitac (RB Mabitac) in Cabuyao, Laguna played a crucial role. Not having enough capital to buy food processors, Mrs. Antonio approached RB Mabitac for a micro loan. Her first loan of Php 30,000 (which was used to buy a grinder) was released on the third day upon her loan application. Her succeeding loans of Php 30,000 (second), Php 50,000 (third to sixth), and Php 100,000 (seventh) were all approved and repaid 100% on time. All her loans were invested in their business, which saw significant results.</span></div> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”>By 2004, Ehje’s Peanut Butter was established and BFAD approved. In 2005, the business reached gross sales of Php 3.6M and a profit of Php 555,000 (50% of which was reinvested in the business). By 2006, the assets of the business reached a market value of Php 989,000. Also in that year, the business was already employing six workers and an accountant, besides the Antonio couple and their four kids who were helping out in the business.</span></div> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”>The success of the business was so remarkable that in 2006, Mrs. <span>Jennilyn Antonio was recognized as the <em>Maunlad</em> category top winner in the </span>2006 Citigroup Microentrepreneur of the Year (MOTY) Awards. The MOTY Awards is a joint undertaking of Citigroup, the Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc., and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). In addition to this, her product label (produced by KimBells pack, Inc.) won first prize in the International Category of the 2006 Awards Competition sponsored by the Tag & Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) in the United States. Mrs. Antonio was also featured in Go Negosyo and in <em>Masigasig</em> Magazine of Globe Telecom, Inc.</span></div> <div class=”MsoBodyText” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:normal;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:normal;”>After the recognitions, the success of </span><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:normal;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:normal;”>Ehje’s Peanut Butter continued on. Today, Mrs. Antonio supplies her homemade pride to two big bakery chains operating in the Greater Manila Area. Bottles of Ehje’s Peanut Butter can also be seen in the merchandising shelves of a big supermarket chain all over the Philippines. Likewise, there is an offer for her product to be distributed in Japan.</span></div> <div class=”MsoBodyText” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:normal;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:normal;”>At present, the Antonio family’s peanut butter business processes tons of dried peanuts per month and averages Php 2M of gross sales. Not bad for a business that started with just a spark of idea, a measly kilo of peanuts, and a lot of diligence, faith, and hard work. With the Antonio family’s contagious perseverance on the business, there’s no stopping them from spreading success and bottles of peanut butter along their journey.</span></div> <div class=”MsoBodyText” mce_tmp=”1″> <div class=”MsoBodyText” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:normal;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:normal;”><br /> </span></div> <div class=”MsoNormal” mce_tmp=”1″><span style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;” mce_style=”font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana;”> </span></div>