ROSEMARIE NUÑEZ RABAYA: Fishing for Prosperity
Mrs. Rosemarie Nuñez Rabaya started selling fish and other seafood in 1997. She sells various types of seafood such as squid, octopus, prawns, lobsters, grouper and blue marlin on a wholesale basis. Mrs. Rabaya’s store is one among a row of fish shops found in the port of Dagocdoc town in Surigao del Sur.
In 2000, she got her first MABS-designed KITà loan of P10,000($200) from the Rural Bank of Cantilan, which she used as additional capital for her business. Short for Kita Insakto Tipon Asenso (Income and Savings for Progress), the KITà loan is a popular product of the Rural Bank of Cantilan.
However, with the growing demand for her seafood, Mrs. Rabaya could not keep up; there were too many fish vendors competing for a small supply of fish. She decided that she needed to secure a supply of seafood in order to meet the high demand for her produce. With her third KITà loan, she started to purchase new and second-hand engines for wooden pump boats, which she provided to fishermen on a lease-purchase arrangement. The engines cost P15,000($300) to P30,000($600). These fishermen in turn became her regular suppliers.
Now on her tenth loan, she has financed seven pumpboat engines, creating seven permanent suppliers from the town of Dagocdoc, in addition to four other permanent suppliers from the town of Cortes. She delivers 400 kilos of seafood twice a week to Surigao City. She employs one assistant to help her and her husband run their shop.
With the profits from her business, Mrs. Rabaya bought a lot where she built her house.
She plans to buy a medium-sized delivery truck and finance more pump boat engines
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