MANILA, Philippines – In the late 1950s, the parents of Maria Que left their village in one of the rural areas in Benguet to settle in Longlong, La Trinidad – the capital town of Benguet. There, they joined a thriving village of Kankanai settlers who planted the fertile hills with vegetable and strawberry gardens.
Maria, then a teenager, helped tend the vegetable and strawberry farms. At harvest time, she would help sort the strawberries – those that are fit for selling and the smaller berries that would be processed into jams. At the time, strawberry jam was sold at P4 a jar, enough to provide Maria’s weekly school allowance.
Even when she got married in 1975, Maria, together with her husband Francisco, persevered with strawberry jam production. Demand for strawberry jam was beginning to increase. The couple managed to put together P5,000 to construct a separate cooking shed to accommodate the growing demand and to purchase raw materials. With these resources, the couple produced an average of 100 jars per month during the peak seasons of December to March. Each jar of strawberry jam was sold at P20.
Since strawberries are seasonal, the couple supported their growing family by adding peanut brittle to their product line. They went into vegetable gardening, while propagating anthurium flowers on the side. Maria and Francisco even managed to put up a small sari-sari store despite their busy schedules.
Early in the 80s, the locals in Longlong, La Trinidad were experimenting with strawberries as an ingredient for a native wine called “Dimbeng.” This particular type of raw wine is produced by separating the bubbly froth from the boiling strawberry jam, adding native herbs or yeast and storing the concoction in clay jars. The resulting wine was sold at P80 a gallon and sales were limited to the neighborhood due to crude packaging and spillage.
The opportunity to produce wine in commercial quantities came early in 2000, when the dimbeng evolved into a more stable strawberry wine with better packaging. The wine was attracting attention from both local consumers and tourists. Maria was at the forefront of wine production.
However, not content with the quality of the locally produced wine, Maria experimented with various procedures and materials to improve the product. She visited the local DOST office for product analysis and consultancy and read available materials on the subject. Their fruit wine production then was 1,000 bottles per season sold at P50 each.
Although strawberry products are at the center of their family business, they also process bugnay and blueberry wine. With the growing business interests, Maria took on the management and product research for the firm while Francisco concentrated on the production side. The business formalized its business registration papers in 2002.
To contribute to the progress of their community, the Que family willingly made their firm available for study and evaluation. To further improve their business, they invested time and effort to comply with recommendations from partner agencies or institutions. They attended trainings, trade fairs and other activities to improve and promote their products.
Their brand, Jason’s Homemade Products, is from the name of their fourth (of five) child, who for a while was thought to be the last child. Jason is presently studying at PMA with the hope of serving the country like one of his elder brothers.
Maria is a respected leader of the wine making community in Longlong. She gladly offers her time and resources to any cause that will improve this means of livelihood. Her advice to budding entrepreneurs: “Don’t be afraid to experiment, learn from the criticisms that you receive, watch the quality of your products and always lend a helping hand.”
To date, Maria’s company is the only BFAD registered firm in the area, a testament to her sound manufacturing practices. Her factory is a favorite showcase for the Local Government Unit of La Trinidad. At one time their inventory of strawberry products reached the P1.3-million mark due to peak demand. Her wine products are priced slightly higher than similar products and may be rare at times. This is because Maria does not believe in shortcuts – no overnight production of wine. The consumers are assured that the bottle of wine from Maria’s factory is the real deal, with no dilution and no hasty fermentation.
Gardenline vegetables
Rosemarie Lagadeo-Bestre started with 7,000 square meters of barren and infertile land and P150,000 initial capital borrowed from banks and private individuals. Even though her parents also started with farming as their main source of livelihood, Rosemarie wanted to have her own farm.
Rosemarie now owns and manages Gardenline Vegetables. From its old name Irro Highland Vegetables, Rosemarie re-established and registered it in July 2002 – merging a division of their old family farm with her own. The full operation of the business started in December 2004, when Gardenline was directly supplying to restaurants, food chains and wholesale buyers in Manila.
Back in 1997, Rosemarie and her husband Domingo offered direct selling of vegetables to local hotels and restaurants in Baguio. However, in 1999, the couple focused on vegetable production instead of the direct selling business. In December 2004, Gardenline started operating a vegetable outlet in JP Rizal, Makati.
Currently, Rosemarie focuses on business partnership and contract growing with groups of farmers. She is also leading Gardenline’s operation towards outside sourcing and production of vegetable requirements of various clients.
One of Gardenline’s primary goals is to optimize resources and enhance services offered through partnerships with individual farmers, farmers’ organizations, cooperatives, foreign investors and traders.
Rosemarie also stressed the importance of creating a learning atmosphere where people are free to contribute their ideas and expertise and to encourage team work.
Gardenline’s major products are broccoli, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, potato, womboc, strawberry and other highland crops. With these products, Rosemarie envisions Gardenline to set the industry standard for customer satisfaction while processing quality, fresh vegetables in a safe, clean, and sanitary environment, thus ensuring a reasonable profit on their investment.
On July 30, 2008, Maria Que and Rosemarie Lagadeo-Bestre will be honored as two of the Most Inspiring CAR Micro Entrepreneurs at the Teen Negosyo Edition III, the third installation of the YECS Entrepreneurship Training and Conference spearheaded by Presidential Consultant for Entrepreneurship Jose Concepcion III, together with the Department of Education.
The award will be handed out by Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship Founding Trustee Concepcion, Presidential Management Staff Secretary Cerge Remonde and Department of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.
Maria and Rosemarie are only two of the Most Inspiring CAR Micro Entrepreneurs to be recognized at the Teen Negosyo Edition III in Baguio City. Awardees were endorsed by the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Agriculture and Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation, Inc.
Go Negosyo would like to thank partners PLDT, Smart Communications, Globe, Condura, RFM Corp., The Philippine STAR, and Vintel Logistics.