Many successful businesses in the country belong to families who have toiled for years to sustain a tradition of enterprise.
A couple's thriving business in piña weaving in Bacolod City has shown that entrepreneurship is, indeed, all in the family.
Reycon, which stands for Reyes and Conanan, the family names of the founders of the piña weaving business, began in Kalibo, Aklan in 1996.
But it was in Bacolod where young couple Khrystian Reyes, 31, and Ruby Gealom-Reyes, 29, were able to find their niche. Other family members are manning the branches in Manila, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao.
Reyes said she and her husband started on their own enterprise in August 2004. But before that, they were already supplying piña cloths to Bacolod-based designers John-John Ditching and Lourdes Lipa.
After joining the trade fair at Robinsons Place Bacolod in 2005, they set up a trader's outlet in the city and operated for almost two years, and closed down in late 2006. "We wanted then to focus on production," Reyes said.
At their factory in Taculing Village in Bacolod, they set up a factory and residence where the piña cloths that come from the Reycon's main base in Kalibo are adorned with embroidery and other ethnic designs by three locally-hired workers.
"Our main product is barong. The bags and shawls are our additional lines," Reyes said.
Business has been good, so far, because Reycon's is the sole supplier of piña cloths in Bacolod. However, she admitted that they have marketing concerns. "You really need good sales talk to be able to sell these," she said, as piña cloth is obviously more expensive than other materials used for barongs. A cut costs P6,000, and made-to-order barongs are priced even higher.
Reyes said government officials in Bacolod and Negros Occidental have become a steady clientele for their quality piña barongs.
Female balikbayans are also drawn to piña shawls, she said.
Piña barongs, however, are not popular for exports because barongs are first and foremost, a Filipino outfit, she said. In 2005, when Reycon's was a top seller in the Negros Trade Fair, her mother-in-law, who is based in Kalibo, got orders from a European buyer who fashions curtains out of piña cloth. "But that's it. For barongs, it's not the case. It seems it's really just for Pinoys," Reyes said.
source: PNA
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