Earning hopes for every kilo

By: Jireh Pearl Casionan

Iloilo City- In a suburban area of Iloilo City, a woman is trying to make ends meet for her children and family by selling every kilo of vegetables in her market stall. But before she had this opportunity to sustain her daily needs through this livelihood, she went through many trials and attempts.

Rieze Joy Ebuena, 31, formerly from Oton, Iloilo, has faced life’s challenges. She was unable to finish high school, reaching only her third year due to the family’s financial constraints. At 18, she entered into a relationship and had her first child. A year later, in 2014, she moved to Manila to work as a saleslady.

While working, she observed her employer and learned how to manage a business.

In 2019, she moved to Jaro, Iloilo City, with her husband. While her husband started working as a driver for a consumer food company, she began thinking of other ways to earn income. Drawing from what she had learned from her employer, she opened a sari-sari store at their home. However, in 2020, the pandemic forced them to close their sari-sari store. Despite this setback, Rieze did not want to stop earning. She began thinking of a business that was not yet present in their barangay.

In 2021, a neighbor introduced her to CARD Bank, Inc., a microfinance-oriented rural bank. Reize became interested in how it promotes savings. She was also drawn with the benefit that being a client of the bank automatically enrolls members in life insurance through CARD Mutual Benefit Association (CARD MBA), the microinsurance company of CARD MRI. Considering her partner’s work as a driver and
her own goal of starting a savings fund, Reize became a client of CARD Bank the same year.

Being a client paved the way for her to open the business she had wanted when her sari-sari storeclosed at the height of the pandemic. In 2023, she started selling vegetables using a PHP 5,000 loan from CARD Bank as her initial capital. Offering leafy green, fruit-bearing, root, and stem vegetables, she utilized the former space of their sari-sari store for this new business.

As a client, she has also been able to save despite a tight budget and feels secure with insurance from CARD MBA, CARD MRI’s microinsurance company, as a member.

Aligned with Rieze’s newly started business, her mother also sells vegetables in the market. On days when her mother is unavailable, Rieze takes over selling at the stall by bringing her own vegetables.

Eventually, they agreed on an alternating schedule in the market. Rieze now sells at the market four days a week and, on the remaining days, sells from their home. Every day, she patiently offers her vegetables to passersby, marketgoers, and neighborhood customers.

She knows that these sales will sustain her each day and allow her to continue striving in the days to come. When she is at the market, her two children help manage their store at home.

But in this business, she also faces challenges, such as customers purchasing on credit and not paying immediately. Although she finds this difficult, she continues to treat her customers with kindness and respectfully encourages them to settle their payments.

Currently, she earns around PHP 3,000 to PHP 4,000 per day when selling in the market, and about PHP 1,000 per day when selling from home. It may not be as much as others earn, but when Reize looks back, it is at least far from having nothing. Through this income, she continues to support her children’s education; one is currently a high school student, and the other is in kindergarten.

Rieze now owns a sidecar to help transport her vegetables. She continues to work hard and remains focused on growing her business while sending her children to school.

Given everything she has been through, Rieze advises her fellow business owners to think and manage their businesses carefully. “Be more patient,” she said, “because you will encounter different kinds of people.”

Rieze’s story reflects how patience can carry a person from having nothing to continuously fighting and striving. She has learned to hold on to every kilo of vegetables, each one carrying hope, each one a step toward another day.