Kalinga woman entrepreneur earns from coffee product
“One has to go through great sacrifices and labor pains before reaping the fruits of hard work.”
This is the working principle of one successful woman-entrepreneur from this city who started to earn as a young girl and is now an enterprising woman managing a commercial enterprise that popularized Kalinga’s own marked product.
Assertive, frank and with a ready smile, Antusa Wanason Refalda (Tosa to her friends) is one among hundreds of hard working women who started business from small capital and more of her sweat and patience. She is the woman-farmer-entrepreneur behind the Kalinga Brew, roasted ground native coffee known for its distinct flavor and wonderful aroma.
Due to sheer determination and business acumen, Antusa was able to build up her capital. In 1985, she started dealing directly with the town’s coffee traders. The added bonus was that, Antusa was entrusted with money for buying coffee in the barangay. If funds run out before delivery of the stocks, she could write the trader to send more money. Thus, Antusa was able to take advantage of the coffee boom in the country in the mid 80s.
There was scarcity of public utility vehicles then (the Refaldas reside in Gawidan, Bagumbayan which is about 35 kilometers from town), in 1986, she was challenged to buy a second hand Ford Fiera, the first ever indication that her family was beginning to progress. For fear of being held up when she goes home late, Antusa decided to buy a house and lot in Dagupan Weste, their present residence in the city proper. She said that it was a product of their earnings from coffee and savings from the salary of her husband.
Over the years, they acquired an additional five hectares of land and planted 2,500 Arabica coffee, now fruit-bearing. In 2005, she was awarded the ARB Female Entrepreneur during the Agraryo Trade Fair.
In the 1990s, she joined an educational trip organized by KALINGA Coffee growers and the DTI to places where coffee mills were being fabricated. In one farm owned and managed by a coffee processor in Batangas, she was surprised to see a sack with her name among those being classified and later labeled as Batangas coffee. This prompted her to come up with the idea of establishing her own processed coffee. She was also challenged with the thought, “If the Batangas farmers can, why can’t we?”
She actively participated in trainings, trade fairs provided by DAR, Nestle, DTI, DOST and LGU. She was able to purchase a roasting machine and other equipments for her processing plant from the P300,000 loan she availed from the Small Business Guarantee Fund of DTI.
In 2003, she started producing Kalinga Brew packed in cacha bags designed by Design Center of the Philippines (DCP). Antusa said her first paper packaging received a lot of criticisms from customers, thus she approached DAR and DOST for the redesigning of Kalinga Brew packaging. Antusa also admitted that for the first three years of coffee processing, she did not have a good return of investment (ROI). She reasoned out that probably, it was because she was still perfecting the product.
But she remained undaunted. She has complete faith in her technology, which she says is her own. ” My blend is my own, no preservatives. My product is unlike the instant coffee, which has a lot of aroma but has a bland taste. The coffee roasting process which is done five hours is also my edge.” With a glow in her eyes, she gladly says, “it really take a lifetime to reach our dream and it’s not always the financial benefits that keep you craving for more but the lessons that you learn along the way.”
Kalinga brew is one of the selected local products of Kalinga exhibited in regional and national trade fairs like the Impakabsat, OTOP exhibit, Philippine export, international food fair at the World Trade Center and last week at the national trade fair held at the Mall of Asia. Antusa also brought her product to Macau, Hongkong and China. Aside from walk-in sellers and her own outlets in the province, the product has gained entrance in known city supermarkets and hotels around the country.
“Modesty aside, my coffee business reached a phenomenal profit and is well earning, Antusa said.
