Success Stories

Crate Possibilities is an online home store that specializes in wooden crates, boxes and wooden packaging, wooden trays and other home decor products. Through the use of upcycled pinewood that is carefully handcrafted by our skilled artisans,our items are decorative, functional, and eco- friendly. Our products will not only prettify your space, but inspire you everyday. Blending simplicity, beauty, and functionality in every product is what we do best.

We started in 2016 when the owner joined a school fair to sell homebaked products. Using wooden crates and trays to display and highlight her products, people noticed the quality of these upcycled products and asked where to get them.This gave her and her husband the idea to make some to sell online. They saw the opportunity in these products and joining another bazaar made them realize even more the potential of the business. Running a business is never easy. They struggled to create more products to offer the market. Through the Kapatid Mentor Me program, they were able to learn how to innovate. From simple and plain wooden crates and trays, they added prints for a more personal touch. They continuously innovate to always have something new to offer their market.

DTI has been a great help. Through Kapatid Mentor Me, we were able to gain a deeper understanding on how to run the business. Product innovation and proper marketing really helped sustain the business. We were able to expand our market reach through the DTI trade fairs. DTI has been a very dependable institution that really provides all the necessary assistance even during the pandemic when they offered trainings and webinars to help us with our digitalization.

Over the years I have learned that passion and perseverance are very important in any business. You have to love what you do and do what you truly love. You need to always have that yearning to learn and to improve more each day. When faced with challenges what really keeps me going is the phrase I learned from one of my mentors who said, “If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to prepare your heart.” Failure is necessary for growth, as you learn from mistakes and strive to become better. Keeping an open mind to changes and accepting challenges is also important to thrive in the business world.

Take risks and learn. Running a business is not easy, but when you truly love what you do you will always perservere and won’t give up easily. Surround yourself with people who can help you grow. Prepare your heart for the challenges that you will encounter along the way and always remember that
failure is not an option.

Aging’s Food Delight produces homemade delicacies with fillings like ube, leche flan, mango, halaya (taro), kalamay, dessicated coconut, and others. For the Christmas season we make suman cake layered with different flavors except mango. I love delicacies wrapped in banana leaf, and I was able to create original ube/leche flan fillings in glutinous rice.

Among our biggest challenges is the poor supply of banana leaves during the rainy season. The best assistance to our business were the the KMWF We Go-Negosyo seminars given on how to handle the product processing, good manufacturing practices, and others.

Our secret to success is patience and having a passion for our pro ducts. We teach our family members how to deal with the consumers and techniques of promoting our products in the market. We need to have confidence in our products and keep introducing new products. Beginner in business should have the passion, talent, and patience tp keep on experimenting so they can introduce new products to consumers. Most importantly, they should handle their income wisely and and make decisions carefully.

Bibsy Shop is a fashion accessory store based in Alicia, Isabela. BIBSISITA (est. 2015) is a homegrown brand that turns Filipino-themed artworks into functional, everyday items such as pillows, bags, and t-shirts. For me, life is my big, plain canvas where I brush my vibrant hopes and dreams. My mission is to weave the Filipino narrative into your homes and fill your spaces with warmth.

For me, life is a vast, blank canvas on which I paint my colorful wishes and desires. I developed my passion for painting at the age of seven and began creating my first artworks on the most unusual materials I could find in our poor abode. I unexpectedly joined Monstrosity, a group exhibit with fellow artists after receiving my bachelor’s degree in multimedia arts in 2008. It opened up opportunities, like having my first solo art display, “Lanterns of Love.” A young and free-spirited person, i have gone on to become a full-time digital artist. I decided to take a leap of faith and officially founded “Bibsisita.”

The Department of Trade and Industry facilitated most of our participation in local, national, and international trade fairs. They also help us with our trademark registration. They provided us with capacity-building training programs.

Continous learning and innovation is the key to success. Also, listen to your target market. I rented a space in Alabang Town Center in December 2017. Demand from regular customers and continuing positive feedback from friends, relatives, and Facebook followers encouraged me tp seriously venture into this business. As a passionate digital painter with creative hands, I added another gem to my crown as an entrepreneur. Through my colorful and sophisticated artwork, my sentiments, experiences, and aspirations, I was able to bring to my pieces bright ideas in my signature style. I, too, had my own problems to fight. I struggled with self-doubt and artist’s block while juggling two roles. With growing demand for my start-up business, I found it difficult to create dazzling art pieces that would win the approval of my target market. My brave heart, on the other hand, never stopped pounding until I overcame and learned from these challenges. As a businesswoman, I must admit that I’m still learning the ropes; I realize that in order to reach more people with my talent, I need to make it sustainable or functional, and that’s the business side of it.

At a young age, Franco Raneses knew he had a knack for business. He reminisced about buying bottles of beer for 20 cents and selling them for 70 cents to earn his keep. His father, a fisherman, would also assign him to sell fish in the market and would also act as an assistant to his sister whenever the former buys groceries for her small store.

It was these memories of his childhood that trained Raneses how to do business that also characterized a large part of his career. When he finished college at Bicol University, he took a stint in Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and traveled to different countries.

As he has done when he was still young, Raneses established an enterprise selling handicraft items like bags. Such was the beginning of Moonlight Handicrafts. Today, his company joins national fairs organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and is a supplier of handicrafts using different materials, including natural fibers.

Moonlight Handicrafts focuses on crafts and designs combining different materials such as buri, abaca, jute, raffia, and other fabrics like canvas. “I started when I returned to the Philippines as an OFW and re-opened the business of my parents which had been closed for so long. That business was the main source of income for my family and helped all seven children finish our schooling. I was discovered by DTI at a trade fair where I was one of the exhibitors. They approached me to be one of their MSMEs.

The secret to success is not to give up, just believe in God. Love your family and the people who are working for you. Treat your workers as family.

Finally, never stop trying to create something new. Always experiment. Learn from your mistakes, and never give up. Always be humble and have a grateful heart. Ask for God’s guidance in decision-making.”