How a bitter recession gave birth to a sweet export business

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – There were no signs that could have prepared her for the better. But all of a sudden, in the early 2000s, Shirley Dayanan saw a recession sweep multinational companies, including her 17-year career with a durian and mango farm operator, to naught.

She hopped from one company to another. Her longest would only last for half a year. The recession kept closing factories. Eventually, she moved from Davao to Butuan, where she worked for a food manufacturing company. But Davao’s supply of clean water, she says, is what sets it apart from other cities.

And with her combined experience of working for food companies, she asked: “Why don’t I start my own business?”

From the end to beginning

She returned to Davao, where old clients from the company she used to work for were looking for her. “Where have you been?” they asked Dayanan, who at the time was trying her luck with durian jam.

Her own business had Dayanan divide her home’s kitchen into two: one for the family, and one for the company. She would begin selling jams to Zamboanga.

Six months later, she received a call from a friend who was in the export industry who hinted that dried fruits from the Philippines tastes better than another neighboring country.

“I know how to do that,” she told her friend. It happened that another friend of her had a drying facility she could use.

But the problem was the durian jam maker did not have capital to start a fruit drying factory. So her friend advised her to send samples first, and perhaps from there the client could decide whether the dried fruits she made were worth taking risks.

Later in 2011, she found herself stuffing a 20-foot equivalent unit shipping container with dried papayas and mangoes for New Jersey, which led her to set up her own company, Safepac Corporation.

It was that moment she learned a life lesson: that an end could possibly open a door to another beginning. And that beginning could either be a new business, or another storm.

Climate change

Years later, the mango trees that were vital to their business would not bear fruits during harvest season. And the mangoes, if there were any, had prices that spiraled.

So Dayanan told her client in New Jersey that there were no ripe mangoes for drying. Thailand, on the other hand, was becoming a threat. They were making dried mangoes while exporters here could not.

But thanks to that friend who did not give up on her. She immediately thought of another idea.

“Can you make banana chips?” she asked.

“As long as it’s dried fruits, I can.”

In that moment, Dayanan had another lesson: to take opportunities and figure how things are done along the process. After all, she had an experience in fruit processing, and government support.

Support

The support came through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The two agencies assisted her in acquiring a machine that slices bananas which were to be turned into chips. The equipment was worth P540,000, payable for three years.

As soon as she completed the payment for the loan, she applied for another, this time one that would dry mangoes which was worth P1 million.

It was the acquisition of the machines that got her back into the exporting scene. Her chips and dried fruits ares exported to South Korea.

“Others think that just because I’m an exporter, they think that I’m successful,” she says.

She admits that despite her success in expanding her market abroad, she said the rules of trade are far difficult abroad.

She says that more and more countries require accreditations like the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), ISO 22000, British Retail Consortium, among others.

“And I cannot call myself successful yet until I meet these standards,” says Dayanan.

There were no signs that could have signaled her to prepare for the better, but surely Dayanan says she’s proud of the difficult path she took.

Because, she said, no matter how bitter life was at the start, she was able to make a complete turnaround from a worker who lost a job – to an exporter of dried sweet fruits. – Rappler.com