Cecilia De La Peña

From being a fish vendor, Cecilia was able to sustain the needs of her children until she was able to put up a business in making of slippers.

Cecilia de la Peña, 47, is a resident of Carcar City Cebu. She is married to Vicente de la Peña, a fisherman. They were blessed with 6 children, two of them are already married and was not able to enter college, two are still in college, one in high school and the youngest is just 5 years old.

Cecilia’s husband is doing her best in order to sustain her family needs. Everyday, he goes fishing but with 6 children to feed they were always short of money. To show her support to her husband, Cecilia decided to help her husband by selling the fish he caught to their neighborhoods. Cecilia enjoyed her work aside from helping her husband in providing for their family she also discovered that she could earn money. From her income she started to buy the fishes from other fishermen and sell it in house to house scheme.

It was year 1993, when Cecilia learned to make slippers. She learned this kind of business from one of her regular clients in her previous business which is fish vending. With just a minimal capital from their savings, she started her slipper business. Her husband helped her in making a simple design and sells it. Her first few months’ sales were not that high due to lack of capital and they have no regular clients. Until such time that Cecilia visited her parents in Negros Occidental and she brought some samples of her slippers. Some of her relatives ordered slippers from her and they brought it to the market. The demand for her slippers increased and her income also increased that she used in sending her children to school and buying some household appliances.

As of now, Cecilia is still asking for an additional income for her business expansion. She wanted to buy 1 unit of tricycle to be able to deliver her finished products in the market and to their regular clients. She also wanted to invest in making of shoes to generate more income.

An additional capital will be a big help for Cecilia and her family. She really wanted to develop her business because it was the only source of their income and is her only hope to give better education for her children.