Before, Margie Trajano was just a plain housewife. Today, she’s a budding entrepreneur making money from the seashells crafting business she put up.

Trajano, a resident of Barangay Talavera, Hinatuan Island, unleashed her entrepreneurial skills when she participated in the seashells crafting training sponsored by Nickel Asia Corporation-Hinatuan Mining Corporation (NAC-HMC).

The training was organized for the members of the United Fisherfolks Association of Bagong Silang (UFAOBS), a recognized people’s organization (PO) of the company, and was facilitated by Susan Lisondra, an accredited community based trainer from TESDA Surigao del Norte.

Trajano has made the most of the training she had received.

“Gi train mi ni mam Susan, gikan sya sa provincial. Gitrain mi niya sa shells decoration, ang iban niya gitudlo kay ang pagbuhat pud sa ginatawag nya nga frame decoration. Mga two weeks to na training amo naagian (We were trained by Ma’am Susan from the Provincial. She trained us in shells decoration. She also taught us how to make a framed decoration. We underwent two weeks of training),” she said.

Resources Readily Available

Trajano also added that the materials they needed for seashells crafting was easily available to them.

“Ang iban seashells amoa ra gipunit sa hunasan sa kilid sa dagat, ang iban am gipalit sa mga bata. Aside sa makapalit kami usahay nan seashells, mugasto pud mi ug stick glue sanan pintal sanan varnish sanan glue gun sanan pang cover jaon mga silopin kibale para sa produkto. Ang sa frame ang gamit niya plywood sanan sinamay o kanang murag lanot (Some seashells we get from the shore, others we buy from children here in our community. Aside from buying seashells, we also spend on glue stick, paint, varnish, glue gun, and cellophane to cover our finished product. Our frame products also require us to buy fiber),” she said.

She added: “Ang magamit ra pud na stick glue ky depende sa gidak-un. Kasagaran mga dagku namo na produkto, mugamit gajud ug mga 40-50 na stick glue (The amount of stick glue needed is also dependent on the size of the product ordered by the customer. Most of our big products require 40-50 stick glues).”

The initial capital required for this business, she said, is not too big so anybody can start with his/her own business.

Customers Not Limited to Nearby Areas

Together with her husband Melvin, they also try to sell their products to nearby islands.

“Naa pud times ginasuroy namo sa ako bana sa karatig na mga isla ang amo produkto,” she said.

Now, most of their products are in Taboan, Sabang, Kaskag in Surigao City.

However, they cannot always sell their products in those areas since it requires time and this is only a sideline for them.

“Karon kasagaran namo mga produkto naa sa taboan, sa sabang, sa kaskag, sa surigao city. Pero dili mi makahatod sa amo produkto didto pirmi kay dili man kani ra jud amoa kay kelangan jud ni gahinan nan oras ky sideline2 ra man,” Trajano added.

In Nueva in Surigao City, a store wants the Trajano couple to supply them with their products.

Every time they are in Surigao to get foods and other consumables, the store owner will send them a text of the products that they will need. They in return, carry the items with them.

“Sa nueva sa surigao city, nay tindahan gajud did-on na sila na ang magkuha sa amo stock, kami ang mg supply. Pg magadto kami surigao para mangompra, mg text2 ra mi kung naa order. Kung naa, amoa dalaun ang items,” she said.

Their displays in Surigao City are in small stores, fortunately for them, their products can easily seen by their customers due to the size of their store.

If a customer orders a product to the store, they will inform the couple of the order placed and they then comply with the order request.

“Ang amoa mga display sa surigao kay nkbutang ra sa mga gagmay na tindahan ug mga kan-anan sa mga lugar na ako gisulti ganiha. Pero sa kagamay sa ila tindahan, Makita gajud sa mga customer nila ang amo produkto. Kung jaon na mg order, mg order sab siya dri sa amoa,” she added.

Their products have also reached Manila and Cebu. Someone from Cebu took a vacation in Surigao and also took some of their products back home with them.

“They wanted us to provide more products that they can take with them to Cebu,” she said.

However, they were not able to comply with the customer’s request regarding the numbers because they were only starting back then.

“Abot na sa manila ug cebu amoa mga produkto. Jaon ngkadto dri sa una na taga cebu kay ngbakasyon, gidala amoa produkto. Mas gusto unta gani niya ato na mas dghan pa tana iya dalaun kay idisplay niya sa cebu. Kaso lang mg lisud mi ato ug packing kung daghan na,” Trajano said.

Trajano said they have a relative from Manila who also brought along seven of their products and all were sold out.

They also received orders from the Internet since they are posting their products in Facebook. Unfortunately, they cannot accommodate all orders.

Product Easy to Make

According to Trajano, the products are also easy to make. It reaches an hour to complete a product if you have all the materials.

She recalled that there was a time when they made 80 souvenir products wherein there were three of them working for five days to complete the order.

“Although we took five days, we did not put all our work on finishing it, we only made it a secondary task to our daily routines,” she added.

Varnishing the product also added to the time required for it to be completed, since they waited for the varnish applied to dry before they can add the eyes in the product design.

Trajano also said that their products are based on the orders from the customer adding “depende sa order ang amo. Kung shells decoration ang order, amo pud amo hinangon, kung frame amo pud.”

“There are customers who want varnish applied, there are customers who want it painted, then there are also who want it natural. We also receive orders from customer wanting to put our products in their aquariums,” she added.

Trajano also stated that this is an additional source of income for her and her family.

“Kani extra income ra kibale, naa man sab akoy gamay na business. Naa ra pud ko dri sa amo balay mgbantay sa amo tindahan. Kung walay customer sa tindahan, mghimo ako sa crafting. Murag lingaw2 ra pero added income gihapon (This is extra income for me since already have a small business. I stay at home since I man our store. If our store has no customer, I will make products using seashell crafting. This is like a pastime but also gives me an added income)”, she said.