One More Day with Jerilyn
One More Day with Jerilyn
A coffee shop owner.
Jerilyn Priagula has been running a small coffee shop business for three years. A teacher by profession, she saw the opportunity of opening her business when she noticed that there were not enough café’s in their town to cater to a growing customer base. She opened her shop at the house of her aunt in the town proper of Pototan, Iloilo which was located near a commercial area frequented by professionals and students. Driven by her entrepreneurial spirit, Jerilyn was motivated to expand her café business. In 2020, she became a member of Taytay sa Kauswagan, Inc. (TSKI). She took out her first loan from TSKI to purchase new equipment and raw materials to improve her shop.
But just as things were beginning to pick up, the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020 and forced her to close her café for at least three months. To keep her business afloat, Jerilyn shifted to selling her food items online through social media and offered pre-ordered food and online deliveries. Aside from selling ready-to-drink coffee, she also started selling ingredients for making home-made beverages which some customers preferred. Despite this, she was still earning less than she used to before the pandemic.
Things remained challenging even when the community quarantine was lifted. The local government continued to implement strict social distancing and did not allow customers to dine in establishments. The prices of raw materials also increased and Jerilyn struggled with getting her supplies because of the numerous checkpoints and requirements needed to travel to her suppliers.
In early 2021, Jerilyn was identified as an eligible borrower under the Revive MFI-Ph project funded by USAID and implemented by RestartME Foundation and Chemonics International. She was able to borrow a loan of Php60,000 which she used to purchase additional stocks in larger quantities for her inventory. Buying in bulk was more cost-efficient for her business because of bulk discounts and less physical travel to her suppliers. She is also now able to restart her operations and recover slowly as the economy begins to reopen.
While Jerilyn’s coffee shop may not earning as much as it did before the pandemic, she remains grateful that her enterprise continues to operate during these times, and she hopes that it will expand into a bigger café one day.
Jerilyn said: “Mahirap pa rin mag-negosyo dahil minsan tulog ang pera namin sa inventory. Mahirap din bumiyahe para kumuha ng mga supplies dahil sa checkpoints. Pero nagpapasalamat pa rin dahil kahit may pandemya, buhay pa rin ang aming negosyo.”
(It is still difficult to do business because sometime our money is tied to [unsold] inventory. It is also difficult to travel and get supplies because of the checkpoints. Despite this, I am grateful that my business continues to operate amidst the pandemic).