‘Successful ventures can also put people first’ Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez Mindanao Bureau
November 25, 2007
MISAMIS Oriental -- Nurse-turned-entrepreneur Loreta Rafisura of the famed Salay Handmade Paper, Inc. was exuberant upon hearing the talk of former Socio-Economic Secretary Cielito Habito at the Asian Economic Forum for Solidarity Economy held in Manila last October.
Habito talked extensively about the “solidarity economy,” optimistically predicting that “a more caring economy is indeed possible ... the ideal of an economy that exemplifies that Filipino concept of bayanihan.”
She praised the talk to be very inspiring for entrepreneurs who have been struggling to have business and social responsibility meet halfway. As a participant to the regional gathering, Loreta is not a stranger to solidarity economy as she has been practicing and nurturing the values of fair trade for decades.
Fair trade is the core principle of solidarity economy. Fair trade means producing high quality products while taking care of your employees and the environment, and selling these items at fair prices. The international fair traders association (IFTA) states that “more than just trading; it proves that greater justice in world trade is possible. It highlights the need for change in the rules and practice of conventional trade and shows how a successful business can also put people first.”
There is a growing number of buyers who want to only buy from companies that practice fair trade. This is particularly true for the European market.
Salay Handmade Paper Industry Inc. (SHAPII) has been showcased all over the world as a major SME (small and medium enterprise) player in the Philippines with a great success story about fair trade.
It is now known as the producer of top quality handmade paper products exported to Europe and other parts of the globe. Browsed on the Internet, SHAPII can easily pass as one of the leading handmade paper industries in the globe, with big time clients Marks and Spencer and other European retail giants. In fact, in 2006, almost 50 percent of SHAPII’s market is in Europe, 30 percent in North America, 8 percent in Japan and 6 percent in other countries.
Loreta attributes the company’s success in the export business to its adherence to the principles of fair trade. Most of its clients are themselves members of Ifta which has been in the global forefront of promoting and helping industries, even small ones like SHAPII, in the field of fair trade.
For example, a Canada-based group calling itself “Ten Thousand Villages,” which buys and sells fairly-traded products from around the globe, has been a long-time and loyal patron of SHAPII products.
Loreta admits that without the support of Ifta and its member companies, SHAPII would have had difficulty in tiding over their first years as a backyard enterprise.
Imparting her paper story has now been a vocation for Loreta, who usually speaks before big international gatherings such as the Asian Economic Forum to convince other entrepreneurs to go into fair trade.
And what a persuasive story she has.
Nurse Loreta and husband Dr. Reynaldo Rafisura were an ordinary middle class couple living in the quiet, far-flung town of Salay, Misamis Oriental.
In 1987, as clashes between the rebels and military troops displaced many of Salay’s upland folks, the Rafisura couple was quick to help out and tried to find ways to give the victims long-term relief from poverty.
Having attended a livelihood seminar, Reynaldo decided to adopt what he learned about making handmade paper using cogon grass (scientific name: Imperata cylindrica encantata) that thrive in their town.
The couple made this a livelihood project under the People’s Economic Council-Salay, a people’s organization that they lead.
An old chicken barn at the back of the Rafisura residence became the first production area of 10 handmade paper workers who stayed on with the Rafisuras despite the group’s meager capital of P6,000.
Finished products were peddled by Loreta herself in Cagayan de Oro City, a two-hour drive from Salay.
“I was sickly then so Reynaldo agreed to drive me in his old Volkswagen and we went around the city to peddle the paper to friends and later on to gift shops, which ordered by consignment. One day, we realized we had no money anymore even for my children’s food and school needs because my husband could not work regularly. I decided to go on my own and it was really tiring, but I persevered,” recounts Loreta of their lowly beginnings.
Perseverance paid off and eventually, after a year of working to improve their products and joining trade fairs, the couple, together with the remaining paper makers, rejoiced in their first earnings.
In 1990, Loreta decided to separate from PEC-Salay and wanted to establish a cooperative. For lack of money, the Rafisura couple settled to registering SHAPII as a corporation, but promised to run the company like a cooperative, where profit-sharing and labor equity are practiced.
“We were not actually putting up a business for profit, all we wanted was to give regular employment to the people of Salay and help them break away from poverty,” says Loreta as she describes SHAPII as a little candle in the dark.
But for most Salay folks, the small handmade paper shop has given them hope of progress they never imagined.
It was in 1996 when this small handicraft enterprise became the first fair trader in Mindanao.
“People from the Global Technology Search whom my son met in a seminar pointed out that what we were doing was actually fair trade. We did not know then what it was. I told them we were only doing our Christian duties of helping others,” narrates Loreta.
Soon, international groups invited Loreta abroad to talk on doing business the fair trade way.
True to the principles of fair trade, the condition of both the town and people of Salay improved as SHAPII grew. Aside from directly employing 257 workers, it now also provides livelihood to over 50 families in Salay.
SHAPII has become the biggest livelihood provider in town, next to the local government. Its foundation and cooperative ensure that the people are benefiting from the progress that SHAPII has achieved through the years.
“After 17 years, we’ve finally fulfilled what we originally wanted to put up—a foundation and a cooperative which takes care of our social responsibility to the people of Salay,” says Loreta.
The SHAPII Foundation now provides scholarship to poor but deserving Salay students and the SHAPII Multipurpose Cooperative operates a small cafeteria and runs several livelihood projects independently.
Loreta modestly admits that they can be a good inspiration to other SMEs.
“Sadly, there are only 16 of us in the country that practice fair trade,” says Loreta.
In her speeches and presentations, she would exhort entrepreneurs to try engaging in fair trade.
“As far as I’m concerned, the only way for SMEs to survive today is by going into fair trade,” she said as she echoed Habito’s statement that propelling economic progress begins with social equity.
“Business with justice, with compassion, that is the fair trade way. We need to start the movement now. Small as we are, we will slowly but surely achieve sustainable development if the people around us grow as we grow,” stresses Loreta with a tone of commitment.
