Gift shop, work shop

Isabelita de Guzman-Ocliasa has 11 years of catching up to do.

"After I graduated from economics at the University of the Philippines, I set an entrepreneurial deadline for myself. I would work for somebody for two years–no more, no less–for the experience and then go on own. I ended up working for 13 years as a trainor for the Philippine National Oil Corp.," said de Guzman-Ocliasa, who used P100,000 of her retirement money to put up the Yellow Violet Gift Shop-Workshop in August 2003. "In terms of meeting my goals, my investment was certainly not enough. However, I am not a risk taker. I didn’t want to borrow money for my capital."

As a gift shop based in Cainta, Yellow Violet makes and sells hand-made cards and gift items. As a workshop, it trains out-of-school kids and wives of tricycle drivers living nearby to set up businesses of their own.

Yellow Violet has one of the smallest workforce among members of the Rizal Exporters and Manufacturers Association, Inc. Aside from de Guzman-Ocliasa, it gets occasional inputs from two domestic helpers and the owner’s nine-year-old daughter.

"Kids can do non-critical stages in craft-making like the cutting and pasting. Other stages like sewing are intricate procedures best left to adults," said de Guzman-Ocliasa, who has set for herself a personal production quota of 50 cards a day.

Learning

"One of the big risks in this business is, at certain points, any given product reaches its own maturity level. It will no longer be a novelty or a fad. People who have snapped it up off the shelves will tire of it. Competitors will pirate the designs and produce identical copies at cheaper prices," said de Guzman-Ocliasa.

Right now, the trend is spirituality and Yellow Violet’s rosary cards have been selling well.

To keep up with the new designs, Yellow Violet’s owner/designer has gone back to the classroom, enrolling in pattern-making for fabrics and drapes to get acquainted with the machine as well as in other courses as diverse as polymer clay and coordinating weddings. She visits trade fairs to get ideas. She also does extensive research on the internet and exchanges ideas with other hobbyists and entrepreneurs from all over the globe.

"I do parchment craft and hobby craft using indigenous materials. I make lace out of paper, sinamay, and abaca, which I buy from exporters’ overruns. I’ve discovered that fusing western and eastern crafts such as blending American and Australian designs, create spectacular effects. I have tried to do the same with laminated beads, mcirobeads, polymer clay utensils and cutlery," said de Guzman-Ocliasa, who continues to see new opportunities everyday. "Unlike office work, being an entrepreneur is not routine," said de Guzman-Ocliasa.

"You don’t know what your day will be like and that’s exciting."