Leather or not

Marriage triggered the entrepreneurial bent of Nelia Villarama-Siggaoat.

Four months after marriage, Villarama-Siggaoat used a P5,000 cash gift and a refrigerator from her mom and a loan from her sister to put up a pharmacy cum grocery right across Philippine Women’s University, where she was a part-time physics and chemistry teacher. The store was called Manels, after her husband, Manuel, who was then working as an auditor in a cement company, and herself.

Manels would eventually be the name of other ventures such as a gift shop, a beauty parlor, and a shoe store.

It was the shoe store, however, that inadvertently brought Manels from its largely student base in Manila to the A-B income markets of Makati.

"At that time, Ayala Land, Inc., the developer of Makati’s first mall, Quad, had no room for a shoe store but was open to a leather goods outlet. So, I came up with a collection of leather wallets, belts, traveling bags and even a horse saddle that I bought from a backyard manufacturer in Quezon City. And I got the store space that I applied for," said Villarama-Siggaoat, president of Manels Leathergoods Corp.

Niches

Today, Manel Leathergoods maintains two factories, one each for the local and export markets.

The factory at the Clark Export Processing Zone is geared towards the export market, with shipments at its biggest (when it was selling $100,000 a month to the US market) before 1999.

"We could do better if we had our own retail outlet in the US instead of just depending on the purchases of distributors. The most difficult part in putting up our first store before the year ends is meeting the manning and other regulations in America," said Villarama-Siggaoat.

In preparation for putting up more US outlets, especially in Filipino communities, Manels Leathergoods has hired a US-based Filipino consultant to help the company get an ISO 9000 by next year. The company has already passed the Standards of Social Accountability and the Total Quality Management of Japan.

Producing for the company’s 40 local stores is the factory inside the Food Terminal Inc. compound.

"Our lifeblood has been corporate orders for special occasions. This sector has become so big that it has single-handedly supported the retail operations, which is very dependent on purchases of foreign travelers and Filipinos going abroad," said Villarama-Siggaoat.

In an effort to further grow its local operation, the company has segmented the retail market. Aside from the core brand, which caters to the A-B market, it has come up with Moda Nelia, which sells more affordable leather products, and with Maphisto, which sells more fashionable items popular with the younger market.

Provincial thrust

The company has also expanded the reach of its products to the provinces by constructing department stores branded Manels Total, which carry both company products and non-competitive products from other manufacturers.

Another store concept aimed at the broad C-D provincial markets is the Everything 100 chain, where everything could be bought for P100.

"Since we have so many suppliers who can produce goods according to our price specifications, we are able to buy items at less than P100 and still make a profit when we sell these at P100," said Villarama-Siggaoat. E100 also sell export overruns.

A good number of EOH patrons are fellow entrepreneurs who resell to offices and homes, either on installment or cash basis.

The first E100 franchised shop was put up in 1999 in Filinvest, Quezon City by an entrepreneur who was barely out of college and who was given by his grandparents P1.2 million. That shop now grosses P100,000 a day and has recovered the original capital.

Today, E100 has are eight company-owned and 12 franchises. Five more franchise operations will open in the second half of this year.