Lawyer-entrepreneur’s hamonada business makes waves this season

CEBU, Philippines - For start-up Cebuano entrepreneur Ethelbert Ouano, starting a business was an instinctive way to turn his hobby into a profitable venture.

Since it started mid-November this year, Ouano’s hamonada retail business has already catered to known customers who apparently want to divert from the usual lechon and ham on the table during a holiday celebration.

Ouano, a practicing lawyer and professor, shared to The FREEMAN that people particularly his friends started to recognize him as a hamonada maker when he always brought the particular dish to the parties he attended.

From there, he started to receive personal orders from relatives and friends including those of his Facebook acquaintances because of the delectable taste of hamonada. He manages the growing business with his sister who takes charge of sourcing the raw materials and cooking.

On the other hand, the 35-year-old Ouano is the one who takes orders and sells the product to the end buyers. This holiday season, he said his home-based hamonada shop receives more or less 10 orders a day.

The lawyer-entrepreneur invested only P2,000 when he started the enterprise. The money was mostly spent for the ingredients since production materials were already available.

“There’s really a big potential,” he said of his possible plan to consider building a shop when the small business flourishes.

When he started the venture, he said he wanted to introduce well the hamonada to the consuming public who most of them only know about lechon and ham. Hamonada is an old-fashioned Pinoy specialty dish which is made of pork leg or shoulder and sweet pineapple sauce.

Ouano also shared getting meat supplies during the holiday season is very hard because the demand normally rises. But they make sure they source pork shoulders either from the public market or meat shop.

There are many ways to make hamonada but Ouano uses the braising method which is done by browning the meat’s fat and simmering in a small quantity of liquid in a covered container.

“I’m doing this because I've known none,” he said when asked why he invested in such retail business. “Mao ni ang gap nga akong nakit-an sa market kay this has been a standard Cebuano food and yet it’s not going mainstream unlike lechon, lechon belly and ham.”

Embracing entrepreneurship

Ouano started his enterprise without really having a formal business plan but, he said, costing and projecting the supposed income should be done to foresee the direction of the business.

Getting into entrepreneurship does not necessarily require a person to have a business background, he said.

“What I've learned is a lot of compromise and patience gyud. Kana bitaw’ng di ka mauwaw to sell your product. You should be proud,” he told those planning to set up their own business.

“Business involves risk but you should know how to manage the risk. Di ka dapat mahadlok kay it’s part of the venture,” he said. (FREEMAN)