Story for Entrepreneurship Model

ELIBEL BAUTISTA: CRAB MENTALITY

BY ROEL PARENO
NEGOSYO -55 Joey Concepcion’s Inspiring Stories of Women Entrepreneurs

Poverty teaches one to be rich in more ways than one. Elibel Bautista, 34, knows this
too well. Hunger taught her how to become full and filled. “We don’t get hungry anymore. We
found the solution to hunger in entrepreneurship. If you have your own business, no matter
how small, you will become confident that one day you will grow,” she says in the vernacular.
The source of her livelihood now can be found at the back of her home in Logpond,
Barangay Tarlago in Vitali district, 76 kilometers east of Zamboanga City. Elibel and her
husband Calixto are involved in the business of crab fattening and small-scale financing. Their
crab-fattening business is confined in two 8x12 ft. cages floating in the mangrove area behind
their house. Because of this business venture, Elibel was honored as the 2008 Citi
Microentrepreneur- Masikap Mindanao awardee.
Not content being a housewife, Elibel, a high school graduate, started to buy crabs for
fattening in 1994 with a meager capital of P5,000. Elibel, mother of four, has no business
background but her utmost desire to combat poverty became intrinsic in her crusade to better
the life of her family.
“If we will just depend on the income of my husband who used to work as a laborer in a
bodega(crab and prawn storage center) in Vitali, we surely will not survive. So, we thought of
doing it on our own,” Elibel says. They started buying lean crabs from fishpond owners and
operators. They used their house as the buying station so “the crab catchers do not have to
walk as far as six kilometers to sell their catch.”
“Of course we also observe quality control when we buy crabs. This is one skill I learned
from my husband because he also learned it from the bodega where he used to work,” Elibel
says.
She adds: “It cannot be only him to do the job. We have to split the work. He is the one who
delivers to the buying station while I am the one who attends to the buying of crabs from
individual catchers.”
Elibel describes how their business of crab fattening goes. The undersized crabs are put in
two wooden cages that are placed in the mangrove area situated just at the back of their
house. The crabs are fed with shells and fish like galunggong for 15 days before they sold to
the bodegas in Vitali. Elibel and Calixto harvest fattened crabs twice every month. The owners
of Vitali bodegas then bring the crabs to Dipolog, Zamboanga and even to other countries.
“We buy undersized crabs for P50 per kilo. After fattening them, we sell them at a minimum
price of P100, depending on the size,”Elibel says. Their minimum income from each cage is
pegged at P15,000 per harvest.
Elibel says it was in 2003 when their business got a boost when they took a loan from KFI
Center for Community Development Inc., a micro-finance institution in Zamboanga. They used
the P3,000 loan as additional capital for buying crabs while the second loan of P10,000 was
used to construct a porch in front of their house that now serves as the buying station.

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 Aside from crabs, the couple also buys and sells prawn and milkfish. They have also
diversified into other businesses such as palay production, selling of ice, operating three tricycle
units and water delivery. Elibel also ventures into the retailing business for Natasha products.
With their business growing steadily, the Bautista couple also found themselves providing
bridge financing for the production needs of 22 fishpond operators and rice farmers in the area.
Elibel finances the acquisition of inputs for fishponds like crab fingerlings, or, in the case of rice
fields, fertilizers, seedlings, labor and equipment rental. Upon harvest, crabs are brought to her
buying station, the fishpond operators return to her the amount that was financed to them and
Elibel gets a share from the sales proceeds.
“It feels good to help. Besides, in our neighborhood, hrlping one another is a natural thing.
The more help you give, the more blessings you receive,” she says. Elibel feels blessed that in
2007, she was able to buy a two-hectare farm and another three more hectares in 2008. These
farmlands are planted to palay and coconut.
Elibel and Calixto are both managing their businesses. Calixto is in charge of the farm
production and ricefield financing business. Elibel, on other hand, is directly involved in the
buying, fattening and fishpond financing business. Their business endeavors have also become
a family affair with their children helping, too, in scaling and doing quality control of the crabs.
The businesses of the Bautista couple employ a total of six permanent workers (three tricycle
drivers, two water delivery boys, and one regular rice field attendant and 10 seasonal workers
during planting and harvesting season).
Elibels says her husband plans to acquire a delivery truck in order to facilitate delivery of
crabs and other marine products from their station to the bodegas in Vitali.
“I can’t believe I have come this far. We used to walk barefoot to school and I don’t want my
children to experience the same thing. We want our children to finish college. We will give them
the best education we can afford. They are the reasons why we work so hard,” Elibel humbly
admits.
At the rate she’s going, Elibel is confident she’ll achieve more of her dreams. She knows
more blessings are coming her way because her determination to succeed is always at a fever
pitch.

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Entrepreneurship Models
Directions. Read the story of Elibel Bautista, an entrepreneur. Answer each question in
4 to 5 sentences. Write your answer in the space provided.
1. How was the life of Elibel before? Describe the situation of their family.
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2. What kind of business did Elibel and her husband establish? Was it easy for them during
the beginning of the business?
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3. What are the entrepreneurial character traits of Elibel and her husband that helped them
succeed in their business?
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