Client Stories > Editha del Monte

Micro-enterprise : Purified Drinking Water Station and Junk Shop
TSPI Branch : TSPI – Taguig Branch

It all started from junk! Indeed, Editha del Monte a TSPI client since 1999, started from nothing. Migrating from the province, she worked as a factory worker and lived in a squatter’s area in Bagong Tanyag, Taguig, Metro Manila. With her first and second loans, she set-up a sari-sari store which went bankrupt due to unmanaged credits issued to customers. It was not a good first try in business but Editha was not discouraged.

By her third loan from TSPI in 2000 amounting to P 9,000.00, Editha in partnership with her husband, Prospero engaged in a junk shop business. The couple got the business idea and strategies from an uncle who manages a successful junk shop in Laguna. They hit it big by buying and selling factory junk. The work is back breaking but the fast turn-over of goods yields higher income for the couple.

On the same year that they put up a junk shop business, Editha was offered by a friend to sell purified water on consignment. She started selling 10 containers of 5-gallon of water a week at a profit of P10/container on cash purchases. Since her market is mainly poor families, she also extends credit though adjusts her pricing with an extra 30% mark-up.

Nearly 5 years after, the junk shop business continues to grow but it is their purified water business that shows significant progress. From just being a consignee, Editha is now a proud owner of the Global Purified Drinking Water, a Department of Trade and Industries (DTI) - registered water purifying and selling business. Global Purified Drinking Water is a franchise of Aquarine, a company that boasts of a 21-step water treatment process.  From a 10-container a week operations back in 2000, Editha’s Global Purified Drinking Water Station sells an average of 150 containers a week in 2005. In addition to the poor communities in Bagong Tanyag, Editha now supplies purified water to residents of Severina 18 Subdivision in Paranaque City.

Hard work and good customer relations are two principles that Editha stands by in managing their business. “Kung hindi ka marunong makisama sa mga customers, mawawala sila. Sila ang tumutulong sa hanapuhay, kaya dapat marunong kang magdala sa kanila”. (If you do not have good relations with your customers, you will loose them. They are important in the business so you must know how to properly handle them.). Editha also values hard work, as she shared “Para maging successful ang business, kailangan ng sipag at tiyaga.  Kahit may puhunan ka pero walang sipag at tiyaga, wala rin mangyayari!” (For a business to be successful, you need hard work and diligence. You may have enough capital but if you do not work hard, it will lead to nothing!).

The family business  provides direct employment to 6 workers – 3 workers in the junk shop that pick-up and deliver scrap materials, 2 delivery boys and 1 storekeeper for the drinking water station. Likewise, the water station supplies water on consignment to 15 dealers/consignees in Bagong Tanyag where an estimated population of 12,000 poor families live. 

In addition to employment and income generation, Editha actively participates in community development. She is a Barangay Health Worker and in 2000, was the first seller of purified water in the squatter community of Bagong Tanyag. Back then, buying purified drinking water was uncommon among poor families despite a high incidence of water-borne diseases among children, babies in particular. To promote the use of clean water especially for babies, she sold water on credit.

She is also the incumbent Vice President of Samahan ng Responsableng Mamamayan ng Bagong Tanyag (SAREMBAT). One of the main projects of the neighborhood association is to negotiate with government and lot owners for the acquisition of residential lots at cheaper price for Bagong Tanyag squatters. To date, a total of 28 families have secured tenure to their own piece of residential land. In addition to land ownership, SAREMBAT likewise maintains peace and order in the area. “Marami pa akong magandang plano para sa samahan.  Gusto kong kausapin ang munisipyo para magbigay sa mga nanay dito ng food processing seminars para marami silang matutunan na pwede nilang magamit sa negosyo”.  (I have more good plans for the organization. I plan to talk to the local government officials for them to provide food processing seminars to the mothers— knowledge that they can use for business). 

Editha and Prospero used to worry a lot about their source of living. Now they are even capable of providing livelihood to others. Indeed a lot of good things have taken place over the years… unbelievably, it all started from junk.

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