Aireen Desena, Rug Maker

Aireen Desena, 40, Aireen Rug Making, makes potholders, 2006, employs 12 people. Undisclosed earnings. Joined CARD Bank seven years ago, has taken out six loans.

Boredom is a powerful motivator for Aireen Desena. As a young mother, it prompted her to insist on building a small house of her family’s own so they could move out of her mother-in-law’s home. As her 5 children grew, she again found herself with too much time on her hands and so decided to open a business sewing rugs. With her family’s savings and a 12,000 peso loan from CARD in 2006, she bought a sewing machine and some fabric then got started.

Once she made enough money, she decided to buy more sewing machines, hiring other people to help with the sewing and cutting and her brother-in-law to make deliveries. Today, Aireen Rug Making employs 12 people and its customer base has grown from a few hardware stores to include ships and a wider region.

The business has had a few bumpy moments over the years, but Desena said they overcame each obstacle by remaining determined and courageous.

“One of our buyers suddenly cancelled their order and my brother-in-law called me and asked me what to do with the undelivered rugs,” she recalled. “I told him to just sell it on their way home. Many rugs were bought and only few were left. I had a sigh of relief.”

Desena added, “Through God’s grace, we have not encountered major problems after that and our business continues to prosper.”

She believes the most important qualities for a successful businesswoman are being courageous, strong-willed, calm and confident. She also believes in being frugal, though she recognizes that her success is partly due to the six bank loans she’s taken out over the years. Aireen Rug Making could be even bigger, but she is wary of taking on larger loans that would take longer to repay.

“We need to save more money first,” Desena explained. “When we were just starting because of our limited capital, even if we wanted to buy something, we did not. I wanted to have three or four sewing machines, but we started with just one and then it became two. We put our money into our business as additional capital.”

~ Aireen Desena