A Pinoy seafarer’s ‘epiphany’

A Pinoy seafarer’s ‘epiphany’
Malou Talosig-Bartolome December 12, 2021 https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/12/12/a-pinoy-seafarers-epiphany/

Returning OFWs stick their necks out in PHL market, start own business amid pandemic

FOR 37 days that he had to spend inside a “world-class” jail inside a cruise ship in Japan, Lourence Tan de Leon had an epiphany of sorts.

At that time, he was one of the 100 crewmembers who tested positive for Covid-19. The father of three young children, the youngest of them then a newborn, was so scared of dying.

It was April 2020 and science was still groping in the dark on the severity of the novel coronavirus to infected humans. Their cruise ship, MV Costa Atlantica, is also the second cruise ship in the world that experienced a Covid epidemic.

Forced to go back home

DE Leon is just one of the 800,000 Filipinos who came home to the Philippines at the height of the pandemic. Most of the OFWs lost their jobs as businesses worldwide shut down. The cruise line industry, which employs more than 325,000 Filipinos, was one of those badly hit.

“I kept thinking about so many things—my family, my work. Would I still have work after this? Then I thought of the business that I have been dreaming about for so long,” De Leon, a former assistant housekeeping manager of Costa Atlantica, said.

His dream at first was to have his own grocery and piggery. But upon his return to his hometown in Pagbilao, Quezon, in May 2020, he saw that groceries are closed. He thought a piggery farm business is not for him, too, because he could not tolerate the odor from the hogs’ manure.

“I was thinking then—what business can I venture in that could last even when there is a pandemic?” he told the BusinessMirror.

After researching possible business ventures, De Leon said he would like to try the chicken breeder farm since he enjoyed feeding chickens in their own backyard when he was growing up.

Then he looked at his very young children and right there he decided to have this agri-business, which he said could be his lasting legacy for them.

“I learned that battery-cage chicken, as young as chicks, are already being injected with antibiotics. But free-range chickens are healthier. No drugs, no antibiotics and since they roam around, they are healthier and stronger. That’s the kind of food I want my children to eat,” the 39-year-old seafarer said.

With zero knowledge and experience on raising free-range chicken, he had to study all the facets of the business. He enrolled in the online class of Dr. Erwin Joseph S. Cruz, a veterinarian and foremost expert on free-range chicken in the country.

After learning the ropes of the trade, he started buying female and male breeders, all imported from the Czech Republic.

Slowly, he started tapping his savings. He built a hut for the caretaker and other huts for breeders.

When his chicks have matured enough to become breeders, he would sell each at P50 to P85. “Small backyard farmers are coming to me to buy the breeders, especially the female,” he recalled.

With approximately P180,000 initial capital outlay, he believes he will have a return on investment in two to three years.

“Right now, I’m averaging P12,000 to P13,000 net income per month with just my first batch of breeders. It is covering already my daily expenses,” he estimated.

He admitted that starting a business during a pandemic is very challenging. But his experience as a supervisor of a billion-dollar business helped him stay focused and resilient during these times.

“I am used to having a relatively higher income,” he intimated. “Now, when I see my wallet, I ask myself, ‘Am I poor now?’ Then I see my chicks running and my huts. Then I say to myself, ‘Ahhh, ok there’s my money.’”

During the fist quarter of 2021, when cruise lines were allowed to return to business in Europe and the Americas, his manning agency started calling him to tell him to join. He would always decline. But he doesn’t know how long he could keep doing it.

“Our job in the ship has so many risks—not just Covid. I saw a number of my colleagues who had a heart attack, became comatose and had nothing left for their families. So it really got me thinking if the risks are really worth it, not to mention that I am away from my family,” he said.

When asked if his agri-business venture is enough motivation for him to stay for good, De Leon replied, “I don’t want to say things with certainty. I don’t want to burn bridges. Let’s see. But right now, my focus is still my family and my business.”
Images courtesy of AP/Aaron Favila, Erick Arenas via AP and Nonie Reyes