Doing what you love

Many have said that practice and more practice will make you perfect. You may have failed many times but because you love what you are doing, you’ll do it repeatedly whatever it takes.

At the age of 22, Vesitacion S. Escalante started to make flower designs out of crepe papers. Escalante came from a family who owns a flower shop. “Being a member of a family that owns a flower shop does not mean I am already good in flower arrangement. I also spent trial and error days and even convinced myself to practice more to perfect my craft,” shared Escalante.

“After one day, everything seemed to be normal. My hands were able to create designs beyond imagination,” she added.

Now, from crepe papers, Escalante is managing her own flower shop business in Malita, Davao Occidental where she is the hands-on florist.

“I have no formal education related to flower arrangement. I am a commerce graduate and my expertise is bookkeeping. Yet, I love doing flower arrangements. Maybe being a florist is in our family bloodline,” she said in jest.

“As our flower shop continued to grow, we need an additional capital. Then, my best friend introduced to me to CARD, Inc.,” Escalante said. She also revealed that hearing former President Noynoy Aquino in 2014 during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) thanking CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) encouraged her to join the institution.                  

CARD MRI is a group of 21 institutions including CARD, Inc. that aims to eradicate poverty in the country by providing financial and non-financial services to socioeconomically challenged women and their families.

Escalante started with a loan amounting to PhP6,000 in CARD, Inc. With her good performance in terms of repayment and business viability, bigger amount of increment was granted to her loans.

“I could not ever imagine that throughout those years, from making flowers out of crepe paper for funeral occasions, here I am, a florist managing my own flower shop,” said Escalante.

The flower shop of Escalante is also one of the known shops in Malita. More and more orders are placed everyday and she is more than happy because she’s one of the clients of CARD, Inc. who was transitioned to CARD Bank, Inc., a microfinance-oriented rural bank of CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI).

“I am happy because the bank offers wider financial services that suits to my business needs,” Escalante said.

Escalante is thankful to CARD, Inc. for guiding her to manage her business well. “I will always look back to what CARD, Inc. had taught me. Now that I am a member of CARD Bank, I will continue to improve my business so I can be of help to other people also,” Escalante concluded.