How Mekeni conquered life’s challenges

MEKENI is one of the most successful brands not only in the Philippines, but throughout Asia. But like any successful company today, Mekeni started as a small family business. And like any successful business, Mekeni experienced several crises throughout its life — and conquered every single one of them.

It was in 1991 when the company experienced its first major crisis with the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June of that year. Back then, Mekeni was just a small business with less than 25 employees, operated by Tatay Felix and Imang Meding Garcia — former public school teachers who started a small business with their life savings — and their sons Doods and Nards in the backyard of their home in Porac, Pampanga.

When Mount Pinatubo erupted, Porac was one of the most devastated in the province, and their backyard meat processing plant was almost completely destroyed. But instead of being disheartened and losing hope because of seemingly insurmountable odds, they decided to steel their resolve and help their kababayans by providing livelihoods and uplifting their community.

By enlisting their children’s help, including their sons Adrian, Pruds and Lito, who were then based overseas, they made it their life’s mission to make a difference in the lives of others.

Eventually, the business recovered and even grew exponentially thereafter. By 1994, a new processing plant had been constructed with a capacity to process 3,000 kilos of meat a day, which operated 24 hours daily. Employee count had also grown to about 35 people, all of them neighbors of the Garcia family.

Over the years, Mekeni has encountered many problems, but they always went back to the most important things to them: their people and their community. This kept them centered. And now that the country faces one of the greatest challenges in our history, Garcia has a simple advice for businesses of all sizes.

“In times of crisis, you go back to the mission and vision of the company,” he said.