Entrepreneur never says die, relaunches leather business
Maria Yolanda C. Sevilla, cofounder of The leather Collection inc. (TlCi), is an entrepreneur by heart.
“I married a serial entrepreneur, so it was quite natural to set up our first enterprise when we were married in 1981, 38 years ago,” Sevilla said. That first enterprise was a quick-print shop, an alternative to mimeographing—“Does anyone remember that still?” she mused.
It was a microenterprise, a single proprietorship in the name of her husband, Federico S. Sevilla Jr., called InstaPrint Enterprises.
Like most start-ups, their major challenge that time was capital. Sevilla said their cash on hand that time was only P17,000.
“[Our] suppliers came to the rescue,” she said. “We were allowed to use a small offset machine [on a] pay-when-able [term]. We negotiated credit terms for supplies.”
InstaPrint’s shop occupied her brother-in-law’s backyard. Sevilla said the fee she received as a direct marketing consultant at the time helped fund payroll and other operating expenses.
“In a couple of years, InstaPrint morphed into FSS Creative Art Techniques, a creative boutique offering not only design services, but also color separation services, another service that is no longer needed in this digital age.”
TLCI origins
ACCORDING to Sevilla, InstaPrint initial operations focused on designing menus, annual reports, travelogues and the like.
Then they began designing paper products that were produced and distributed by The Bookmark Inc. Regardless of the production quantity, each product was branded, e.g., “Niji and Fedrigoni” stationery products, “Yellow Board” write-on wipe-off boards; and “The Landmark” map.
According to Sevilla, her husband, a graphic artist, considered his masterpiece, the Triax-brand planner-organizer that Bookmark’s Jose
Ma. Lorenzo P. Tan convinced the late Mike Hamlin of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) to endorse.
“We were also allowed to rebrand the organizer ‘The Asian Manager,’ and it was formally launched at an AIM Alumni Association Meeting hosted by Stan Shih in Taipei,” she said. “These planner-organizers required leather covers, which we sourced from both local and overseas suppliers.”
Later, a German craftsman from Goldpfeil (Ludwig Krumm AG), offered to supply the Sevillas with leather binders.
“We told him and his Filipino wife that we weren’t looking for suppliers; we wanted to manufacture these ourselves,” Sevilla said. “Why so? We wanted to ensure quality.”
Thus, they formed a five-man unit in InstaPrint to make these binders.
“[The] AIM naturally became our first bulk institutional customer. We sensed the opportunity to shift from selling to consumers [B2C, or business-to-consumer] to institutional selling [B2B, or businessto-business] and created our first leather collection, a five-piece set of executive accessories: briefcase, meeting folder, organizer, pen case, card case,” Sevilla said. “What to brand this new line? ‘The Leather Collection.’”
Confronting challenges
THE Sevillas launched the The Leather Collection in World Exco’s “Corporate Giveaways Show,” positioning brand as custom-designed, madeto-order business bags and accessories for corporate gift-giving and accessorizing. That was 28 years ago.
“Throughout the years, we have been faced with more challenges than can be imagined,” Sevilla said.
First was the 1997 Asian financial crisis when, she said, the landed cost of leather they imported from Italy practically doubled due to the devaluation of the peso.
Sevilla also cited what they call “the China syndrome” when there was an influx of cheap leather goods from China that, according to her, almost wiped out their market. She also cited the US recession in 2008 and the European sovereign debt crisis that “effectively wiped out our growing export market.” Sevilla also noted that Typhoon Ondoy that effectively halved their peak season sales the year it struck.
“When the Asian [financial] crisis struck, financially savvy directors suggested that we downsize. We chose not to, because we had retained earnings, which our ‘kabalikat sa hanap-buhay’ [as we refer to our] employees had made a contribution to,” she said. “And we believed it unjust to separate some of them while there were still savings to tide us over.”
Nonetheless, Sevilla said they were forced to rightsize, or fold up, after a series of setbacks.
“Together with our management team, which included master craftsmen, we made the decision not to file for exemption from giving separation pay, but instead decided the just thing to do was to give separation pay, even if we could not afford it at the time,” she said. “We paid this out in semi-monthly installment; in effect, keeping them in our payroll based on their tenure.”
Relaunching TLCI
SEVILLA has three methods she believes allowed her to overcome the challenges to their business: “daily self-examination; remaining contemplative in action, and remembering I do not own the business in the true sense of the word, but am merely its steward.”
She said an entrepreneur “must respond with courage and integrity” to “the roller-coaster ride over which the entrepreneur has no control.”
Sevilla added that an entrepreneur must also address sustainability and adapt to changes in the marketplace.
“Building a work community of
magkabalikat sa hanap-buhay [life entreprise], practicing Catholic values in a hostile environment, walking my talk and giving voice to values,” Sevilla said also allowed her to recover from the challenges she faced.
These, according to her, gave her the confidence to relaunch TLCI “as a branded corporate gift, ‘World Class,
Gawang Pinoy’ [Filipino-made] and as a private label own-design manufacturer [and] helping start-ups launch their brands mainly online.”
Millennials, Gen Z
SEVILLA said TLCI would also target the millennial and Gen Z markets.
Sevilla considers dealing with millennials as far from difficult.
“They’re not difficult. They’re different from baby boomers, yuppies, etc. They’re the product of the conditions of their times,” she said, recommending older entrepreneurs like her to “be an anthropologist.”
“Immerse in their culture. Be a ‘lolalennial’ or a ‘lololennial’ as the case may be.”
Sevilla added they also incorporated marginalized women’s communities into the TLCI’s value chain. One of them is the Sibaltan Women Weavers Association who are artisanal weavers of banig (matting) and bayong (woven tote bag), which Sevilla said is now handcraft woven leather components for their woven leather collection. Another is the Tribal Women Weavers Association composed of Bagobo women weavers of abaca fiber who now weave indigenous textile for TLCI’s “Great Women” collection.
‘Never say die’
SEVILLA said there are several lessons she culled from her experience as an entrepreneur.
One is “that it’s all about hanapbuhay [employment] and the search for life in its fullness, for meaning and fulfillment.”
“What’s critical is to form a work community willing to go through the good times and bad times together,” Sevilla said adding it was also important to avoid complacency—“Hindi puwede ang puwede na”—and having a “Never say die” attitude.
Sevilla also shared lessons on brand building and marketing for young entrepreneurs.
“Building a strong brand begins with knowing oneself: What does one believe in?
W hat’s one’s personal vision, mission [and] objective?” she said. “The enterprise is an outward manifestation of the entrepreneur’s personal values and beliefs.”
She also advises young entrepreneurs to “target the market you know: the market with similar demographics as your own and that of your circles of influence.”