Three Women
First my mother, then me, and now my niece- a short essay on three women.
My mother was born in 1916 in a prosperous town of Batangas called Balayan. She was beautiful, excelled academically and was very athletic.
She loved going to school every day to learn new things. Her mother however did not believe in educating women, and although my mother wanted so much to be a doctor, she had to stop when she finished elementary. Like most mothers at that time, her mother had defined her role to be a wife, a mother and a homemaker. Unfortunately for her mother (but fortunately for her children), my mother was an unusual girl and was seldom compliant to the dictates of the norm. After an arranged marriage (she married my father at the age of 16 and saw him for the first time at the church on the day of the wedding), she proceeded to become one of the most influential women in the town of Nasugbu. Sometimes I think that her marriage to my father had freed her to act and realize her potentials.
After the Americans arrived in the Philippines in 1898, they introduced softball into the country. Initially a game for girls, it was first called "indoor baseball”. In 1911, indoor baseball was formally introduced in local public schools to replace basketball as the game for schoolgirls, and it soon became the number 1 sport among women. The Philippines took the lead in introducing indoor baseball, forerunner of the present-day softball, to other Asian countries such as Japan & China. In 1915, the Philippines sent two girls teams in Far Eastern Games in Shanghai to demonstrate the game. Softball was made an official event in the national interscholastic public schools meet. It became the sport of choice for my mother and her team would later become state champions. Her ambition, work ethic and strong drive to succeed were evident at an early age.
After her marriage to my father, they lived with his parents on their farm. Never satisfied to stay at home and be a housewife, she looked around for something else to do. In addition to farming, my father owned the rice mill in the village. It was there that my mother first got introduced to the local farmers who planted not only rice but also vegetables and fruits.
This was the start of her life as an entrepreneur. Soon she would be negotiating with the farmers on their future harvests. Her first biggest produce was bananas. She would visit the farms, walk the land, and convince the farmers to sell her that year’s future harvest at an agreed price. She was trading in futures- a very revolutionary idea at that time in the Philippines, especially where she was. She would make (or lose) money on the strength of her projections and faith in the market.
The farmers were happy to partner with her as this gave them the chance to concentrate on what they knew best and for the first time, be assured of income. They were very happy to allow my mother to take over the marketing of their produce. My mother took all the risks, many times advancing money to the farmers. Her role was equally divided between the farmers (her suppliers) and her customers, find better ways to improve quality and delivery process. Intuitively, she understood the importance of shorter time-to-market windows. Sitting in the middle, she had to satisfy both ends. Integrity was her main currency.
At harvest time, thousands of bananas would be delivered to their house. The task of counting was given to my siblings. My older sisters would be sitting down on the floor, Indian-style or Japanese-style, and with fat little fingers and droopy eyes, count each banana, “until the moon disappeared”. The count must be accurate as this will determine the pricing. If they lose count, they had to start all over again.
My father was a farmer who planted rice, corn and peanuts. However tired he may have been, he would get up every morning at 3am and take my mother to the junction in the highway, his carabao-drawn cart, over-flowing with bananas. My mother would take her goods to Manila (then the most beautiful city in Asia) on the first bus, arriving in the city at first light.
By mid-morning, she would have sold all her produce. She would then turn her attention to buying goods to take back and sell in her village, this could be dry goods; or fruits not available locally, such as pineapples. Every trip that she made, in whichever direction, she would carry goods to trade. The afternoon bus would carry her back to the same junction where my father would be waiting. My entrepreneurial, ambitious and visionary mother met her perfect partner in my quiet, patient, hardworking father.
I was nearly 10 years old when my mother started involving me. I would carry a basket of fruits and vegetables perched on my head (this would later be replaced by books!) and deliver them to her clients. After which I would collect receivables from previous deliveries, the money safely tucked in my shorts pocket, and when I got home, made a short report accounting deliveries and collection. Nothing fancy (nothing was ever fancy in those days) but the seeds for me, were planted.
Later on, my mother would start another business in real estate, subdividing large tracts of land and selling them. She also did property management for her select clients; where she would buy properties, manage them for awhile, and at the appropriate time, sell them, making sure her clients made money in the process. In many cases, her clients never saw the properties; their trust in my mother was absolute. This was one of the major lessons I learned from her at an early age, to be trustworthy and to never compromise my integrity. When I started my own business, I would call her when things got really hard. She would always say: “Do the right thing by your clients and the money will come. Don’t worry, things will work out”. (But of course, I did worry).
I was 30 years old when I decided to start my own business in software and services. We developed the first Philippine retail banking software that would be sold around the world. This was also the time, in my first trip to Sydney, that I would meet the man who would become my partner and husband for many years. We were young, driven and had one burning focus, banking automation. Within a few years, we became one of the largest in Southeast Asia. This was followed by a healthcare business, providing highly skilled nurses to tertiary hospitals in the United States. We partnered with the best universities and hospitals, educating both source (in the Philippines) and clients (in the United States). Within 4 years, we became the company of choice in the Philippines, and the largest in the West Coast, in that business.
Partnerships, process, products.
A few years ago, I started an organic farm business. Of all the businesses we had started, this is the one that brings us the most joy. There is something about food that never fails to bring out the best in me. Some of my best memories were in the kitchens and around the dining table with families and friends.
Like the software industry, this is also stressful. But somehow the stress is more manageable and the task of running the day to day, very calming. Our staff in this company seem to be nicer, more attuned to delight customers and they are less argumentative (a trait that may be much needed when designing software but not when selling vegetables).
I always look forward to meet with Chefs to discuss produce, get involved in designing menus, and influence them to try new products. We talk about how vegetables are to be used, in what dishes and style of cooking. We get involved in food tastings; our comments are heard and respected. In conjunction with our clients, we host farm to table dinners. We attend special events involving wines and beef from around the world. It is a glamorous business!
No matter what delivery challenges we have for the day (and we get a few especially when a typhoon devastates farms and wipes out harvests), we work out solutions with the chefs. Hardly an angry word, no blames. The focus remains on the food that needs to be served. Collaboratively, we put our heads together as we think of vegetables we can substitute. Can we deliver maches in place of spinach? Can we use komatsuna instead of mizuna? What changes, if any, do we need to make to the menu?
I find Chefs to be more understanding and compassionate- their hearts are bigger, they are more generous. We work calmly through challenges. This is a business where I feel partnerships are real and where alliances truly work.
Our farmers, who are mostly not educated beyond primary, had to be trained to understand what the end client needs. We have to teach them that farming is a business as well as a science. They have to learn and comply with the principles of organic farming, to go back to how it used to be years before the advent of chemical fertilizers that promised big harvests in half the time but poisoned the environment. We had to explain to them that, as in life, there are no shortcuts in farming and no immediate gratification. Farming teaches us to be patient, to nurture, to harvest at the right time. To bow to nature, to follow the law of the harvest, to love the land, to take care of it and trust that it will take care of you.
As with my mother, we commit to buy all future harvests at an agreed price, as long as the quality is maintained.
To help our farmers develop appreciation and respect for their produce, we occasionally bring them to client’s outlets, to see for themselves how their vegetables are used or showcased.
Seeing how their simple harvest is turned to gourmet meals make them appreciate the transformation of their produce. When they see faces of end clients happily eating their produce, they understand they are not the lowly farmers they have been led to believe (“magsasaka lang ako”, I am only a farmer). These little trips enhance their pride in what they do and raise their self-esteem (amor propio) as they realize their important role in the supply chain. They begin to understand that their job does not end with the harvest; their job ends with the satisfaction of the person who ordered the meal.
Partnerships, process, products. Then and now, our business principles remain the same.
I just learned that my niece and god-daughter, Rhea, will soon be joining an organic produce company and will help grow their business by marketing to restaurants, hotels and resorts. I could not believe it when she shared the news with us, and all I could say was: “but that’s what we do!” Then of course, as is true with our family, what followed was a lively and animated discussion about how to run the company that, by the way, she still has to join (!), a business that, by the way, does not belong to us!
But of all the things that we talked about, what warmed my heart the most was the realization that she understood.
My niece has been in the hospitality business for many years; working with some of the best Chefs in the world, planning events and menus, working on budgets. She worked in Las Vegas, in Napa Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area. She was born, raised and educated in the United States, a first generation immigrant who relates confidently to both cultures, East and West. Unlike my mother and me, she grew up in a country that encourages its citizens to be whatever they wish to be; that the barriers are there, not to stop you but to cross it. She completely understands the consumer side of the business and the clients she has to delight.
Like my mother and me, she loves to cook for others. This is a trait we all share. We are happiest when we are cooking and eating, both of which we consider social events. We never rush through a meal and always, conversations, laughter and tears at the dining table- this is what I would always remember of our family get-togethers.
Rhea has one added skill that my mother and I never had- she has formal and on the job trainings in this business. With her training, love of cooking, and a penchant for marketing, I have no doubts of her rise to the top. More than 70 years ago, my mother “stumbled” into this business and made a success of it (as most entrepreneurs do); I took her legacy one step up; Rhea will take what we know a few steps further.
I have always believed that the secret to success is the combination of passion and talent, when they intersect. Find your passion, where you have a talent, and can also make money; then you will be happy and content. While others die trying in vain, I think Rhea has found hers.
My mother, me and now her- three generations of Bautista women and a passion for food.
