Aurora Capitulo-Amagan, now a multi-awarded entrepreneur, learned the value of hard work, patience and perseverance when she was just a 12-year-old lass. Her humble beginnings were not a stumbling block, instead it became an impetus that propelled her to strive hard in life. Though a third child in a brood of nine, Auring, as she is called by her family and friends, was entrusted with more responsibilities at home primarily because she was resourceful and hardworking.
Life became doubly hard for her when her mother got sick. More responsibilities were put on her shoulders, including preparing meals for the whole family. Auring recounts it was her mom who first honed her skills and nurtured her passion for cooking. The same skills enabled her to earn extra income for her family. She experienced selling candies, fruits and halo-halo in the neighborhood in her hometown of San Fernando, Pampanga. Her father's income could hardly make both ends meet, prompting her to work at a tender age.
Enterprising spirit
She got married to a Chinese-Filipino at the age of 16. Through her husband, she acquired more skills not only in cooking but also in running a business.
Everything was going well when misfortune struck. Her husband died leaving her as the sole provider of her five children. She was barely 21 years old then. But she was no weakling. She did not allow gnawing solitude and uncertainty to shatter her resolve to succeed. She proved to all what kind of stuff she was made of. She went into several ventures to support her children-a restaurant, a beauty salon, real estate, trading in imported goods.
In 1976, she went to Mindanao in search of the proverbial greener pastures. She brought some imported goods for trading to the Zamboanga City barter trade center.
There, she was amazed seeing the abundance of seafoods and other marine products. Every time she went back to Manila, she brought some sea cucumber and shark fins, processed them as ready-to-cook ingredients, then, sold them to different Chinese restaurants. She stayed for about four years in Zamboanga doing in barter trading. It was in this place where she met her second husband. Unfortunately, he died two years after their marriage, leaving her a son. When big barter traders came in, she was eased out due to lack of capital. She looked for other opportunities.
Her desire to succeed brought her to this seaport city in 1980. A year after she arrived, she met her third husband, Jose Amagan, who owned a small fishing business. Jose, who was her former teen-age sweetheart in Pampanga, was then an active member of the Philippine Coast Guard.
Pioneer
The couple established A & J Seafoods and Marine Products in 1990. A & J started buying non-export grade tuna and other marine products from big fishing firms. They shipped these out to Manila. The firm's other products then included shark fins, whole tuna, crabs, prawns, octopus, cuttlefish, bird's nest, abalone and sea cucumber.
Later, Aurora realized that only 30 percent of the whole tuna was being processed as sashimi. The rest-tail, head, belly, internal organs and panga-were sold as scraps or fish meal, which did not command a better price in the market. Using the technology she learned from her mom and Chinese husband, Auring pioneered the processing of tuna meat into value-added products like tocino, longganisa, siomai, barbeque, shanghai, nuggets, embutido, ham, loaf, etc. “Everything we do to pork and chicken, I tried doing it to tuna meat. And I succeeded,†says the 56-year-old Pampangueña.
Soon to come out in the market is her new product, the tuna burger. Once this is accepted by the consumers, Aurora plans to put up a fastfood specializing in tuna burger.
Other big fish producers here are trying to imitate her products but they failed due to lack of technology and experience. Some, she says, offered her with big capital but on condition that her products will be exclusively sold to them. She turned down the offer.
Among the company's leading export products at present include, among others, whole tuna, tuna fillet and loins, choice cuts and seafoods. These are sold to the United States, Europe, Hongkong, Japan, Korea and the Middle East under the brand name “Sea Fresh.â€
Going global
A & J Seafood products were among those presented during the various Philippine Trade Missions to the Middle East and Europe. Invitations from foreign business firms worldwide came one after the other, asking her to talk about how her small business metamorphosed into a big one.
The company, which maintains a small processing plant inside the city fishport complex, has really made a big leap forward. From an initial 1.5 million-peso capital in 1995, it grew to 40 million pesos in just eight years. The company now employs 12 regular workers and about 100 seasonal workers.
The couple credited the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in helping the company attain its current status. The government agency helped in product development, market matching and financing. Through the DTI, Aurora had also attended seminars on packaging and labeling, bar coding, pricing, costing and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).
The company strictly observes and adheres to the standards set by foreign markets. Its processing plant is now HACCP- certified.
â€At first, I was not thinking of going global. My target market then was the grassroots,†she bares.
Many businesses abroad have placed orders for her products, but as of now she could not meet their demands due to the limited production capacity of her processing plant.
Government support
The company developed its own technology and through this it has crafted products, which are now acceptable worldwide, even in Islam countries, what it needs is full government support to meet the burgeoning demand of both local and international markets, as well as to make its products more globally competitive. Aurora bared that the company's average daily production of two tons are not enough to meet the demand of consumers in the city.
Last year, she availed of the financing under the Sulong Program of Quedancor. She used the amount in putting up a processing plant. Her application for a 90 million-peso loan from Land Bank had already been approved but the amount has yet to be released. She was hoping it would be released soon so she could start the construction of the company's new and bigger processing plant. She was expecting about 10 tons daily production once the new processing plant is put in place.
International award
Two years ago, the company was awarded the country's most outstanding SME in medium category by the DTI. But the most prestigious one came just last May 24 when it bagged the most-coveted New Millennium Award for Business Leadership and Prestige.
The selection committee for the 34th International Award for Business Leadership and Prestige based its decision on the information provided by the 7,000 entrepreneur-members of the Trade Leaders' Club coming from 112 countries.
A & J Seafoods is the first Filipino company to receive such a citation from the prestigious Trade Leaders' Club based in Madrid, Spain.
The trophy, plaque and a golden “Badge of Global Quality Management†was handed by the club's chair Arsenio Pardo Rodriguez to Aurora during the ceremony held in Zurich, Switzerland.
“A small entrepreneur can make our city and the country proud,†she says.