The beauty in learning

“Working in a country with different culture and tradition and different people with different nationality, adjustment is really a challenge,” said Gener Lalusin, an overseas worker who decided to stay in the Philippines after spending eight years in Saudi as a hairstylist and makeup artist.

“To work in other countries is good because you can get higher salary; however, the best place for me to live happily and at peace is only the Philippines,” he added.

Staying for good in Lipa, Batangas City, he decided to renovate some parts of their house with the help of his family and put up his own parlor business. He is glad that the time he started to run his business, the customers kept on coming.

“Our growing customers have thrilled me,” said Gener. “But this growth also signifies higher needs and demands,” he added.

According to Gener, there were instances that his customers demand for trendy styles of make ups and hairstyles. So, he challenged himself to always be updated. “Never stop learning” turned to be Gener’s principle. He proudly shared that he never let the opportunity pass so he always attends seminars and trainings.

After few years of operation, he got more customers and this means more supplies of cosmetic products are needed. Sometimes he faced financial difficulty. Yet this is no longer his problem when he became a member of Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD), Inc., (A Microfinance NGO), a member institution of CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) that provides microloans used by the microentrepreneurs for capital or additional fund of their businesses in a very affordable interest rate.

“The loan I availed from CARD, Inc. made my business cope up with the demands and needs of our clients. Thanks to CARD for providing fast and affordable financial assistance,” shared Gener.

Aside from microloans, CARD, Inc. also offers other financial services and community development programs to socio-and-economically challenged women and families in the marginalized sector of the society. To date, CARD, Inc. has 1,435 unit offices nationwide serving more than 1.8 million clients.