A Tale of 3 FDW-Entrepreneurs

Well, the solution lies with you. Will you spend all the money you earn or will you save some of it? You have surely heard of domestic helpers who borrow from other domestic helpers because they do not know how to manage their money. For example, they spend so much money on phone bills. When they get the bill, they realise that talk is not so cheap after all.

On the other hand, there are those who prepare for the day when they can go home and have a steady income. Mona is one such FDW. She decided early that she was not going to be a foreign domestic worker all her life. She had a plan, a simple one. She was going to work here for 4 to 6 years, save half of her income and invest it in a small piece of farm land and a house near a college. She would rent out rooms to out-of-town college students and cook for them. It sounded like a good plan.

She missed her target by two years and after 8 years she was the proud owner of a piece of farm land and was buying a house on instalment. She was able to derive a small income from the farm land. Her cousin managed the farm and shared the farm produce with her. Meanwhile she was able to pay the monthly instalment on the house. She was so happy and so proud of herself.

But unfortunately, even well-made plans sometimes go wrong. When the harvest was bad, her income dropped. During school vacation she had no tenants and no rental income. Luckily for Mona, she did have a contingency plan if things did not work out as she had hoped. Indeed, things did not turn out the way she thought they would.

Two years after going home "for good", she came back to Singapore to work as a domestic helper again. Then with three sources of income (from the farm, rental and her current job) she was able to speed up her mortgage payments. She was still on track, only it would take a little longer. But that was certainly better than working as domestic helper all her life with nothing to look forward to when she finally retired.

If Mona had more knowledge and was more realistic, her planning would have been better, and would probably know that it would take a long time for her dream to materialise because she was starting from zero.

Unlike Mona, Lerma's parents own the land on which they raised pigs. As Lerma was an only child, even a small plot was good enough. She had helped her parents manage the piggery and she went to college to learn more about animal husbandry. She learnt about diseases that pigs were prone to, nutrition and medication. After graduation, she helped her parents for a couple of years and put into practice what she learnt in school. She could not do many things she learnt because of a lack of capital. She solved the problem by working in Singapore. Her plan was simple, like Mona's. She would work for a few years in Singapore, perhaps 4 years. Then she would go home and work on improving the farm operations. I did not hear from Lerma again after she went home. Perhaps no news is good news. At least she did not come back to Singapore as a domestic worker.

Celia had a plan too. Before she came to Singapore she was a high speed sewer in Manila. She was young, fast and hardworking. She worked long hours and made good money. But life was so hectic and she had so many expenses: rental, jeepney rides, merienda, etc. After deducting all her expenses, she her nett income was even less than that of a domestic worker in Singapore. If she got sick for a few days, she would earn less. So when the factory closed down, she came work in Singapore.

Her employer in Singapore was a dressmaker who chose her because of her experience as a high speed sewer. Celia not only helped in the domestic chores, but also helped in the sewing and in so doing, she learnt many skills from her employer. She accompanied her employer on her trips to the boutiques to deliver their order. She observed her employer as she negotiated the buyer. Negotiation skills are vital to a business person.

In the factory she did not sew the whole dress, but only one part. In Singapore her employer did everything - cut the cloth, sew the sleeves, collar, button holes, etc. Celia was a motivated learner for she realised that she could do the same when went home, after acquiring the necessary skills. After a few years she was able to save up enough money to buy two used sewing machines. She learnt how to find designs and ready-made patterns.

Because of her background knowledge and her experience both in Manila and Singapore, Celia was able to plan better than Mona. She would first sew for retail outlets, the boutiques. The dresses would be one of a kind or "limited editions", not like those mass-produced by the factories. The upmarket boutiques would not be interested in factory made items because they could not compete with the department stores. Celia's first customer was such a boutique. Soon her orders grew and her second machine came in handy as she employed someone to help her in the same way that she helped her employer in Singapore. Being hardworking and skillful, Celia made a good living and as she got more orders she invested in more machines and soon her house was like a mini-factory. Celia kept in touch with her employer. She later returned to Singapore, not as a domestic worker, but as a successful businesswoman visiting another businesswoman, her former employer and mentor. That was many years ago. I think Celia is doing well.