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small retail store in Plaridel , Bulacan .
There were other similar modest establishments in the area , what made Calatas ’ s store grow and grow and grow ?
Well , according to the De La Salle University financial management graduate , who can be very disarming even to a jaded journalist like me ( with his good looks and dramatic flair for dressing , topped by a boy-band jelled hair-do ) after his graduation , he took a long , serious look at his mother ’ s store and similar stores around it . What could he do to make their store J . Melvin Trading really stand out and so attract more customers ?
The enterprising young man hit on the idea of using online Internet marketing tools and employing salesmen , something unheard of in their area and at the time . Despite her own trepidations , his mother let her second son carry out his strategy .
His vision worked ! His customers loved the fact that their needs were available at the touch of a button and could be prepared for by the store in advance . They felt important and the store became a center in the agriled economy of Bulacan .
To say their sales jumped was an understatement . The figures were phenomenal and got them the exclusive rights to distribute many agri products , like that of San Miguel Corporation ’ s .
Five years later , they are already into farming and producing their own feeds , fertilizer , and other and products . His initial stock offering was also quite successful and now he thinks it is time to pay back the farmers for putting food
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on our tables .
Filipino farmers , he stressed , have lost the young generation who could follow in their footsteps in the fields to more lucrative careers and lifestyles in the city . Today farmers are in their fifties or sixties and earn barely enough for their families . As in generations ago , they have hardly any access to credit , use traditional methods of farming and harvesting , and depend on middle men to market their produce .
Joseph wants to help change the lot of farmers by investing in them . He has put up a Calata Foundation to try to entice a younger breed of informed farmers to uplift their lives .
He plans to recruit scholars ( college graduates ) from the Araneta-La Salle schools ( gave them a R2 million grant ) and sponsor their farm schooling in Argentina to upgrade them to a “ Master ’ s degree level ” in food production .
When they return to their country , they will be the mentors to the other farmers in “ clusters ” which will be centers for excellence in production and marketing . And so focused is Calata in the foundation that he already has two Argentine gentlemen farmers in the country helping him plan the farm schools .
“ The Foundation wants to develop entrepreneur farmers . We want to inspire them , cultivate productivity , and sustain their growth .” He admits he can ’ t do it by himself . “ I need the help of like-minded , sociallyconscious businessmen and women to pitch in and lend us a helping hand . They can sponsor a scholar each and we will help turn him to be a modern farmer for the benefit of the country .”
We can only pray
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that Calata ’ s call for our farmers will be heard in the corporate boardrooms of the country !
And oh , yes , yours truly is on a short family vacation in this beautiful city of Vancouver where my eldest son Junie lives with his wife Cora and my darling ‘ apos ,’ Monchu and Miggy . Filipino-Canadians here in Vancouver really did support President Digong wholeheartedly , according to my publisher here , ex-boxing Olympian Rey Fortaleza of Philippine Asian News Today . Why ? Because he connected with the common “ tao ,” the OFWs whoworked hard to send money home , the professionals , even with his brash , vulgar language and they saw
him more importantly , as a “ doer .”
Amb . Joey Ampeso and my BFF here , Edna Corrales , agreed
with Rey ’ s assessment of the new Chief Executive . Now everyone is awaiting the results of the bloody purging of drug addicts , drug lords , and drug suspects . It is summer but still , at 14 degrees out of the sun , I wear
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com )
Joseph ‘ Josh ’ Calata has a heart for farmers . ( Photo by Ed Santiago )
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