Cebu dried fish vendor wins award

CEBU CITY – An elderly dried fish vendor from the town of Medellin is hailed as “Micro-entrepreneur of the Year” by the City Savings Bank.

Luzviminda 'Nanay Luz' Sunit. (Minerva Newman)

It said Luzviminda “Nanay Luz” Sunit, who started to venture into dried fish business with an initial capital of P4,000, was among the 10 Filipino micro-entrepreneurs honored during the bank’s 18th Citi Micro-entrepreneurship Award. 

“I would take the basin full of fish and peddle it around town to make a sale and in 1975, I eventually ventured into making dried fish or buwad with an initial capital of P4,000,” Nanay Luz remembered well. 

Nanay Luz’s determination, optimism, and confidence brought her to different people and institutions that helped her to get a loan from the First Agro-Industrial Rural Bank (FairBank) - an affiliate of City Savings Bank - in Bogo City to expand her dried fish business.  

With the help of the bank, Nanay Luz’s business became successful with her products now available in the public markets of Medellin and Bogo City, as well as in Leyte. 

Nanay Luz now has over 20 workers, including some who lost their regular jobs because of the pandemic. “We had to shift to delivering directly to our customers to make better sales,” she said. 

She also advised aspiring entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and there are individuals like her and institutions like FairBank who will lend a helping hand. “Ang ganahan mag-negosyo atong tabangan ug tagaan nato og puhunan,” Nanay Luz said. 

Despite her success, she never fails to look back to where she started and express her gratitude to FairBank, the institution that guided and supported her for the past 17 years.

FairBank on the other hand cited Nanay Luz as a testament to the achievement of its corporate pursuit of better lives and brighter future. 

The City Savings Bank underscored the Nanay Luz’s resilience that even in crisis, she remains unperturbed and became even more innovative in her business approaches. 

Nanay Luz’s journey becomes an inspiration to other small and medium enterprises and brought pride to small traders in the Visayas and has received the distinction from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno and Citi Philippines Chief Executive Officer Aftab Ahmed. 

“We take this occasion to recognize our micro-entrepreneurs who, despite the odds, have shown great resourcefulness, courage, and resilience to flourish amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” Diokno said.  

FairBank President and Chief Executive Officer William Amado Castaño said: “It is a distinct privilege for FairBank to have been a part of the success of CMA National Awardee Luzviminda Sunit in growing her microenterprise over the years. She was able to nurture a dried fish backyard venture into a prosperous trans-island operation”

The Citi Micro-entrepreneurship Awards is a nationwide search for outstanding micro-entrepreneurs in the country since 2002. It is organized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Citi Philippines, and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc. (Minerva Newman)