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HER name may be familiar because she also handles events through her PR company.
Doris Mongaya, however, cannot tear herself away from her first love: Making intricately designed handicraft items for all occasions, especially for Valentine?s Day.
Mongaya of PR Works has loved crafts since she was a little girl.
?Ever since, I really like to make my own creation, which eventually became my business when I opened Weddings and Crafts in the early 90s, and which has now evolved into my events company,? she said.
Mongaya said her main business is PR Works, which went full blast in 2003.
She still caters to longtime customers who, until now, order Valentine?s gifts from her through her Facebook and Multiply page WC Homecrafts.
?For several Valentine?s now, we have already created our own network of customers who buy from us every year,? Mongaya said.
She added it would be an opportunity lost if she gave up the crafts business.
Their market has grown noticeably: they now include those who order online, wire their payment and have their goods delivered to their loved ones in Cebu.
?I have customers from places as far away as Davao and Iloilo, aside from corporate customers her in Cebu who also order from me every year,? she said.
Mongaya said her decision to offer her products online puts a cap on the operational costs of her main business.
?If I do it online, I can save on the cost of having to make a showroom and hiring more people plus all the other incremental costs,? she said.
Since 2003, Mongaya only offers products for Valentine?s Day, which includes homemade chocolates, fresh and artificial flowers, foil and rubber balloons with artistic packaging all made by Mongaya.
?Unlike China-made products, mine are more durable and more presentable with a distinct character in it that one can say it is of premium quality unlike machine-made products from China like artificial flowers, packaging materials and the likes,? she said.
Mongaya also supplies the handmade artificial flowers and accessories that local designers put in their creations.
?They know us as a group who can provide their complicated requirements even at a limited time,? she said.
This year, Mongaya said that she?s improving her chocolate products.
?Instead of only adding rice crispies in my homemade creations, I will be adding fruits and nuts, too, to make the quality even better,? she said.
Mongaya said that most of her customers like her homemade chocolates. She said she adds a secret recipe that enhances their taste and texture, unlike most chocolates sold in malls.
Businesses always pose challenges, according to Mongaya but there are ways of countering them.
She said she was glad that her market is open to the tradition of giving gifts and any sorts of pleasantries especially during Valentine?s Day.
?Cebu is already a sophisticated market especially for Valentine?s Day, when people really spend just to express their feelings or to make their loved ones know that they care for them through flowers and chocolates, which are the usual gifts given.?
Mongaya said that this year, she planned to offer their products even beyond Feb. 14.
She explained that she she believes that making a person feel loved doesn?t have to be done only on Valentine?s Day.
?They can order from us gifts for their loved ones for a birthday or any day they wish,? Mongaya said.
She added that WC Homecrafts may be a secondary business for her today, but she?s not taking it for granted.
Mongaya said she sees a lot of potential for the business to grow. Who knows it may become business that will require its own staff and office.
?I have not resigned to the idea that this will remain a secondary business; as an entrepreneur, I should know that that?s not how one should treat a business venture,? Mongaya said.
