Joymar Olarte, 29, gets up early in the morning to buy bulks of chicken in his hometown of Urdaneta, Pangasinan. He then sorts out the parts and marinates them in a special mixture of buttermilk and spices. By noon, he's ready to sell his products in six of his J & J Tasty Fried Chicken stores.

Four years ago, Olarte was a tricycle driver and merchandiser with a start-up capital of just P2,300. Now, he sells as much as 320 kilograms of fried chicken a day. More recently, he was also chosen as one of the ten honorees at the 18th Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards (CMA).

Funded by the Citi Foundation, the CMA program was launched in 2002 and has since provided incentives to entrepreneurs to improve and expand their businesses. The awards is organized annually by Citi Philippines, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines Inc.

J&J Tasty Fried Chicken business started in 2017 after Olarte's friend, Inggo Baya, closed his fried chicken business because of the bird flu outbreak and shared his recipe with him.

"Noong time po na iyon, binigay niya po sa sa akin yung recipe bago siya umuwi ng Isabela. May inabot lang po siya na dalawang pahina ng papel kung paano iluto 'yung manok," Olarte told Y2Z.

He and Baya have since lost contact, but Olarte, heeding his wife's advice, bought 20 kilograms of fresh chicken from his earnings and started selling fried chicken in front of their house.

"Noong natapos ang bird flu, sabi po ng asawa ko, subukan namin," Olarte said. "Noong first day namin ng pagtitinda, naubos po 'yung manok ng bandang alas-singko ng hapon. Expected po namin na hindi siya mabebenta, kaya ang ginawa po namin sa napagbentahan namin, ibinili namin ulit ng manok at ibinenta namin kinabukasan. Hanggang sa nagtuluy-tuloy na."

In 2019, he decided to quit his job and focus on his growing business. The following year, he took a loan from Tulay Sa Pag-unlad Inc. (TSPI) and used the money to open a sixth branch and buy vehicles they could use for the business.

However, things took a turn when the Covid-19 pandemic forced them to close shop.

"May mga buwan po na hindi namin nababayaran yung pera na hiniram namin pandagdag puhunan. 'Yun po yung mga buwan na walang wala kami talaga," says Olarte.

Luckily, they were able to bounce back as the local economy began to open up. High demand for food delivery tripled Olarte's sales, which prompted him to set up tricycle food carts around their community, go into marinated chicken delivery in Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija, and take in resellers.

Olarte also plans to venture into the buy-and-sell business for eggs and aims to have five more fried chicken outlets.

During the CMA virtual awarding, where he was named Youth Microentrepreneur of the Year, Olarte confessed that he couldn't believe that he was considered for nomination, much less win the award.

"Hindi ko po sukat akalain na mananalo kami," Olarte said.

"Kung babalikan ko po yung nakaraan, kung ikukumpara ko po sa buhay ko ngayon, malaking-malaki po yung pagkakaiba po. Kaya po nagpapasalamat ako kay Lord kasi yung lahat ng hinihiling ko sa kanya, binibigay po niya sa akin."

He also has a message to aspiring entrepreneurs: "Minsan po, nadadapa po ako. Marami pong dumadating na pagsubok, pero 'yun 'yung nagpatibay po sa akin para ituloy ko yung ginagawa ko. Kaya kung nadapa man, kailangan bumangon."

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