Sunday, October 18, 2009
Cris Evert Lato Sun.Star Cebu
WHILE waiting for the economy to recover, Fernando Dagoc, owner of Ferangeli Guitar Handicrafts said he keeps himself busy in drying wood so they can proceed with the production of guitars as soon as orders start coming in again.
“This business is our family’s source of income so I need to find ways for the business to stay in the market,” Dagoc said. He recalled that when the global economic slowdown started, there was a 30 percent decline in sales. “My guitar business wasn’t spared,” he said.
Because of the sales decline, Dagoc said he shortened the workweek of his contractual employees from six working days to just three. “There is no way for us to produce more because we have enough stocks of our guitars,” he said.
Considered as the third generation of a family of guitar makers, Ferangeli Guitar Handicrafts produces high quality handmade guitars in Lapu-Lapu City.
It has been selling to foreign markets such as Canada, Spain, US, California and Hawaii.
“Some of these buyers, Canada in particular, send their materials here and we just assemble it and send it back to them,” he said. “Foreign buyers love to have their guitars made in Cebu because they are assured of the quality.”
Aside from the foreign market, Dagoc said they have penetrated the local market in some parts of the Visayas and Mindanao. Prices of the guitars range from P800 for low-end pieces to P45,000 for high-end models.
“If some businesses see the global economic crisis as a downfall, I see it as an opportunity to re-establish the business,” Dagoc said. “You have to be resilient.”
He said that they joined exhibits to gain more exposure and to attract more buyers.
Ferangeli Guitar Handicrafts was chosen as one of the representatives of DTI’s project One Town-One Product program. Aside from guitars, they also produce souvenir items such as key chains made out of scrap materials from guitar-making.
