19/08/2021
[MEET THE MENTEE]
Life is definitely sweet for Ian and Sha Santamaria who operate a baked goods business named after their daughter, Shania. The husband-and-wife tandem started by selling p**o de leche on a bilao outside their house in 2014. Soon, their floating island dessert, a three-layered combination of meringue, leche flan, and ube, became an instant hit. By 2017, Shania’s Homemade Food Products hit its first million in sales, paving the way for their first physical store in Manila and expanding their range of cakes and desserts.
To take the business even further, Ian signed up for the Department of Trade and Industry and Go Negosyo’s Kapatid Mentor Me Program where he was approved as substitute mentee in June 2018. After the original mentee failed to arrive, Ian was able to take his slot. Inspired by the first lesson on entrepreneurial mind setting from the founders of French Baker, Ian began to take the course more seriously and applied the learnings to his own business.
“One thing [that] stuck to my heart is to never give up [on] your dream as an entrepreneur. There will be many obstacles we will face but always look [out] for the reward. Stay humble and stay hungry,” he recalled.
Ian’s resolve was quickly put to the test when the pandemic hit and he was forced to close their stores in Mercato BGC and Tondo. Not one to be easily discouraged, Ian and Sha reviewed their business continuity plan and decided to take a big leap by opening their first store outside Metro Manila in Atimonan, Quezon Province.
“We saw the opportunity here in Quezon Province where [the] number of cases are very low and [we can] still operate our business,” he explained. Once Ian’s team secured a license to operate from the DTI-IATF, they brought their mobile kitchen for production and started selling their baked delicacies, which remains just as popular as they were in Manila.
Armed with the lessons of how to steer a business in crisis, Ian remains optimistic for Shania’s Homemade Food Products, expecting another ten stores to open in the next two years. To aspiring entrepreneurs, he has this to say: “This is the best time to start your business. Just start [and] do it one step at a time. You will fail again and again but continue to stand and fight for your dreams! We are the hope of every Filipino as MSME.”