By Sharon A. Bactat, Correspondent

In times of difficulties, empowered women endure and shine above the rest; and, they have proven this in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Severely affected by the crisis, two alumnae of Mariano Marcos State University now thrive in the field of business. 

Meet Ms. Angel Luck C. Pedro, 30, a food cart entrepreneur, and Ms. Margie G. Eclarin, 47, a resort owner. Angel and Margie are both graduates of the MMSU College of Business, Economics and Accountancy. 

Angel finished Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Tourism Management in 2012 while Marge completed BSBA major in Management Accounting in 1996. 

Angel’s EggLuck 

Fom San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, Angel was a flight attendant of an international airline in the Middle East, but needed to return to the Philippines because of her company’s retrenchment. 

After coming back to the Philippines, she decided to venture into a profit-based enterprise with her background in business administration. Inspired by her travels where she would usually try egg sandwiches, and having noticed that none has marketed this product in her hometown, she ventured into the business. 

Since their products are all egg-based, she decided to name their business ‘EggLuck,’ combining the word ‘egg’ and her second name. Together with her brother who’s into cooking, they started it small in their garage, and later on purchased a food cart. 

“On the first day, we did not expect that we could sell more than 100 egg sandwiches for only a few hours,” she narrated. 

With the help of her family, Angel was able to form a team, mostly MMSU alumni, which would help her run the business. They also signed up with programs of the local government, allowing them to introduce their products around the province through trade fairs. 

Since they are marketing the product to different municipalities in the province, she decided to upgrade their food cart. They bought a jeepney and customized it as a food truck. 

Since then, EggLuck has become marketable and has constantly filled the egg madness in the Ilocandia. 

Margie’s Taguipuro Resort

Margie was successful in running computer shops in Ilocos Norte. However, when the pandemic came in 2020, she discontinued most of her business operations because of lockdowns. 

To fight the dilemma of having no source of income, she decided to try a new business, thus, the rise of Taguipuro Paoay Lake Resort in Nagbacalan, Paoay, Ilocos Norte. 

Because of the favorable feedback among her customers, particularly for Tagipuro’s grills, refreshments and its strategic location, Margie and her family decided to develop it as an outdoor events place. In August 2020, they registered the resort with the Department of Trade and Industry and Bureau of Internal Revenue, and it became fully operational in November 2020. 

To diversify its resort operations, Margie attended entrepreneurial training programs of MMSU. As a result, she is now an exclusive producer and distributor of the indigenous and gluten-free Kamangeg cheesecake developed by the university. 

“While the pandemic has seriously stricken our prior businesses, God has opened another opportunity for us, and it is a better one,” she expressed. 

Cliché as it may sound, it is true that whenever a door closes, another one opens. With their new ventures, Angel and Margie, two women with entrepreneurial grit, serve as inspiration for others to become resourceful, creative and to stay hopeful in the face of crisis. (HLY/JVBT/DPTJ, StratCom)