Due to its huge improvement, the company - Novelita Upholstery and Furniture Center - was named the Best SETUP Adoptor in 2016 (SETUP stands for Small Enterprises Technology Upgrading Program, a flagship project of the DOST).
According to Novelita manager Eric Miranda, the company requested for the training as their workers had poor finishing skills. “They had limited knowledge on wood finishing which led to substandard furniture and low sales,” he said.
“As our staff applied their new skills after the training, we immediately noticed the change. The quality of our products greatly improved and in only a short time this resulted in higher income, more markets, and additional workers,” Miranda recounted.
A 6-chair dining set which they used to sell for P35,000 was sold for P65,000, and they started reaching clients from as far as Makati, Cavite, Abra and Mindanao. They also promoted their trained staff and hired 10 more workers, and the company’s gross income jumped from less than a million to 2 million pesos a month. They were also able to set up one showroom and three new stores across Bataan.
“Of course, not all of these developments is directly due to the training on finishing because we also received a lot of help from SETUP,” said Miranda, “but I would say that as much as 60% of our growth can be attributed to our staff’s upgraded skills.”
Recently, Novelita joined the Adopt-a-Forest Program and planted mahogany seedlings in 11,000 square meters of land. Mahogany is the company’s main raw material. (Rizalina K. Araral & Anita A. Decena, July 30, 2019)#
