Manny Valencia started selling longganisa with a P500 capital three decades ago. Today, his meat processing company employs some 300 workers and has allowed him to build his dream home.
Valencia is no stranger to hard work. The eldest in a brood of seven, he helped supplement the family income by selling candies after school.
At 25, he sold his first 10 kilos of longganisa to neighbors and sari-sari stores in Nagcarlan, Laguna.
“Yung mga sari-sari store na yun, dumami nang dumami. Hindi kami pumunta doon sa palengke kasi ang dami mong kalaban doon sa palengke,” he said in an ABS-CBN interview.
Today, his company, Joshua’s Meat Products Inc., boasts a portfolio of 37 products distributed across Laguna and neighboring Quezon, Batangas, Cavite provinces, as well as parts of the Bicol Region and Metro Manila.
On Christmas alone, Joshua’s typically sells around 10,000 hams, Valencia said.
Recently, the businessman completed the three-year construction of his dream five-story home, complete with its own elevator.
Asked for his recipe for success, he said, “Isa lang ang tinutumbok ko d’yan, sa Panginoon lang talaga ‘yan… Iba talaga ‘pag ikaw ay nanalig sa Panginoong Hesus, aarugain talaga ikaw.”
