Mrs. Ananias Belen Montefalcon of Annie Nestor Food Products started her business of espasol making in 1980 at Barangay Yukos, Nagcarlan, Laguna. Ever since she was young, she was already aware of their family business which is espasol making. That is why espasol has become her favourite food every now and then.

At the age of 17, she was already filled with perseverance because even at a young age, she would go to Manila to deliver espasol to her clients. Later on, she became suppliers of different schools and universities in Manila such as San Beda College. In 1986, she started joining Anakalang Festival in Nagcarlan and also joined Anilag Festival where she met Department of Trade and Industry’s helpful employees who helped her to reach her success by assisting her with seminars and trade fairs. She was fond of participating in seminars to enhance the knowledge she had for business management.

She remembered that what inspires her the most is the poverty that she had experienced as a child but she didn’t take it as a hindrance to become successful in life. There were so many challenges that Mrs. Montefalcon had encountered while managing the business but she always kept in mind the hardwork and perserverance that her parents had just to provide their necessities. Growing up, she experienced being discriminated by people because of selling espasol on the streets yet she never stopped making espasol.

Back in 2011, she experienced financial crisis and she was grateful that DTI assisted her to have start-up funds again to bring back the business and fortunately, she is now harvesting the fruit of hardwork for all the years she worked hard. She hopes to expand her business more to help more of her fellow Nagcarlangin. She encourages the food manufacturers in Nagcarlan to never stop praying and learning so that they can offer more quality food products to the customers. ♦

Date of Release: 18 November 2019