Who would have thought that anyone could be inspired to start a business in the middle of a health crisis.
Ethel Rida Pajao did just that and founded the bakeshop Miss E’s Homebaked Classics during the Cebu lockdown.
In 2020, Cebu City was placed under enhanced community quarantine to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The first few days of the lockdown was tolerable enough for Ethel since she had her three fur babies Red, Moonglow and Lamp, as well as husband Dino Dante to keep her company.
But when a series of bad news on the rising cases of infection and death started to affect her mood, she decided to find a way to prevent herself from falling into depression.
THE ART BUSINESS
Ethel is the marketing manager of De’s Artroom,
a Cebu-based distributor of premium art materials which she started with her husband in Singapore where they used to live for ten years.
De’s Artroom is the Philippines’ distributor of Daniel Smith artist-grade Extra Fine Watercolors from the U.S. The company also carries premium brand Escoda – “the brush makers” of the world from Barcelona Spain and NEEF brushes from Australia.
A few years ago, Ethel and Dino Dante left a more comfortable life in Singapore to pursue a need for change in how society perceives art. They wanted to do something where they could leave their indelible mark on the people’s awareness of the medium.
The couple returned to the Philippines to organize events for artists and introduced a professional brand of watercolor — Daniel Smith.
Being a communications graduate and having experience in organizing events, Ethel was largely involved in setting-up the company’s art demonstrations and exhibits involving other artists in the Philippines.
My job is to make art accessible to everyone, Ethel says. I believe anyone can capture some of their best stories and immortalize something beautiful in professional grade watercolors.
Ethel’s otherwise busy schedule came to a halt with the city-wide lockdown. Art exhibits and painting demonstrations had to take a pause.
With her life on hold, she knew she had to do something to keep herself from slipping into despair.
Ethel started baking cakes to give away to family and friends. Ethel Rida loved to bake cakes for gatherings with friends and family. She never thought of baking as a business. It was an instinct to share and give comfort to people that made her do what she did.
She also insists that her present challenge is nothing compared to the financial difficulty she overcame as a child living in destitution.
Ethel was a sponsored child of World Vision, a global humanitarian organization devoted to improving the lives of children, their families and communities to overcome poverty.
She wanted to give back and pay forward the kindness she experienced from people who helped her finished her school studies.
Although her parents were both scavengers, Ethel was privileged to experience an education that was made possible by the donations of kind-hearted people to World Vision.
After Ethel graduated from school, she went on to work for World Vision Philippines as a communications assistant and for World Vision Singapore as donor relations officer. When she got married, she moved to the “Lion City” to join her architect-husband Dino Dante Pajao who was then working for a landscape architectural firm.
Despite living a comfortable life in one of the world’s most expensive cities for 10 years, the couple packed their bags to come home to the Philippines.
Ethel mused that “at some point in our life, we started reassessing what’s really important to us and it doesn’t matter if we earned a lot or if we were comfortable. We felt that family is more important so we decided to come home to Cebu.”
The couple brought with them to Cebu the art materials distribution business DE’s Artroom.
COVID INSPIRES A BUSINESS IDEA
Somehow, giving away homemade cakes to make people smile became a good strategy to market Ethel’s baking skill. Gradually, paid orders started coming in.
What also helped grow her second commercial enterprise was the knowledge gained from the Kapatid Mentor Micro Enterprise (KMME) online course of the Department of Trade and Industry Region 7.
The KMME is an initiative of the DTI and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE) to help the country’s micro and small enterprises (MSEs) develop into lucrative businesses. The Mentor ME (micro entrepreneurs) program is a coaching and mentoring approach where large corporations teach MSEs on different aspects of business operations.
From healthy cake ingredients to biodegradable packaging materials, Miss E’s Home Baked Classics are inspired from her customers desire to surprise loved ones.
The company’s commitment is to continue to find wholesome ingredients and nature-friendly packaging for their loaf cakes.
Miss E’s home baked goodies include moist banana loaf cakes with walnuts , cream cheese, chia seeds, oats, chocolates as well as squash cupcakes with cinnamon, chocolate, cream cheese and caramel. As her tagline says, it’s best eaten when shared.
For orders and queries, click on the following links:
https://www.facebook.com/Miss-Es-Homebaked-Classics-102835284807585/
https://misseshomebakedclassics.com/
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