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As a frequent traveler all over the country,  Karin Carmona  has always been fond of  searching for interesting products not found in Metro Manila.

This habit led her into the business of bringing products from the provinces to the country’s capital. Thus, her venture --  Pieco Foods Inc., which is mainly known for distributing fruit juice concentrates, found another business direction.

 “It is important that a businessman knows the market well. As a distributor, you have to know what the people will want or need from you or what they are looking for,” Carmona said.

In Davao,  Carmona said she  found a number of interesting products, including the cheeses of Olive Puentespina, better known as  the Malagos Farms brand of cheeses.

Besides discovering the cheeses of Malagos Farms, Carmona also spotted a supplier of fruit-infused salsa that uses native fruits only and a supplier of dried fruits.

“One thing I like about the people in Mindanao is that they are very straight forward with their products and they are open to constructive criticisms,” Carmona said. “They have no qualms or hang ups about having to do some adjustments on their products.”

As well as the skill to run a business well, an entrepreneur, Carmona said, should develop the ability to spot products that have the potential to make it big.  She also said that as a businesswoman whose venture is distributing products for a niche market, she had to find the perfect or the ideal taste for the specific market.

 “With the cheeses, it was not perfect at the start; there were adjustments to be made. And I am glad that Olive was very open to that. Olive worked on the cheeses until they were perfected. [It’s] the same thing with the salsa; at the start I found it too sweet or too tangy, so we adjusted,” Carmona said.

One challenge that she had to deal with was  the Filipinos’ preference of everything imported. Also, Carmona had to learn that she needed to establish a good relationship with her suppliers.

 “Without the product, you have nothing to distribute; without the market, there is no place for the product to be distributed,” Carmona said.

After a series of product adjustments and improvements,  Carmona claimed that the Malagos Farms cheeses are now the top choice of the country’s best chefs.

“But now, all the good chefs in Metro Manila are now using the cheese that we provide,” Carmona said. “And our Filipino chefs are very proud to be using a locally made product.”