Being a student entrepreneur comes with a lot of challenges, but that didn't stop Cleo Loque from building her own lifestyle brand from scratch.
At only 15 years old, the Enderun Colleges student borrowed P20,000 from her parents to start Hiraya Pilipina, her very own clothing and tote bag business. At the time, Cleo was only a Grade 11 student who struggled to juggle studies and work.Â
"For the whole year, natulog lang 'yung benta, natulog lang 'yung stocks. So hindi siya bumenta kasi I was super busy at that time, imagine 7AM to 4PM kasi noong high school ka," she explained to Philippine Star, revealing that she only sold about 50 statement shirts and tote bags in her first year.
Despite the initial struggle, Cleo found more time to improve her business when she transitioned to online classes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. With the help of e-commerce platforms and social media, Cleo marketed powerful statements as the primary selling point of her products. "Napakalaking bagay sa'kin 'yung words. Sa pamamagitan ng mga salita, nakaka-inspire ka, nakaka-motivate ka ng ibang tao. What more if kaya mong suotin?" she shared.
Currently, Cleo sells over 6,000 products nationwide and earns a six-digit income every month. Apart from paying back the P20,000 loan from her parents, she's also using her earnings to pay for her own college tuition. Wow!
Now that she has expanded her team to 15 members, her next big goal is to open a physical store and collaborate with other influencers. In a previous interview with Candy, Cleo also encouraged fellow aspiring entrepreneurs to overcome their fear of failure in order to pursue their goals.Â
"You can never achieve your goals if you can't take the first step—which is to start," she concluded.
From The Candy Bulletin Community
