As you maximize your profits with us, you lift thousands of lives out of poverty.
Meet our agents who moved up the socioeconomic ladder because of their employment.
Humans of FTO: Karen
Wage Earner to PisoNetpreneur
Karen Chavez
Agent
Use this space to introduce yourself and share your professional history.
3.82x
Gross Salary times
local poverty rate
70%
Percent of Salary
used to help Family
1.5
Years of
Employment
30
Hours of Capacity
Building Completed
Proud Purchases
Her Son’s Education (in a good private school)
The tuition fee of a private elementary in the Philippines ranges from 30,000 to a hundred. On 27, 757, 546 enrollees for the school year 2018-2019, only 14.9 % will go to private schools (Department of Education).
PisoNet Computer & Internet Cafe
The minimum wage in the Philippines is 8,036.47 (National Wages and Productivity Commission).A PisoNet package (contains PC, PC accessories and a slot machine) can cost around 20,000 to a hundred depending on the number of units and the PC specification.
She’s a loving mother of two, a good wife, a caring daughter, and a wonderful sibling to her younger brother. Karen struggled for many years trying to find a job that could help her and her family live a better life.
As the only one in her family who has a job, despite the low pay, she never thought of giving up. It was never an option even when the hardships she faced sometimes seemed too hard to bear.
Karen is like any typical breadwinner of a family. Her whole family depends on her, so being jobless is not a choice she’s willing to make. Her husband, a graduate of marine engineering, currently doesn’t have a job. It requires a lot of money for him to get his foot in the door at a reputable shipping company. Likewise, Karen’s parents and her nine-year-old younger brother also rely on her for their needs.
Karen previously worked as an agent for a non-voice account at a BPO company. Receiving a monthly salary that barely scraped the minimum wage rate seemed like a good deal for most people. In Karen’s case, it wasn’t enough.
She never had enough money to let her take her family out to dinner. She couldn’t rest for long; she had to work more hours to earn more. This took a toll on her health and her sense of well-being. And so, she left her old job to find a new one, preferably one with a higher pay.
She applied at Fair Trade OutsourcingTM. Fortunately, she got hired. She’s been working at FTO for more than a year now. With the money she saved from her pay, she managed to start a small business: a PisoNet shop.
A PisoNet is an internet cafe business where the user inserts a coin, specifically a one peso or a five peso coin, into a slot much like the one found in vending machines, so he can use the computer. A PisoNet shop is popular among school-aged kids and teens who want to surf the web and play games at a cheap rate (five pesos is equivalent to a dime in the US).
Her job at FTO pays a monthly salary that’s above the minimum wage in the Philippines. Because she’s paid more, Karen was able to enroll her son at a private school. She now has the financial capability to provide a comfortable life for her family. And because of her thriving business, Karen plans to expand and buy more PisoNet units.
