Meet Kemberly: Our Coin Grantee who is Crafting Her Own Future, One Flower at a Time

Kem, 19, hopes to one day open her own cafe and flower shop. She is currently a Hospitality Management Student who is hopeful to graduate in three years and immediately find a good job overseas, ideally in Dubai, where the bustling tourism industry can offer her the high-earning potential she needs. Once she can save enough money for capital, she plans to return home to turn her dream business into a tangible reality.

However, achieving this requires a lot, so to support her studies, Kem has taken matters into her own hands. Every weekend, Kem is on her feet at a local cafe, waiting tables and helping out in the kitchen for a weekly wage of 500 pesos. This salary becomes her allowance for the week. However, it still leaves her with zero wiggle room for school projects or unexpected fees.

To augment her cafe earnings, Kem tapped into her childhood inspiration. Growing up in a coastal community, beach sunflowers grew in abundance along the shores, and she first fell in love with them as a child. Drawing from that memory, she began handmaking flowers using fuzzy wire. What started as a relaxing pastime soon turned into a viable micro-business when she learned she could earn from it. In the previous school year, she earned a total of 4,000 pesos from selling tulips and sunflowers, ranging from small clusters to bouquets, to friends and family. All her hustle and hard work paid off as she completed her first year in college as an honors student.

A Coin Grant will be a critical help to Kem as she starts her second year. She plans to create a social media page dedicated to expanding her small business so she can earn more. She will also own the tools to easily comply with school requirements to maintain and even improve her good academic performance.

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The Computer and Internet (Coin) Grant—a key initiative under our Create ASPIRE program—is designed for students, home-based workers, and community leaders. The Coin Grant provides laptops or desktop computers along with internet subsidies to individuals who are digitally literate but lack the means to purchase.

Learn more about the Coin Grant today. Click here to start.