Faith always defeats fear; this is what Yvonne Macatingrao has believed since she was just a child. She recalled working as early as five years old, helping her mother sell ready-to-wear clothes at dry markets, traveling from one barangay to another as early as 4am.
Although her family was not among the poorest family, Yvonne just loved helping her parents. She was immersed in doing business at a young age—selling cooked saba and sweet potatoes to her classmates and working on summers to earn money for her uniform and books.
Her love for designing and creativity started during her early high school years after seeing a pile of unused carton boxes while on the way home from school and making a backpack out of it. Seeing the result, she made one for her best friend, classmates, and teachers. This saves her from asking her mother for project expenses and other small school-related stuff.
Yvonne’s emerging business skills continued when she joined her father’s multi-level marketing business as an assistant to his secretary.
She was a high school and college faculty member back in the Philippines for four years before giving birth to her only child. She wasn’t a graduate of any four-year degree course nor a diploma holder. Still, she was given a chance when they saw her potential after giving talks, seminars and retreats, and training to several youths in Manila and their province.
When her sister invited her to visit Dubai some 16 years ago, she was hesitant at first as she didn’t know what to expect. But since she’s always up for new challenges, she said yes.
Like many Filipinos in the UAE, she also started ‘from scratch’. She worked as a receptionist and as a secretary for a firm. She did the cleaning and laundry at her employer’s house in between the days. Two months after, she resigned from her work as she could no longer tolerate the abuses she was experiencing.
To save her small savings and survive her daily living, she went to the street of Al Muraqqabat and begged AED1 to gather an amount to buy for a five-gallon of water and 5kg of rice.
She then landed a job in 2007 as a call centre representative at a firm in Dubai, wherein she was promoted to supervisor and manager a year after. She almost had everything; however, the recession hit, and businesses were affected. Her employer fled the country, leaving hundreds of employees hanging. Since her employer did not cancel her visa, she ended up overstaying in the country for three years until she was already on the immigration black list.
At one point, she surrendered to the police station but was told to go to Al Awir.
“I was technically living in the country illegally, and they could put me behind bars, but God is good. His plans are always better than all my plans,” she said.
To avoid her nagger landlord, she would stay at bus stations. To create extra money, she cooked viand and kakanin that she sold to her friends and colleagues, resold clothes, and sang to company or wedding events.
Struggles in the Philippines
As young as three years old, her family was thrown out of their house. Her mother and her three siblings moved to a different place after being raided by thousands of armed military men looking for his dad for being a member of a rebel group back in the day. They were forced to watch their uncle being shot, tied in a banana tree, blindfolded, and told that it could have been their dad.
When they moved to their mother’s parents’ house, it was far from modern civilization. There, they walked six miles to fetch water and do their laundry, woke up at 4am to prepare for their baon, and walked 10 miles to school and 10 miles back to the house.
Away from the city, they ate sweet potatoes for dinner and corn most of the week. Their baon would be one piece of dried fish every day.
After martial law, her father went back, and their lives started to get back to normal. They moved to the city and got into a better school and house.
Light at the end of the tunnel
Choosing faith over fear, she conquers every challenge she faced. Today, she is now the CEO and founder of Laymac Trading LLC, dealing with high-ranking officials and tycoons in the construction business. She enjoys seeing herself winning in every game, sealing deals and bids, and competing with well-known companies.
Her company also supplied medical equipment to medical establishments, and in these trying times, they were still able to provide construction materials to UAE’s neighboring countries. As an artist at heart, she makes customized gifts.
“Keep believing that even in the bad, things will get better. Choose the right crowd. They will be the ones who will help and guide you. Lastly, I can’t promise you that things will always stay better. But I can promise you that they will get better,” she said.