Jomar Dupende's Success Story: Empowering Youth Through Agriculture

Jomar Dupende came from a simple farming family. With a strong desire to help his loved ones and improve their lives, he strived to earn money as a working student selling food and snacks. Throughout highschool he’d sell chocolates and fruit salad, asking some of his fellow classmates to help him out. It was during these moments in between highschool and college that he realized his talent for running a business. When he graduated with a Criminology degree, instead of pursuing a career in law enforcement, he returned to his family and tried to find ways to grow the farm. Through his college’s Dean’s connections, he bought and sold property. It was thanks to his experience while he was studying that helped him figure out how to negotiate prices of properties.

Eventually, Jomar earned enough money to buy his own land for his chicken farm. His business started off small, with only a few hundred chickens. He also experienced a lot of trial and error along the way. He had to research a lot about how to properly raise poultry, what stresses chickens out, and a whole lot of details to make his farm fully functional. He also attended trainings and seminars on chicken farming, however, he realized that these can only get him so far, countless nights of testing out theories and techniques online about what made his farm grow successfully.

This is when he crossed paths with Integrated Livestock and Poultry Raisers Cooperative (ILIPCO) in 2017. He was looking for an organization he could partner up with and purchase more affordable feeds from, and he joined after learning what the cooperative could do. ILIPCO was established in 1980 and has been a cooperative since 1982. It’s affiliated with San Miguel Corporation, producing livestock and poultry feeds under the B-MEG brand.

After joining and receiving help from ILIPCO, his farm would grow exponentially. Through the changes and improvements he had made, he managed to extend the average individual lifespan of his chickens, from the expected 15 months to about 2 years and 3 months. He saw how ILIPCO could be a good way for those who are downtrodden to make changes in their lives.  With his exceptional contributions to the cooperative, in just years, he rose through the ranks until he became the cooperative’s current vice president.

Jomar’s passion for community building goes beyond his work with ILIPCO. He eventually became the CEO of Bethany Christian Home for Children, Inc., an orphanage based in Talakag, Bukidnon sustained through farming efforts. His desire to help the organization started when he saw the state of the orphanage. Wanting to help improve the lives of the orphans living in Bethany, he used his deep understanding of agricultural development to help breathe new life into the orphanage, ensuring a better future for its residents.

To further enhance his skills and broaden his knowledge, Jomar Dupende participated in the Ylead program, where he sharpened his business strategies and deepened his understanding of business models. Though he was initially overwhelmed by the productivity of his peers, he found value in the experience, realizing that this program functions a lot like a cooperative. There was value in the things he could teach his peers, lasting connections that made everyone decide that even though there was an upcoming pitch competition, no one was going to be left behind.

Today, Jomar advocates for greater youth involvement in the agricultural sector, as well as participating in cooperatives. He believes that it offers better opportunities for the youth not just with income, but to also empower and make a lasting and meaningful change. In his eyes, strengthening cooperatives isn't limited to improving the lives of the youth. They can also be a key to lifting their families out of poverty, opening doors to education, and steering people away from destructive paths.

Guided by his faith and the deep-seated belief that hard work and perseverance attracts blessings, Jomar Dupende stands as a living example that success isn’t measured by how much money one owns, but by how you uplift others around you.