Summary

Maria Monet Dayrit is a 59 year old widow of a charcoal exporter and a mother of three 3 children. She owns the AIM Family Farm which produces activated carbons made from coconut shells and rice husks. Maria's husband was in a family business of manufacturing and exporting charcoal. When her in-laws and husband died, she registered the business as AIM Family Farm in 2011.

Carbonized rice hull is used for organic farming and coconut shell charcoal is used for soil conservation. Granulated coconut shell charcoal (known as horticular charcoal) is very effective in filtering solids, liquids and gases, a great asset in an increasingly polluted world. These products made Maria an awardee for best in charcoal research and development during the centennial anniversary of Department of Science and Technology (DOST-Phil) in 1998. Almost all of the products are being exported to Japan (the most advanced country in organic farming) and recently orders are coming in from South Korea. Maria hopes that her products will also gain interest from the United States.

Currently, AIM Family Farm is employing 50 out of school youths. The employees together with their families enjoy free lodgings from the company. Her son, Anthony is in charge of the development of the products. AIM Family Farm will use the loan to acquire additional working capital in order to increase production.