He Joined a Government Competition Just to Get the Certificate. His Bean Chicharon Ended Up in Switzerland.

Ryan Rebolledo did not join the Provincial Young Farmers Challenge because he believed he would win. He joined for the certificate.

"My goal is not to win," he said. "I joined for the sake of the certificate, but with God's grace and glory, we luckily became one of the Provincial Awardees."

That provincial win came with a grant to implement his business model. What followed was a regional win. Then a national nomination. And somewhere in between, a bag of Beancharon made it to Switzerland as a pasalubong.

This is the story of what happens when a classroom assignment meets a real community problem, and a young founder decides to take it seriously.

The Problem Came Before the Product

Ryan grew up in Magsaysay, Tabuk City, in a province where beans are grown in large quantities. Kalinga's agricultural output includes rice, corn, coffee, and a range of vegetables, beans among them, grown by farmers whose livelihoods depend on predictable demand and stable prices. The reality for many of those farmers is the opposite: oversupply in local markets, price crashes, and income uncertainty that compounds season after season.

At the same time, Ryan was watching a different problem play out in schools. DepEd Memorandum No. 13, series of 2017, restricted the sale of junk food in school canteens, creating a demand gap for affordable, school-appropriate snack alternatives. And nationally, malnutrition among children remained a persistent, underfunded problem, with school feeding programs stretched thin against the scale of need.

Ryan did not experience these problems as separate issues. He saw them as connected: farmers with beans they cannot sell, schools that need nutritious snacks, children who need affordable food. Beancharon was the idea that sat at the intersection of all three.

"We developed this product to address malnutrition and help local bean farmers," he said. "These challenges are often faced by our local bean farmers, students, and children, and I think these problems are often unseen, unheard, especially among our farmers."

From Feasibility Study to Funded Enterprise

Beancharon began as an academic requirement. A feasibility study in a classroom. But Ryan kept going after the grade was submitted. He researched production methods, observed community buying patterns, and refined the product until it was ready to test on real customers.

His first buyers were his family, his churchmates, and his supervisor during his OJT. Not investors. Not a launch event. Just people he trusted to give him honest feedback, and who kept buying.

When he entered the Provincial Young Farmers Challenge, he brought that product and those early sales as evidence. The provincial judges saw a business model grounded in a real supply chain problem, with a real customer base and a practical solution. FRANS Food Processing walked away as a Provincial Awardee and Best Business Model Canvas winner, with a DA grant to fund implementation.

On January 29, 2026, the Department of Agriculture monitored the progress of his business. What they found qualified him for the next stage. Ryan was chosen to represent Kalinga at the 2026 Young Farmers Challenge Regional Start-Up Competition, organized by DA-Cordillera on February 13, 2026. He won again, this time as Regional Awardee and Best Enterprise Implementer. He now represents Cordillera at the national level, where 64 finalists from across the Philippines compete in Iloilo City, with the Start-Up category winner receiving PHP 300,000 in grant funding.

What the Grant Built

With the DA grant from his provincial win, Ryan improved FRANS Food Processing's production capacity and expanded its product line. He registered the business with DTI, formalizing what had been a community-level operation into a recognized enterprise with a compliance trail.

The market signal that came back surprised him. "We've seen that there is a high demand for our product," he said. That demand is not limited to Tabuk City. Beancharon has been brought to Switzerland as a pasalubong, a word that carries cultural weight in Filipino communities: it is the gift you bring when you travel, the thing that represents where you came from. That a product conceived to solve Kalinga's bean oversupply problem is now traveling internationally as a symbol of place is a validation that no market research could have manufactured.

The competitive snack market remains Ryan's most persistent challenge. Established chicharon and chip brands have distribution, brand recognition, and marketing budgets that a young founder in Tabuk City cannot match. "I had to focus on developing a unique concept, improving product quality, and designing eye-catching packaging while also keeping the price affordable for students and everyday consumers," he said. "Balancing cost, quality, and branding was especially challenging, but it pushed me to be more creative and resourceful."

He also names what many young founders are reluctant to say directly: lack of confidence, anxiety, and knowledge gaps in marketing were real barriers. The competition circuit helped with all three. Standing in front of provincial and regional judges, articulating your business model and your numbers under pressure, builds the same muscle that investor pitches demand.

What He Wants Other Founders to Know

Ryan's advice is grounded and specific: "Start small but stay consistent. You don't need a perfect product or big capital right away, what matters is testing your idea, listening to customer feedback, and improving step by step."

He closes the way he opened: with God, with gratitude, and with the quiet confidence of someone who entered a competition for a certificate and ended up building something real.

"Above all, put God first."

Find FRANS Food Processing and Beancharon:
Facebook: Frans Food Processing | Contact Ryan at ryanrebolledo90@gmail.com

Original Source:

This founder story is based on a direct submission by Ryan A. Rebolledo of FRANS Food Processing, Magsaysay, Tabuk City, Kalinga. We are grateful to Ryan for sharing his story with Amianan Innovation Ventures.

Market Context:

The DA Young Farmers Challenge Season 5 national finale gathered 64 finalists in Iloilo City in April 2026, with Start-Up category winners receiving PHP 300,000 in grant funding and Upscale and Intercollegiate winners receiving PHP 500,000. DA-Cordillera's 2026 Regional YFC produced four regional awardees representing Cordillera at the national stage, with Ryan among them. The Philippine snack market is one of the most competitive consumer goods segments in the country, with junk food restrictions under DepEd Memo 13 creating an estimated multi-billion-peso demand gap for school-appropriate, nutritious snack alternatives. Kalinga's agricultural sector produces beans, coffee, rice, and corn as primary crops, with chronic oversupply and price instability in local markets a persistent livelihood challenge for smallholder farmers in Tabuk City and surrounding municipalities.