2014 National Social Entrepreneurship Conference – Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Role of Universities

The fifth annual National Social Entrepreneurship Conference held last November 20 and 21, 2014 at the Escaler Hall of the Ateneo de Manila University revolved around the theme of the role of universities in social entrepreneurship and innovation. Topics discussed were in the areas of research, incubation and opportunities for partnership between the academe and other organizations.

One of the speakers on the first day, Dr. Ed Morato gave a comprehensive overview of the genesis of social entrepreneurship in education as well as a forecast on what foreseeably social entrepreneurship in education will look like in the future. Another speaker, Dr. Lisa Dacanay, presented research she has undertaken on social enterprises with the poor as primary stakeholders whilst giving a glimpse of what social enterprises in the Philippines look like today.

The conference also played host to a variety of esteemed international speakers like Dr. Hoang Van Phu of the Thai Nguyen International School in Vietnam, Pamela Roussos from the Global Social Benefit Institute (GSBI) in Sta. Clara, USA, and Dr. Mark Hayllar from City University in Hong Kong and Dr. Maria Nindita Radyati from Triskati University in Indonesia.

Drs. Phu and Radyati talked about how their universities incorporate social entrepreneurship in their curricula while Pamela Roussos shared their incubation and accelerator models for social enterprises at GSBI. Of interest is Dr. Hayllar’s presentation of a social enterprise endorsement (SEE) mark they had developed for Hong Kong which aims to provide, among others, an increase in competitive advantage for social enterprise products and services in the market.

The conference participants were also glad to hear about social entrepreneurship initiatives by guests from other universities outside of Manila like Central Mindanao University’s Mount Kalayo Institute for Social Enterprise Growth (MKISEG) represented by CMU President Dr. Luisa Soliven, where MKISEG is being touted as the Enchanted farm of Mindanao and Fr. Rene Tacastacas SJ of Xavier University who discussed their agri enterprise projects with farmers in nearby communities.

Also at the conference were Dr. Ofreneo and Professor Pagaduan from the University of the Philippines’ College of Social Work and Development as well as Ateneo de Manila’s very own Dr. Darwin Yu presenting the John Gokongwei School of Management’s future plans for social entrepreneurship education and Danilo Ocampo of the Ateneo Center for Social Entrepreneurship (ACSEnt) on services offered for social enterprises in the start-up, incubation and scale-up stages.

An inspiring moment at the beginning of the conference was delivered by Ateneo de Manila University President, Fr. Jet Villarin SJ on how at the heart of all social enterprises should be mission and that all social enterprises regardless of size, location and circumstance should have this as the very reason for being.

This year’s conference was mostly attended by members of the academe from universities around the country as well as some members from the NGO sector and some practicing social entrepreneurs. It was made possible through the help of co-organizers the Philippine Social Enterprise Network (PhilSen) and the Foundation for a Sustainable Society Incorporated (FSSI) with support from the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships Inc. (SEDPI) and We Effect (Swedish Cooperative Centre).