Author: Mariel Vincent Rapisura

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).

On November 20 and 21 the 2014 Social Entrepreneurship Conference on Social Enterprise and Innovation: The Roles of Universities will be held at the Escaler Hall of Ateneo de Manila University.  This conference is co-presented by the Ateneo Center for Social Entrepreneurship (ACSENT) at the John Gokongwei School of Management, the Philippine Social Enterprise Network and the Foundation for a Sustainable Society (FSSI), in collaboration with the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships Inc. (SEDPI).

Speakers at the conference include Pamela Roussos of GSBI, Sta. Clara University, Dr. Joseph Thomas of the India Institute and Dr. Mark Hayllar of the University of Hong Kong. They will also be joined by Mr. Antonio Yap Founder and Chairman of the Benita and Catalino Yap Foundation, Dr. Darwin Yu Dean of the Ateneo John Gokongwei School of Management and Mr. Danilo Ocampo Director of the Ateneo Center for Social Entrepreneurship among others.

The conference will discuss four key areas of involvement of the academe in social entrepreneurship. These include social entrepreneurship education, social entrepreneurship research, social enterprise incubation and partnership between universities and other key players. It will feature panel discussions on each of the four key areas, and break-out sessions on social entrepreneurship curriculum development, network building for collaborative engagement between universities and other stakeholders.

By: David Lozada

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines – Social enterprise has been a buzzword in business and development in the past decade, as some experts would argue. The overarching concept is to involve marginalized communities in doing good business that would profit both the entrepreneur and the community.

But how does one go about starting a social enterprise? The biggest challenge, as some successful social entrepreneurs would say, would be finding the financial resources for the business. This, along with developing a product, are the first steps.

Vincent Rapisura, president and chief executive officer of the Social Enterprise Development Inc (SEDPI), speaking to young entrepreneurs during the British Council’s I Am A ChangeMaker ideation camp, said business startups are always challenging.

“We started SEDPI 10 years ago with the vision of addressing the capacity-building needs of development organizations in the field of micro-finance. It has gone a long way but it wasn’t easy,” one of the founders of the social enterprise said.

SEDPI is a capacity-building institution that trains other groups in micro-finance, financial literacy, and social entrepreneurship. From an initial capital of P45,000 (US$1,027),* the financing company now has P195 million ($4.45 million) based on audited financial statements in the past year. It has an annual turnover of P12 million-P15 million in the past 3 years.

“We’ve estimated that we reached out to a million households in the Philippines by building the capacity of development organizations that directly help them,” Rapisura added.

Rapisura gave tips to young social entrepreneurs on how to go about and finance their business startups:

1) Use your money first

According to Rapisura, social entrepreneurs should not immediately focus on the return of their investments. They should instead concentrate on developing their products and studying their market. This requires a lot of financial resources.

“They should focus more on their market rather than focusing on where to get their investment back. Give focus on product development and really make sure that they address the needs of the markets that they want to reach out to. The enterprise is not about you, it’s about the target market,” he added.

2) Establish credibility, partnerships

In light of the recent corruption scandals that involved development organizations, though not directly social enterprises, Rapisura said it becomes even more challenging to establish a company’s credibility.

“You have to establish your track record. That’s the main thing in establishing your credibility. You have to prove to yourselves that your model works,” Rapisura said.

SEDPI hired professionals for bookkeeping and to come up with good documentation. They eventually partnered with SGV & Co, an established professional services firm, as their auditor to establish more credibility.

Rapisura shared how it was difficult to establish the SEDPI brand, given that he had a small network at the start.

“I started this when I was 25 years old. It’s very difficult to establish a name, especially if you’re not well-known. I come from a middle-class family and no one knew about me. What I did was to hone my skills, knowledge and to establish my network.”

He added: “A lot of those that helped me would be my link with Ateneo de Manila University and my partnership with the British Council. You have to align yourself with organizations and people that already have established brands.”

3) Invite your immediate network to invest

Rapisura said that he and his co-founders invited their immediate family and friends to invest in their business after they were able to prove that their model works. They remain SEDPI’s largest investors.

“It’s actually a misconception to think that your goal is to repay the investments. You have to show your capacity that you can repay the investments. But the goal is to actually entice them to invest more because they believe in your cause and business model,” he added.

After the initial investments, SEDPI was able to attract outsiders to invest.

Rapisura added: “We started to attract philanthropists and young professionals. Now, overseas Filipino workers, international development organizations and commercial banks are investing in us.”

4) Train and trust the right people

Rapisura said that it is important for social entrepreneurs to realize that they cannot do things alone, even if it often seems that they have to do everything at the start.

“Focus on the training. It’s difficult for entrepreneurs not to do the work ourselves, our tendency is that we want to do it to make sure it’s correct. But you have to get out of that shell if you want to grow. I delegated work and started to train people so that the quality they produce would be to my liking,” he said.

A recurring tip during the ideation camp was for social entrepreneurs to be practical in trying to solve social problems, that they cannot solve every problem they see. (READ:#ChangeMaker2014: Young entreps help in Sendong rehab)

“You have to build partnerships because collaboration and cooperation will make things easy for you. That entails a lot of emotional stability because you deal a lot with people and a lot of creativity as well,” Rapisura said.

On startups

Rapisura said there are 4 main ingredients to achieve success in business startups – skills, knowledge, network, and luck.

“If you have the first 3, you can take advantage of the 4th one. You can’t take advantage of opportunities that come your way if you are not prepared in terms of your skills knowledge and you don’t know people who can make you realize your dream,” he added.

He said social entrepreneurs need to be more practical than idealistic so as not to raise false expectations.

“Make your dreams an inspiration but don’t be very idealistic. Don’t pressure yourselves if you don’t make your targeted goals. You have to learn to celebrate small wins,” Rapisura concluded.

The British Council’s ideation camp concluded Friday, October 24, with 5 groups receiving seed funds of P100,000 ($2,300) each to fund their startups. – Rappler.com

http://www.rappler.com/business/features/73131-tips-young-entrepreneurs-finance-startups?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rappler+(Rappler)

By David Lozada of Rappler.

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines – How do you make social enterprises work? What are the best strategies to adapt to make sure business startups are sustainable?

As part of the British Council Philippines’ I Am A Changemaker ideation camp, Emilenn Sacdalan-Pateno, chief operations officer of the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc (SEDPI), discussed on October 21 the best strategies that young entrepreneurs should follow to succeed in creating social enterprises.

“Social enterprise has only been gaining popularity recently but a lot of people have been doing it for a very long time. It’s the awareness that business is not enough so you have to take a look at the environment and the people,” Pateno said.

Pateno added that there are 4 strategies on social enterprise that have made past start-ups succeed:

1. Empowerment strategies
2. Social inclusion strategies
3. Intermediation strategies
4. Resource mobilization

SEDPI is a capacity-building institution that trains other groups in micro-finance, financial literacy, and social entrepreneurship.

People involvement

According to Pateno, an empowerment strategy is used when you enable marginalized sectors to own and control social enterprises so that they may reap maximum benefits. This can be done directly (like cooperatives) or devolutionary, where a social entrepreneur organizes a community. (READ: Social entreprenuers and farmers for social change)

“If you really want to be poverty oriented, you do the empowerment strategy. You really start the social enterprise with the marginalized sector. You make sure that primary stakeholders will not be forever dependent on the social entrepreneur,” Pateno said.

A common example of empowerment strategies are when farmers are organized to create their own cooperatives by an organizing agent.

Social inclusion strategies, on the other hand, are used to assist a group of people marginalized by virtue of physical or psychological conditions. These people are included in the process of creating funds for themselves.

Cancer warriors foundation, where funds are raised for the treatment of cancer patients while involving them in the process, is an example of this strategy, Pateno said.

She added: “You can’t just do empowerment with a marginalized sector who can’t participate with the society. If you’re targeting primary stakeholders who are socially excluded, then you do the social inclusion. In empowerment, you assume that the stakeholders have skills to begin with.”

Managing resources

The third strategy, Pateno explained, is the intermediation strategy, where products and services are provided to the marginalized community to help improve their livelihood. This is mostly used in microfinance institutions and market-based housing projects.

“Intermediation is the most detached because you just produce the product and services that would cater to the needs of the poor,” Pateno explained.

Resource mobilization, the fourth strategy, is when a business generates income to finance the operations of its core programs. This is used in businesses that promote advocacy.

“This is when earning money and the core passion is separate. Since a lot of advocacies are not income generating by themselves, it’s hard to pursue unless you’re very donor-led. You do resource mobilization to keep your advocacy going,” Pateno added.

What works best?

But how can social entrepreneurs determine which strategy is best applicable to their business? Pateno said they have to look at the market.

“At the end of the day, you have to look at who will buy and consume your products. Take a look at their demand and the best way to address it,” she said.

Pateno added: “The demand is usually rooted in a social problem. There will be a demand for a certain solution and if you can provide that solution, that’s when you ask what your strategy will be.” (READ:Social entrepreneurship: Ending poverty from the bottom up)

But business practices are never set in stone and Pateno explained that the 4 strategies can be used simultaneously. “It all depends on the context. You can have multiple strategies depending on your business.”

‘Feel good factor’

The best definition of social entrepreneurship involves 3 Ps – People, Profit, Planet – that are all crucial to the development of a country like the Philippines.

“You can’t just do business by abusing the environment or abusing people. Because of the changes in the economy and the society, there is a need to really evolve the traditional way of looking at business,” Pateno said.

But while social enterprises had been increasing in the past years, Pateno said some people only pursue it because of the “feel good” factor.

“A lot of these people are doing it because it’s nice to hear. Our problem with people starting social enterprises is that they don’t have continuity. They start this when they are students but they lose the idealism when they graduate,” she added.

The ideation camp brought together 41 young entrepreneurs from across the country to exchange ideas and best practices in business. Five winning pairs will be given seed funds of P100,000 ($2,300*) each to implement their ideas after defending their projects.

Pateno challenged the young entreprenuers: “The biggest challenge of social enterprise is how to manage it. It sounds good when people pitch it, but how do you operationalize it? It’s not just about making the product and helping the community, it comes with all the paperworks.” – Rappler.com

http://www.rappler.com/business/features/72684-social-enterprise-strategies-work

By: Anna Patricia Valerio

This article is part of The Future of Global Development, a series for Devex Executive Members that explores what development leaders think of the industry’s top issues.

Development professionals often want to stay close to the main beneficiaries of their work — a preference that holds true even as they climb up the ranks. But among many executives, there’s an awareness that effective development work happens at both the local and institutional levels.

The 2014 Development Influencers Survey, which polled senior development executives earlier this year, found that the highest proportion of respondents, 47 percent, said their best development work happens at the national, regional or global level. Roughly the same amount, 44 percent, said it happens at the individual or village level.

Respondents from nongovernmental organizations and social enterprises tended to believe their best work is done among individuals or communities.

NGO and social enterprise executives believe their best work is done at the individual and community level.

Respondents based in developing countries were also more likely to believe their best work happens locally.

Development executives based in developing countries also believe their best work is done with individuals or in villages.

NGO and social enterprise executives interviewed by Devex about these findings both confirm and challenge the results.

The survey finding that social enterprise executives, more than any other group, believe their best work is done with individuals may be due to the nature of social enterprise work, noted Vincent Rapisura, president and CEO of Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc.

Rapisura has been involved in social entrepreneurship, microfinance and financial literacy in 24 countries and believes “social enterprises look at the individual or household level, since they typically have them as their primary stakeholders.”

Community work to complement institutional work

NGO executives interviewed about the survey findings think the line between micro and macro levels may not be so clear-cut.

Nassreena Sampaco-Baddiri, country director of Innovations for Poverty Action Philippines, an organization that designs anti-poverty solutions by conducting randomized evaluations, thinks IPA’s work is crucial at both the grass-roots and the global level.

“I feel we do the best work both at the community level, where we work on the ground to understand how interventions work and why, and at the institutional level, where we translate evidence that we gather into practical recommendations,” she told Devex. “For me, there is fulfillment in knowing that evidence on innovative solutions can lead decision-makers to implement effective poverty reduction programs that can change the lives of many around the world.”

David Sutherland, chair of the board of International Care Ministries, a Hong Kong-based organization that serves the ultra-poor in the Philippines, thinks it’s natural for NGO executives to feel that they do their most important work at the community level.

“Presumably, they think that their best work is done when they are directly working on helping the poor, and not when they are in New York or Europe trying to convince their bosses or their funders about the wisdom of their strategies,” he told Devex.

But like Sampaco-Baddiri, Sutherland believes the desire to work directly with communities should complement the equally important need to work at the institutional level.

“It is tempting to stay in the ivory tower and think that I know best for the people in the field,” Sutherland noted, but he said that he still needs to visit the communities and talk to the villagers from time to time to see and understand how ICM’s programs are being implemented. “The bottom line is that I need to be in the field on a regular basis, but I should spend most of my time with donors and strategists to do what local people can’t do.”

Impact and influence, not preference

The question of where development executives do their best work shouldn’t be an issue of preference, according to Sutherland, but a matter of where they can make the most impact.

“In ICM, I personally would like to be in the field as much as possible. But my highest and best use to help the poor is to keep the program operating efficiently and effectively and to ensure that the funding is reliable,” he said. “Often I need to spend time with funders to keep things moving along productively, even though I would rather be elsewhere.”

Jason Clay, senior vice president of World Wide Fund for Nature’s food and markets division, has a slightly different take. The question of where development executives think they do their best work, he said, concerns the areas where they can most easily see an impact — a perspective that can be myopic since, as he told Devex, “we simply cannot afford to approach development one village at a time.”

Not only is engaging one village at a time too slow, doing so does not address long-term threats or larger, structural issues, Clay noted. Climate change, for instance, is the biggest threat to smallholder farmers.

“How do you address that one village at a time?” he asked, adding that WWF has found that it often takes significant time and resources — 20 years or more and tens of millions of dollars — to achieve meaningful results from the time the organization identifies an issue and starts actual work on the ground.

“If we don’t keep the big picture in sight and measure our results at a global level, then we will not have accomplished enough, no matter how good a program may appear in a village or two,” he said.

https://www.devex.com/news/development-executives-weigh-work-at-the-local-and-institutional-levels-84346