Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc.

Florence Adviento finished her degree in Management Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University.  After graduation, she worked for the Corporate Banking Group of Metrobank, one of the country’s top commercial banks.  Shortly after her stay in the bank, she returned to SEDPI, having rendered volunteer work to it in its inception.

As part of SEDPI’s management staff, she leads organizational appraisals of several microfinance institutions in the country, where she displayed her expertise in performing impact assessments with their end-clients and focus group discussions with MFIs from all organizational levels.  She also conducted various trainings all over the country, including Training of Trainers (ToT) on Financial Literacy for Remittance Receivers and Risk Management and Microinsurance.    In addition, under the partnership of SEDPI and Microfinance Opportunities (MFO), Florence has pilot tested a comic book on microinsurance, which was published and distributed to end-clients of microfinance institutions.

Florence represented SEDPI in a conference organized by the Academy for Microfinance Development in Asia (AMIDA) in Bali, Indonesia, where she took a course on microinsurance.  Moreover, she recently assisted in the conduct of Training of Trainers in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Edwin Salonga is the Chairperson of SEDPI Group of Social Enterprises, which includes development consultancy, socially responsible resource mobilization, social enterprise incubation, and foundation. His main competence is in social development, specifically in the fields of social entrepreneurship, financial education and microfinance. A lecturer at the Development Studies Program of the Ateneo de Manila University, Edwin also serves as its microfinance research specialist and lead trainer on its Microfinance Capacity-Building Program.

Graduating Cum Laude in Mass Communication and with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, Edwin is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in Social Development at the University of the Philippines. He presents academic papers and serves as resource speaker in conferences, both local and abroad. He was a presenter at the 2010 Global Conference in Microfinance at the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom and in 2012 Asia Summit on Social Entrepreneurship in Thailand. Edwin is also an Adjunct Professor of the Ateneo School of Government, responsible for delivering training courses in financial education to overseas Filipinos in Europe and Asia.

Edwin leads the delivery of the Ateneo de Manila’s Diploma Course in Microfinance in key cities of the Philippines, in partnership with the BPI-Globe BanKO and the People’s Credit and Finance Corporation. He also led its delivery to the management staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. Through the British Council he delivers training courses in social entrepreneurship in the Southeast Asian region. Since 2006, Edwin has been traveling to Europe and Asia to conduct training courses in financial education to migrant workers and hometown associations.

To keep him abreast on recent issues and trends in social development, Edwin regularly attends conferences and seminars in Indonesia, Europe, and the United States of America.

Emilenn Kate Sacdalan-Pateño graduated with a double degree in Development Studies and Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University.  She completed her Master’s Degree in International Community Economic Development at the Southern New Hampshire University, United States of America.  At present, she is a lecturer at the Development Studies Program of the Ateneo de Manila University.

As one of the pioneer members of SEDPI, she provides indefatigable and reliable delivery of customized and public-run training courses and technical and mentoring services to microfinance institutions in key cities and provinces all over the Philippines.  She has worked on the documentation of best practices of microfinance institutions in the Philippines under the commission of the National Confederation of Cooperatives and the Peace and Equity Foundation.  Moreover, she has led organizational appraisals of different microfinance institutions in the country.

Furthermore, Emilenn also provides technical and mentoring services to microfinance and microenterprise stakeholders the world over.  She has conducted several trainings for the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as other Microfinance Training Service Providers in Nigeria.  In addition, she has also provided Financial Literacy for Filipino migrants in Dubai and Hong Kong.

She leads SEDPI’s front liners in field research and training.  Her excellent communication skills with the grassroots allow her to easily integrate into communities from which crucial data are gathered for research.  She seamlessly conducts focus group discussions and completes surveys very efficiently.  From her front line work, Emilenn is able to transform data into valuable information through rigorous statistical analysis and then later translate these in operational terms that could be understood by microfinance practitioners.

 

Starting a career in microfinance and social entrepreneurship soon after he graduated, Vince has gained considerable experience having worked on these fields in 22 countries aside from the Philippines. He spearheaded the development and delivery of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Microfinance Diploma Course. The diploma course has attracted participants from Asia, Africa and Latin America. He was recently a presenter at the Global Microcredit Summit in Valladolid, Spain; the Asia Social Entrepreneurship Summit in Bangkok, Thailand; and the Global Village Conference in Jerusalem, Israel.

Vince established SEDPI and SCCI in 2004 and 2008, respectively. SEDPI has grown into a premier capacity builder for microfinance and social enterprises in the Philippines. SCCI caters to small and emerging microfinance institutions and social enterprises. It currently invests close to PhP160 million portfolio to 15 microfinance institutions and seven social enterprises. SCCI is audited by Ernst and Young and has no portfolio at risk.

He has conducted financial literacy trainings to more than 2,000 migrants in 16 countries worldwide. Vince uses financial literacy as a tool to upgrade the financial knowledge and skills of migrants. This resulted to the mobilization of investments used for development in the Philippines.

Vince has a reputation for turning around ailing microfinance institutions and create market niches for those that are struggling with competition. He specializes in designing capacity building interventions and strategies on how struggling MFIs can achieve microfinance financial performance standards. Vince is a good mentor to start up social enterprises. He provides capacity building interventions for social enterprises to attain financial sustainability and at the same time fulfill their social mission. Vince also assisted several organizations access funds both from donors and commercial sources in the local and international markets.

Vince also frequently speaks in international conferences to share his experience as a successful capacity builder and social entrepreneur.  He was recently a presenter at the Asia Social Entrepreneurship Summit in Bangkok, Thailand; the Global Microcredit Summit in Valladolid, Spain; and the Global Village Conference in Jerusalem, Israel.

In 2012, Vince also established SEDPI Social Enterprise Ventures, Inc. (SSEVI) that is mandated to support start up and emerging social enterprises. SSEVI currently supports 12 social enterprises in the Philippines that are involved in sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, design and media, health and sustainable tourism. The strong experience of SEDPI in developing capacity building interventions for social entrepreneurship prompted the establishment of its partnership with the British Council to run an annual competition on social entrepreneurship. SEDPI was also asked to transfer its training technology to its partner in Vietnam – Centre for Social Innovation Promotion. Vince has also written several case studies on social entrepreneurship under the Ateneo de Manila University and the National University of Singapore.

Vince is a product of the Ateneo de Manila University and the Asian Institute of Management. He has also been trained in the Netherlands and the United States of America on microenterprise development and rural finance. Vince is a faculty member of the Development Studies Program of the Ateneo de Manila University and teaches social entrepreneurship and microfinance. He was a finalist to the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2012.

Bea Arnela Parungo earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture from the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Her major field of specialization is Agricultural Extension and Communication. She is currently pursuing Master of Science in Environmental Science at the University of the Philippines Los Baños Graduate School. She is a Licensed Agriculturist and a member of the Philippine Association of Agriculturists. She actively supports advocacies for environment and cultural preservation, indigenous people’s rights, and animal welfare causes.

Prior to engaging in development work, she used to be part of the customer care sector and handled international IT support and helpdesk, telemarketing, and financial accounts. As a Program Officer of SEDPI, she had delivered various customized trainings on Financial Literacy, Delinquency Management, Character and Capacity-based Lending, and Fundamentals and Methodologies of Microfinance among others. She also serves as a consultant to microfinance institutions and social enterprises and provides them with technical and mentoring assistance.

Reichelle graduated cum laude in Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) with a degree in Management Economics. In her four years in the Ateneo, she served various school organizations – she participated in the student government as a block representative for two consecutive years, and was an active member of their home organization. On her third year, she represented the university and the country as an exchange student in France for one semester. As part of the International Management Program in École Supérieure de Commerce de Pau (ESC-Pau), she had the opportunity to obtain a global perspective of business strategies through discourse of cases with fellow international students and lectures from professors and entrepreneurs from all over the world. After graduation, she worked for one year in Citibank, N.A. as part of the Central Business Support Unit (CBSU) Team wherein she facilitated the compliance and control concerns of the local branches.

When she is not in the office or out on fieldwork, she may be found on the summit of mountains. Ever since her college days, she continued being an active member of the Loyola Mountaineers (LM). As of date, she has already conquered 12 summits all over the Philippines and wishes to embark on conquering other mountains overseas soon.

Her sound foundation in the fields of management and economics, together with her awareness and advocacies on environmental preservation, inspired her to pursue a career in the development sector and made her good fit in providing capacity-building interventions to different organizations.

 

Angelo Naidas or Gio, finished with a degree of AB Management Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University. As a Management Economics major he was trained with a balance of having a sound knowledge of internal business processes as well as having the knowledge to adjust to external economic forces.

During his days as an undergrad he served Ateneo Management Economics Organization (MEcO) in promoting financial literacy as well as community investing being blessed with an opportunity to be a Project Executive for one of the orgs biggest projects during his senior year. He also had a well-rounded background with Finance being a core member of the Finance team for the Ateneo Freshmen Orientation (OrSem) during his freshman year to junior year, and he eventually became the Finance Head during his senior year. Gio also had success with Marketing as he together with his team were able to win first place during their Marketing Plan Competition during his junior year.

A bulk of his exposure from development work came from his experience through his course on Theory and Practice of Social Development under the tutelage of Prof. Joselito Sescon. During this course he was tasked to develop a Sustainable Livelihood Framework and make suitable recommendations for Bagong Silang, Novaliches.

After graduation he joined Rockwell Land Corporation and became a pioneer member for the Socialized Housing team. Entrepreneurship is making solutions to the world’s biggest problems. In the Philippines where we see difficulties left and right, Gio sees a huge potential in social entrepreneurship in solving our nation’s biggest problems one day at a time.

Carlo Niño Yacob obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Management and minor in Development Management from the Ateneo de Manila. During his years in the university, he has immersed himself in various entrepreneurial ventures, developmental projects, and socially-oriented organizations which encouraged him to pursue a career in SEDPI upon graduation.

While still in school, he held vital positions in marketing and operations of two start-up businesses: Puffs Pastries and Thai Ra Na Food Stall. He also conducted a company audit and proposed action plans for Manila Water Company Inc. on organizational behaviour.

Aside from these undertakings, he collaborated with Alyansa ng mga Mamamayan sa Escopa (ALMASE), an organized group in Brgy Escopa, Project 4, Quezon City, to design ESCOPAngkabuhayan, a project specifically created to ameliorate the condition of the environment in the community while providing an alternative source of income for its various stakeholders.

Carlo was also the Head of the Sector-Based Cluster of the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo. He preceded organizations that aim to develop sectors towards self-sustainability through proactive social advocacy and direct involvement. This leadership experience further honed his skills in organization development, seminar facilitation, project management, and interpersonal relations.

His background in management and development, enthused by his interactions with people from different sectors, committed him to do move for the betterment of society.

Karen Dominique Brillantes earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University.  In the university, she joined organizations that worked closely with marginalized sectors and wrote for a student publication centered on socio-political and economic issues, impelling her to work in the field of development.

She joined SEDPI shortly after graduation.  As part of the management staff, she conducted organizational appraisals and impact assessments for microfinance institutions all over the country, and was involved in researches commissioned by local and international non-profits. Under AdMU’s Microfinance Capacity Building Program, she delivered various microfinance trainings.  Together with her colleagues, she also assisted in the improvement of several microfinance institutions under SEDPI’s Technical and Mentoring Assistance (TAMA).

Seeking experience in the education sector, where her real advocacy is, she left SEDPI in 2011 and joined an Ateneo-based educational non-profit organization and then a private training institution, organizations where she further developed her training and program management competencies.

At present, she is an associate leading the development of SEDPI’s training materials and process manuals.

Welcome to the Official Website of Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI). Unfortunately, we are experiencing a technical problem, but will be re-launching the site soon.

In the meantime, if you have concerns or queries that need our immediate attention, drop us a line at info@sedpi.com or call us at (+63)2 433-8795.

Thank you! 🙂

 

– Administrator