SEDPI Inspires Vietnamese Youth on Social Entrepreneurship

Mariel Vincent Rapisura and Edwin Salonga, President and Chairperson of the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) respectively, presented the story of SEDPI Group of Social Enterprises in a seminar in Vietnam. The event aims to inspire students of the National Economics University (NEU) to support the development and explore the possibility of putting up social enterprises in their country.

Supported by the British Council Vietnam, the seminar also featured the social enterprises being supported by Gladius Kulothungan of the University of East London. More than 100 junior and senior students attended the event held on April 12, 2012 at the NEU Campus in Hanoi.

Vincent discussed that in 2004, SEDPI started out with a clear vision to be the leading capacity builder in the Philippines with regard to microfinance and social entrepreneurship. Since then, SEDPI has been able to train 7,500 individuals coming from 1,500 development organizations all over the world. It also has a program on financial literacy that targets Overseas Filipinos and their families, with the main thrust of educating them on how to manage their personal finances wisely.

Edwin focused on the growth of SEDPI Capital Credit, Inc. (SCCI) over the years. Starting out as a program of SEDPI, it has spun off as a separate organization that specializes on socially responsible resource mobilization. From having only USD 3,000 in its portfolio in 2004, SCCI now has total assets of over USD 3 million. It mobilizes investments from development institutions and Filipino migrant organizations, which in turn are converted as loans to microfinance institutions and social enterprises in the Philippines. After hearing the story of SEDPI Group of Social Enterprises, the university students had numerous queries on how similar companies could be established in Vietnam.

Vincent explained that there are four key factors to success – skills, knowledge, network and luck. One of the participants emphatically asked, “what percentage of the total mix is luck?” Vincent answered, “It is not about percentage but how ready you are in terms of skills, knowledge and network when luck arrives.” He added, “one should prepare for luck to be able to seize it when it arrives.”

With the key message that a balanced outlook on the importance of financial returns and achievement of social mission is possible in social entrepreneurship, the students took home with them the possibility of another career option. As a social entrepreneur, they would be able to create successful businesses that help the marginalized sectors in Vietnam.

SEDPI President Speaks in Social Enterprise Conference in Vietnam

SEDPI President and CEO Mariel Vincent Rapisura shared the Philippine experience and recent initiatives on social entrepreneurship during the Scientific Conference on Social Enterprise Development held on April 9, 2012 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The National Economics University in partnership with the British Council Vietnam organized the conference. It attracted more than 100 academicians from various Vietnamese universities and practitioners in the field of social entrepreneurship.

The conference aims to raise the awareness of faculty members in various universities in Vietnam as regards social entrepreneurship and to inspire them to develop curricula to support local enterprise development. The event brought together experts from the United Kingdom, United States, and the Philippines as well as practitioners and researchers from Vietnam. They tackled key challenges and opportunities social enterprises face.

PGS. TS. Bui Anh Tuan, Vice President of the Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam, and Michael Gordon, Deputy Director of the British Council Vietnam delivered keynote speeches highlighting the role of the academe and the private sector in social enterprise development. As a response, TS. Nguyen Van Tien, Vice Chair of the Community of Social Issues of the Vietnam Assembly (Quoc Hoi) spoke about the role of the government and the importance of synergistic relationships in this field.

Among those who shared their insights and experiences during the conference were ThS. Luu Minh Durc (Researcher at the Department of Business Environment of Central Institute for Economic Management), Ba Pham Kieu Oanh (Executive Director of the Center for Social Initiatives Promotion), Gladius Koluthungan (Professor at the University of East London), and Michael Goldberg (Professor at the Case Western Reserve University in the US).

SEDPI Founders Conduct Workshop on Social Entrepreneurship in Vietnam

SEDPI founders Mariel Vincent Rapisura, Edwin Salonga, and Raquel Reyes led the delivery of a 3-day workshop on Social Entrepreneurship in Vietnam. Gladius Kulothungan of the University of East London served as co-facilitator in the event. The National Economics University (NEU) in partnership with the British Council Vietnam, organized the workshop. The workshop focused on the importance of integrating social entrepreneurship into the curricula of various universities in Vietnam.

Held from April 9 to 11, 2012 at the NEU Campus in Hanoi, 49 academicians and practitioners attended the workshop. The workshop aims to enrich the participants’ understanding of social entrepreneurship, gain support in its development, inspire university faculty to write and publish academic research work, and develop a curricula that will cater to students and practitioners alike.

The workshop discussed key concepts, models, and strategies of social entrepreneurship. It provided a venue to clarify the difference of social enterprises from traditional businesses and charitable work. The characteristics and motivations of social entrepreneurs were likewise tackled during the event. Stakeholder analysis, financial and social performance management, and social enterprise product development provided operational tools that participants could use in developing social enterprises.

The facilitators used several case studies to highlight key messages in the workshop. Among those discussed were Good Food Company (community shared agriculture) and Klinikalusugan (community health clinic) in the Philippines. The participants shared that these enterprises could be replicated in Vietnam given similar contexts between the two Southeast Asian countries.

A farewell dinner for the facilitators was organized by NEU. During the closing ceremony, the lead faculty of various universities as well as social entrepreneurs who attended the 3-day event gave overwhelming accolades for the design, content, and delivery of the workshop. Dr. Pham Quang Trung, Vice President of NEU, presented the facilitators with local Vietnamese products as token of the university’s sincere appreciation of the event’s success.

SEDPI Participates in CSR Forum

To promote sustainable development amongst young people in the Philippines, British Council and CSR Asia jointly organized CSR Forum on “Investing in Young People – Employability and Entrepreneurship for Tomorrow’s Leaders.” The event discussed how educational initiatives can maximize employability and develop entrepreneurial talents. The theme addressed how businesses and non-government organizations (NGOs) can become involved in achieving sustainability in the workplace and helping the next generation entrepreneurs.

SEDPI’s Chairperson, Edwin Salonga and President, Mariel Vincent Rapisura were speakers in the event. They shared practical steps for making social enterprises work – from concept to production. They shared the success of SEDPI Group of Social Enterprises as an example on how to start up social enterprises. They also showcased two social enterprises SEDPI is currently supporting – Good Food Community (GFC) and KliniKalusugan (KK). GFC implements community shared agriculture to improve the quality of life of farmers. KK is a community health clinic that provides health care services in urban poor communities.

Richard Wilford, Chairman of CSR Asia, delivered his keynote address on the recruitment challenges for businesses in asia. Cases were shared during the forum showcasing how education can maximize employability. Roberto Nazal, Head of CSR of Globe Telecom; Janine Carreon, Talent Management Head of Manila Water Company, Heidi Calo Program Director of GoNegosyo; and Caroline Burns, Executive Director of the Institute of for Social Entrepreneurship Education led the case sharing. Brian Belen, Vice President of Bato Balani Foundation, also talked about corporate volunteers as mentors. Amanda Burrell, Director of British Council Philippines, closed the event.

SEDPI Conducts “Customer Care” Training to ASKI Front Liners

Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc. (ASKI) commissioned the services of the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) to deliver a training on “Customer Care.” The training was held at ASKI’s head office in Cabanatuan City on March 26-27, 2012. A total of 25 participants who are mostly front liners attended the event.

Excellent customer care is essential to the rapidly changing landscape of the microfinance industry. Amidst the increasing number of microfinance players, providing clients with utmost care play a key role in the success of the organization.

Mr. Rolando Victoria, ASKI’s Executive Director, gave his opening remarks during the training. Three trainers from SEDPI delivered the training – Mr. Edwin Salonga, SEDPI Chairperson; Mr. Vincent Rapisura, SEDPI CEO and Ms. Cherryl Si, SEDPI Program Officer. They were rated excellent in terms of knowledge and delivery of training.

The customer training is a dry run to pave the way for ASKI transforming into an Ateneo Training Hub for Microfinance. The training hub will service microfinance institutions and ASKI staff in Central and Northern Luzon. SEDPI Capital Credit Inc. (SCCI), SEDPI’s financing arm also extended a PhP20 million credit line to support ASKI’s microfinance expansion. The strategic partnership was primarily sealed with a gentlemen’s handshake between Mr. Victoria and Mr. Rapisura over lunch during the training event.

ADMU-SEDPI Conducts “Fundamentals of Microfinance” and “Customer Care” Trainings in Cebu City

Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) and the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) successfully conducted two training events last March 26 to 31, 2012 in Cebu City. The two trainings – Fundamentals and Principles of Microfinance and Customer Care for Microfinance – were the first to be conducted under the training hub partnership with Community Rural Bank of Catmon (CRBC).

A total of 19 participants attended the course on Fundamentals and Principles of Microfinance. The course aims to provide the participants with the essentials and framework of methodologies used in microfinance. It also provided the participants with the emerging trends and opportunities in the industry. Mr. Bernardo Desabelle, the General Manager of First Consolidated Coop along Tanon Seaboards (FCCT) and a microfinance practitioner for more than two decades, shared, “the training provided a renewal and a deeper understanding of microfinance which plays a key role for a sustainable microfinance operation.”

On the other hand, 13 individuals attended the training on Customer Care for Microfinance Institutions. The course stresses the importance of excellent customer care amidst the fast changing landscape of the microfinance industry. Participants of the training were able to craft concrete output such as action and policy points for customer care which they can emulate in their respective institutions.

The trainers – Mr. Edwin Salonga, Ms. Florence Adviento and Ms. Enid Madarcos – received excellent rating from the participants in terms of knowledge, delivery and overall skill as training facilitators. Both trainings can be accredited for a Diploma in Microfinance conferred by the Ateneo De Manila University as part of the ADMU Microfinance Capacity Building Program.

SEDPI Founders Participate in British Council and Rappler Event

The British Council and Rappler organized an event entitled “Communicating for Social Change” on March 24-27, 2012. The event was held at Discovery Suites in Pasig City. The objective of the event is to train young leaders who want to affect change and achieve great things not only for themselves, but for the wider public.

The event revolved around four topics: effective communications strategies; championing your cause; getting support and funding; and utilizing new media. SEDPI founders, Mr. Vincent Rapisura and Mr. Edwin Salonga, joined the impressive roster of speakers such as Maria Resa, Patricia Evangelista, John Silva, Chay Hofileña, Michael Josh Villanueva, and CNN reporter Steve Lunt.

Vincent and Edwin were tasked to deliver social marketing. Vincent explained that social marketing is about changing behaviors for the good of individuals, groups or the public. He provided a framework of analyzing stakeholders in organizations to determine what behaviors to change to achieve organizational objectives. The participants were divided into groups that allowed them to share the different stakeholders and dynamics behind these stakeholders. They were able to identify the challenges their stakeholders face and behavioral changes needed to address these challenges.

Edwin continued on the discussion and provided concrete examples on how to design social marketing campaigns. He provided strategies on how to get the community on board to support advocacies, campaigns and causes. After the session, the participants were able to design simple social marketing campaigns that they could implement in their organizations.

SEDPI Conducts ADMU-MCBP Trainings in NWTF

Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) conducted trainings under the Ateneo Microfinance Capacity-Building Program (ADMU-MCBP) in Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, Inc. (NWTF), its pioneer partner training hub in Bacolod City, on March 19 to 24, 2012. The trainings conducted were Delinquency Management and Financial Planning for Small and Medium Enterprises.

Seventeen participants from NWTF and Dungganon Bank, Inc. attended the training on Delinquency Management. The course enables participants to understand delinquency by tracing its causes and costs and offering various perspectives on delinquency from the vantage point of the borrowers and the microfinance institution. Participants are also taught on how to measure delinquency using international standards and how to come up with both preventive and curative strategies in solving delinquency.

Eleven participants from the same organizations attended the training on Financial Planning for SME’s. The course aims to equip the participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize business opportunities. It also teaches the participants on how to identify characteristics of entrepreneurs, use a framework on planning, organizing, and managing an enterprise, and project financial goals. Various workshops were conducted to help the participants develop their business ideas, which they presented at the end of the course.

SEDPI has trained over a hundred staff from NWTF, and from other microfinance institutions in the area, since the start of the training hub partnership in 2009. Attending the training courses make the participants eligible for the Diploma Course in Microfinance conferred by the Ateneo de Manila University.

ADMU Confers Diploma in Microfinance to AFCCO staff

Fifteen management staff of Abuyog Saint Francis Xavier Credit Cooperative (AFCCO) were conferred a Diploma in Microfinance. Ateneo de Manila University’s Development Studies Program conferred the diploma through its program manager, Mariel Vincent Rapisura. The event was held on March 17, 2012 in Abuyog, Leyte during AFCCO’s general assembly meeting.

“Thank you for unselfishly sharing your knowledge to us. The partnership has helped our cooperative grow stable and service oriented,” Charry Guston, AFCCO’s operations manager, wrote in a framed certificate extended to Ateneo and Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI). AFCCO and SEDPI inked a partnership three years ago to provide capacity buildings services aimed at improving service delivery to microfinance clients and improved financial performance. The capacity building interventions extended were trainings, technical and mentoring assistance, planning, research and organizational appraisal. The trainings provided led to a Diploma Course in microfinance to its management staff without extra cost.

The diploma course graduates submitted documentations on how the trainings and other capacity building interventions contributed to the overall improvement of AFCCO’s financial and social performance. AFCCO’s COOP PESOS rating improved from 80 in 2010 to 87 this year. COOP PESOS is a performance-based regulation measure of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).

The table below shows the graduates’ researches:

Name

Research
Almodera, Cristeta Significance of microfinance as a poverty eradication tool
Arabiana, Arlene Savings Mobilization from Women Coop Members
Bero, Jenny AFFCO Members in Good Standing Classification
Calinawan, Daniel Mitigating Fraudulent Activities
Dalino, Olive Savings and Credit for Women
Guimbaolibot, Juliet Establishing AFFCO’s Asset Recovery Team
Guston, Charrie Establishing Incentives Schemes for AFCCO Staff
Montilla, Melchessadisch Strategies to Increase Member Savings
Montipolka, Jessica Learnings from AFCCO’s Sustainable Organic Agriculture
Napoles, Marilou Improving AFCCO’s Member Benefit Program
Nodalo, Rose AFCCO’s Financial Product Development Process
Peneda, Edwin Importance of Dividends, Patronage and Interest to Members
Realino, Mario AFCCO’s Officers Development Program
Tonido, May Social and Financial Literacy among Kids  and School Children
Yringco, Luz Social Audit of AFCCO

The Diploma in Microfinance is a 13-unit modular course work. It could be completed through attending public run, customized or online courses of the Ateneo Microfinance Capacity Building Program. Public and customized trainings have the equivalent of 1.33 units while online courses are equivalent to one unit. The participants should also pass tests administered after completion of each training event. A simple research or documentation of how the learnings were applied to the microfinance institution is also required. The research or documentation is equivalent to 4 four units. Since 2009, almost 400 microfinance practitioners graduated from the program. To date, there are 1,177 individuals enrolled in the program.

SEDPI Prex Delivers Talk on Product Innovation for Rural Banks

On March 17, 2012, SEDPI’s President, Mariel Vincent Rapisura delivered at the Visayas Rural Bank Management Conference held at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City. A total of 136 participants from 42 rural banks attended the event.

Mr. Rapisura shared opportunities and product innovations for rural banks in the following areas: microinsurance, financial products linked to remittances; microhousing; microleasing; rural and agricultural finance; small and Medium Enterprise Financing (Missing Middle); alternative Energy; and financial Literacy.

For microinsurance, he explained that there are a lot of opportunities to be seized in developing climate change-related products. As a country frequently visited by typhoons and floods, it is obvious that rural banks should have financial products that protect end clients from these. Rural banks also initiate the establishment of mutual benefit associations to service their microfinance clients. Mr. Rapisura stressed that health insurance should also be given to poor clients. He gave as an example, Klinikalusugan, a social enterprise that delivers affordable health care services, as a means to provide access to health services for the poor. He stressed, however, that health is not within the competency of rural banks. It is therefore imperative for rural banks to network with organizations to provide these services.

The Philippines is the third largest remittance receiver country. Ten out of the 30 million workforce are abroad. Rural banks, due to their extensive branch network could provide alernative financial products to migrants and their family members. Mr. Rapisura explained that rural banks should encourage OFWs to save for more than five years to take advantage of tax incentives. Rural banks should also use as a marketing strategy the deposit insurance protection offered by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation of up to PhP500,000. Productive loans for migrant family members guaranteed by future remittances of migrants is another creative means of designinng financial products to capture this market segment. This wil potentially break the cycle of dependency on remittances since the migrant’s family members will have source of income in the Philippines. Other products that could be developed include educational and asset acquisition loans.

Microleasing is a financial product that allows microfinance clients to access high ticket equipment or assets for production or value addition. Microfinance clients lose productivity because they could not afford high technology equipment for production or value addition. Through microleasing, the microfinanc eclients rent the equipment or asset from the microfinance institution. Mr. Rapisura shared that a recent program of the Department Agrarian Reform paves the way for this arrangement.

Rural and agricultural finance is another area where opportunities abound but needs “thinking out of the box.” Mr. Rapisura explained that in a research they recently conducted private capitalists have more flexibility in providing repeat loans to farmers affected by calamities. He explained that microfinance institutions, such as rural banks, typically do not extend refinance loans to farmers even if the reason for non payment is due to calamities. This practice leads to the dependency of farmers to private capitalists. In this light, Mr Rapisura posed a challenge, “It is time to redefine delinquency. It should should not be based on repayment alone. A client who diligently pays loan amortizations and suddenly misses this due to calamities should not be considered as delinquent. Pro-poor financial products should be designed to assist the poor out of poverty.”

As a strategy, Mr. Rapisura cited a social enterprise, Good Food Community, Inc. (GFC) He shared that GFC provides credit to its vegetable farmers but bases its amortization on the weekly production of the farmer. It only requires payment to loans based on 20% of the production revenue of the farmer every week. With this method, the amortization amount is not fixed and the loan term can only be estimated.

Mr. Rapisura also shared an opportuninity for rural banks to participate in the Asian Development Bank and Department of Energy’s plan to extend e-trike loans through local government units. He encouraged rural banks to persuade the government to use them in extending the loans to ensure repayment of the e-trikes and avoid the program being politicized.

Lastly, Mr. Rapisura encuraged rural banks to provide financial literac programs to their clients. He explained through financial education, rural banks can “teach their clients to buy their financial products.”