Mary Jane Selecia is a mother of five who lives in a rural community in Upi, Maguindanao in the Philippines. She runs a sari-sari store (corner store) in her community. COVID-19 has significantly affected their household and community. To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the government imposed community quarantine measures which includes physical distancing, movement […]
Federic Caneta / Resident of Cebu City – Furniture Maker The miter saw is silent in Federic Caneta’s workshop. The carpenter has a cabinet and a couple of shelves from commissions that were canceled because of the lockdown. His monthly projects vary with demand, “I make furniture on a custom-made or pre-order basis. Orders would […]
Image Credit: FreePik Respondent: Jhun Rodriguez / Resident of Quezon City- Tricycle Driver Jhun Rodriquez’s day would start with morning commuters in Quezon City. He is one of 4.5 million drivers across the country who have left their vehicles in garages until quarantine conditions are lifted. Jhun has put a ‘Family Use – Private’ sign on […]
Never too Small for Hope- Part I Doing business is largely a family affair in the Philippines – 80% of enterprises are family-owned or family-controlled. Microenterprises are the most intimate and the most common of these businesses. Nine of out of 10 MSMEs in the Philippines are microenterprises. Their kinship is the most deep-rooted because […]
Agrarian Reform Beneficiary Organizations (ARBO) in Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, and Lanao del Sur Provinces remain covid free. This is the result of the ARBO covid-19 quick assessment conducted by SEDPI on April 20-24, 2020. While some ARBOs have completely stopped operations, 36% or ten (10) out of twenty-eight (28) participating ARBOs continue to provide […]
SEDPI is a group of social enterprises that provide capacity building and social investments to development organizations and directly to microenterprises. We serve ~8,000 microenterprises in Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur, two of the poorest provinces in the Philippines. Most of our members, about nine in 10, are women with an average age […]
“SEDPI believes that the marginalized sector should be the first to enjoy the benefits of government services,” Vince Rapisura, SEDPI President, said in a statement on the occasion of its Memorandum of Agreement signing with Social Security System (SSS). “Our partnership with SSS will realize this so that low income groups will benefit fron social […]
“SEDPI’s partnership with Pag-IBIG Fund is a step closer to the organization’s vision of financial empowerment and financial inclusion for Filipinos,” Vince Rapisura, SEDPI President said when asked how the partneship is relevant to nation building. The organization’s members consist of self-employed individuals in the informal sector with need for improved social protection and access […]
Mindanao is considered one of the wealthiest islands in the Philippines in terms of natural resources. It boasts plenty of natural resources, producing 40% of the country’s food needs (OECD, 2013). Further, one-third of the island’s land area is considered agricultural (Francisco, 2017). Despite these considerable assets, the island has continuously been a place of […]
“We must all be solution-oriented,” said Florence Adviento, one of the trainers from SEDPI, at the beginning of the discussions. With the statement above as tone-setter, the Social Enterprises Development Partnerships Inc. (SEDPI) successfully conducted a 3-day series of trainings with 38 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBOs) coming from provinces of Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, […]