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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Vincent explained that there are four key factors to success \u2013 skills, knowledge, network and luck. One of the participants emphatically asked, \u201cwhat percentage of the total mix is luck?\u201d Vincent answered, \u201cIt is not about percentage but how ready you are in terms of skills, knowledge and network when luck arrives.\u201d He added, \u201cone should prepare for luck to be able to seize it when it arrives.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-entrepreneurship"],"yoast_head":"\n