MANILA, Philippines — What is the real secret to a successful business? For homegrown hygiene company Sanitary Care Products Asia (SCPA), the answer is its people.
Throughout its 25 years of creating homegrown brands for Filipinos such as Sanicare, Femme, Tisyu, Cheers, Naturale and Jade, “Great love for what we do and the people we do it for” has been the running mantra of the company.
SCPA stays true to this credo and pays it forward as it kicked off their silver year in a virtual event last March 18. Chairman and founder Renato Sio and president Venjosef Sio announced their plans to enable Filipino dreams together with the Asian Institute of Management-Dado Banatao Incubator (AIM-DBI).
They join forces to celebrate SCPA’s silver anniversary through an initiative that empowers the new breed of Filipino business leaders, called the Human Investment x Impact Grant for Entrepreneurship and Empowerment or, simply, HIIGENE.
The HIIGENE program—as explained by the key speakers—is a search that will provide opportunities to deserving start-ups to accelerate Filipino businesses.
This is the first time that AIM-DBI will emphasize people management philosophy as their top criterion, fully integrating SCPA’s DNA in the program.
It will be anchored in the Sio family’s legacy of a people-first philosophy, inspiring entrepreneurs to put up a trailblazing company built on their peoples' loyalty, trust and respect.
Also present in the launch was "dreamagineer" and AIM-DBI Executive Director Prim Paypon, founder of non-profit organization The Dream Project PH.
He shared that through HIIGENE, qualified start-ups have the chance to hone their leadership skills and grow their businesses through a three-month long AIM-DBI mentorship program.
Up to three companies can be awarded cash grants of up to P500,000 each to fund their businesses.
“What sets HIIGENE apart from other grants are these: First, this is the only time a local company is collaborating with a business school incubator work with startups as a pioneering business-academe-and-startup partnership. Second, when you talk about financial grants or competition grants here and abroad, we always talk of the innovation of the product or the technology; you rarely come across—and probably this is the first of its kind in the Philippines—where the focus of the grant is going back to the people who keep the company thriving and growing," Paypon shared.
Truly, this collaboration is SCPA's purposeful way to serve as a channel of blessing to Filipinos who aspire to create positive change in society.
The accelerator program's activities are all set and scheduled for the rest of the year.
Interested start-ups from AIM-DBI’s pool of 2018 alumni to 2021 enrollees may send in their applications from April 1 to April 30. These applications will undergo a rigid screening to make sure the grant will be awarded to those who fit the core philosophy of both SCPA and AIM-DBI.
The awarding of grants will follow in June, ending in October with a culminating activity to highlight the winner’s progress.
The launch of this philosophy-designed program was monumental for SCPA and highlights AIM-DBI’s third anniversary this month. The collaboration of these two organizations strengthens their respective belief in creating meaningful human impact through local businesses.
Reaching its silver anniversary despite recent economic challenges is no easy feat. For SCPA, there is no better way to celebrate 25 years of success than giving back. Not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it shares and honors a philosophy that allowed them to attain this accomplishment: Putting people first.
For more information, watch the HIIGENE launch on SCPA’s official Facebook page.