San Juan studes top GK contest

High school students competed recently to enhance the livelihood products of budding Gawad Kalinga (GK) entrepreneurs – turning out papier mache gift boxes, healthy peanut butter and scented candles.

The Tabernacle of Faith Christian Academy in San Juan bagged the first prize in the most "improved product category in yesterday’s awarding ceremonies of the "Teenpreneur Challenge" at the SM Mall of Asia.

The Tabernacle students enhanced the Gawad Kalinga gift box product and made it into a personalized and multifunctional papier mache box.

Carlo Chong and his team from Xavier school, on the other hand, chose the peanut butter and improved its taste and health benefits.

Third year high school San Beda student Richard Josel Sardena said they decided to improve the GK candle product and thought of a stylish design.

The "Teenpreneur Challenge" is the country’s first inter-high school entrepreneurship competition where the ideas and inputs of students will be used to conceptualize and improve the business performance of livelihood projects for Gawad Kalinga communities.

Gawad Kalinga, a non-government organization that provides a holistic approach to poverty, aims to construct 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in seven years or GK777.

A total of 25 teams from 20 high schools in Metro Manila participated in the Teenpreneur Challenge, which was organized by the Entrepreneurs School of Asia (ESA), the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE) and Go Negosyo.

Xavier school bagged the second prize for an improved peanut butter product while San Beda College won third prize for a stylish candle product that is also an insect repellant .

The students said they were not thinking of competition when they joined the challenge but were motivated more to help GK communities develop a sustainable livelihood so that a culture of self-reliance will thrive in GK communities.

Steffi Ong, a fourth year high school from Tabernacle school, said she and her team went to Divisoria and Caloocan to find the boxes, went to GK sites and worked closely with the residents to revise the gift box products.

Her adviser, Aldrin Go, said they weren’t focused on winning but helping GK communities develop a product that would make them food sufficient and make their livelihood sustainable.

"The main ingredients of our product is first, God, second, perseverance and team effort," Go said

Chong said they removed the margarine and the transfat oil ingredients of the GK peanut butter to make it more healthy.

"We made the peanut butter more healthy and semi-sweet, we also removed the transfat oils and the preservatives," Chong said.

Like all the participants, they went to a GK village and talked with the residents regarding their suggestions to make the peanut butter healthy and creamier.

"We thought the GK village was a factory but we saw beautifully-colored houses. The peanut butter is really delicious because it is made by the residents in their own homes and the peanuts are manually picked, so it’s really delicious," Chong said.

"We put a design of leaves and trees on the candles because we wanted to market it for spa companies because when you see the candles, they have nature designs and we also put in a scent of citronella, so it’s aromatic and relaxing," Sardena of San Beda said. Like other participants, Sardena said his group was more motivated by helping GK than winning the competition.

Vivienne Tan, chairperson of ESA and founding trustee of the PCE, said they consider all the participating schools as winners because all the GK products became saleable.

The students were also committed to their goal to improve the products of GK communities to make them sustainable and true to their social responsibility to develop a culture of self-reliance and productivity.

At the same time, Tan and Joel Santos, co-founder of ESA and chairman of the Teenpreneur Challenge, said that as young as the students are, "they are realizing that a tool to fight poverty started in Teenpreneur Challenge."

"In the event, we gave the high schools students a crash course on basic entrepreneurial skills, focusing on creativity, resourcefulness and innovativeness. Similar to how we train our ESA students, we provided the high school students workshops and business games instead of plain lectures. This applied learning methodology is more effective for the youth of today," Tan said.

Luis Oquinena, GK’s executive director said they’re very thankful for the students for showing bayanihan at a young age.

"We are showing them the poor in GK communities are assets and not liabilities, together with the young, we will harness the potential and increase the productivity in GK communites. We are very thankful to the students for being our partners in making every GK community sustainable, self-reliant and food sufficient," Oquinena said.