SOCIAL BUSINESS SUMMIT 2013: Building a nation, together

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay joined over 7,000 people at the Enchanted Farm Village University in Angat, Bulacan yesterday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Gawad Kalinga (GK).

“We can draw a lot of inspiration from the GK model,” Binay explained, recognizing in particular the efforts of volunteers to harness the potential and talents of GK community members.

“The poor are no longer beneficiaries (of a housing project), they are partners in growth. Given the opportunities, they can serve as allies in the pursuit of sustainable communities,” he added.

In an apt demonstration of the solidarity which has underpinned the emergence of over 2,000 GK communities nationwide, GK partners of all backgrounds and from all over the Philippines, as well as a number from abroad, gathered as equals, celebrating their commitment to spreading a culture of caring and sharing which they believe can eradicate poverty by 2024.

Partnering for growth

The GK 10th Anniversary Expo coincided with the final day of the inaugural Social Business Summit, an event which demonstrates the progression of GK over the last 10 years, evolving from a values formation and brick-and-mortar approach to community development to implementing a holistic, long-term vision, which prioritizes the creation of sustainable wealth in GK Villages and other marginalized communities. 

Speaking from the state-of-the-art Hyundai Center for Green Innovation, Binay expressed his admiration for the Enchanted Farm Village University project, the first of 25 Farm Village Universities nationwide.

“You only have to come here to see the progress of this country. Hopefully we can have far more events here.”

Recognizing the role that social entrepreneurs can play in creating wealth at the bottom of the pyramid, Binay expressed hope that more “social entrepreneurs will follow GK’s lead.”

According to Tony Meloto, founder and chairman of GK and co-convenor at the summit alongside Sen. Bam Aquino, the key to bottom-of-the-pyramid wealth creation is to scale up social enterprises which can reduce the country’s reliance on imported products.

“It is scandalous that this country imports 98 percent of its dairy, including from certain countries where there aren’t even any cows,” explained Meloto. “The Social Business Summit has been about restoring faith in our country. Over the next few years we will locally produce more and more world-class products such as coffee and chocolates. Filipinos will discover that they are just as good, if not better, and that they will also help bring farmers out of poverty.”

If GK began through the solidarity and compassion of just a few volunteers, led by Meloto, who began their community outreach program with the informal settlers of Bagong Silang (Caloocan), today GK is able to count on the creativity and resources not just of the best of Filipino talent, but leading innovators globally.

“We believe in providing the very best for the very least, so that the least may also become the best,” explained Meloto.

Indeed, over 500 delegates who attended the Social Business Summit, a number of whom came from Europe, the US and Australia, have discovered at the Enchanted Farm how innovation and partnership with the poor can help harness the Philippines’ vast human and natural resources and thereby eradicate poverty.

Over the four days, delegates were given an opportunity to listen to and engage with some of the innovators who have established social enterprises in the food and beverage, fashion, cosmetics and energy sectors, among many others.

Among the leading academics, entrepreneurs and students from abroad who attended the summit was Benedicte Faivre-Tavignot, executive director of the Social Enterprise and Poverty Chair from HEC business school in Paris, ranked as one of the top business schools in Europe.

“I have come to the Philippines to learn. Europeans can learn from the poor, and from the approach of organizations like GK, who achieve results working with less means and resources. This can help us to find ways to do business or run our societies in a more efficient, frugal or harmonious way.”

However, if a new paradigm for business is truly to take root in the Philippines, education will play an important role, and this education must reach the Filipino.

Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro called for a new, revolutionary approach to education at the summit, which will connect the poor more effectively to opportunities in their local communities.

Luistro believes the Enchanted Farm Village University can bring about a more interactive, practical form of education which opens its doors to the poor. As a result, the department  announced that it will open the first ever high school for social entrepreneurship at the Enchanted Farm by 2014.

“Hopefully this will be a model which can be replicated in other areas,” Luistro said.

Demonstrating the government’s ongoing commitment to the Enchanted Farm Village University project and their engagement with both the private sector and civil society organizations, other speakers at the summit included Secretary Arsenio Balisacan from NEDA, Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. from the Department of Tourism, Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes from the Department of Agrarian Reform, a strong presence from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as well as Sen. Bam Aquino.

Indeed, for Aquino, who helped found Hapinoy, social enterprise is critical in achieving growth which leaves no one behind.

“It is really social entrepreneurs in the middle who are missing. This is vital if we are to achieve inclusive growth, and we must ensure more support for emerging social entrepreneurs. We need to make doing business much easier, by providing the three M’s – money, market and mentorship – if social enterprises are to achieve success,” he said.

One place where the three M’s come together is at the Enchanted Farm, which Tony Meloto told delegates is “a hub for social entrepreneurs and a home for nation builders.”

Innovation with the poor, and for the poor

GK Advocate Tony del Rosario, head of Coca Cola for Thailand and Laos, was impressed by the innovative environment of the farm, and by one product in particular.

“I took one sip, I took a second sip, and then a third. I realized, quite simply, that Bayani Brew is a world-class product,” Del Rosario said of a product which is not only produced at the Enchanted Farm, but whose recipe was invented by nanays from the local community. “If this brand can grow, just think what it could do to help the farmers here in the surrounding areas.”

As a place of convergence between rich and poor, rural and urban communities, volunteers and partners not only have a lot to offer, but also something to take away.

“I have realized here at the farm that not only can big businesses teach something to Bayani Brew, but these social enterprises can teach something to the bigger corporations, too,” he said.

In 2003 GK was a small, grassroots movement with just a handful of communities nationwide. Thanks to the bayanihan spirit of its volunteers and the faith of countless public and private sector partners, it has managed to build over 2,000 communities nationwide and touched the lives of over a million people.

If, over the next 10 years, this spirit of cooperation can be matched by the compassion, creativity and innovation which have been evident over the previous four days at the Enchanted Farm, then the GK vision of eradicating poverty by 2024 suddenly becomes distinctly achievable.

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The author is a British journalist who came to the Philippines on a short-term assignment. He has since stayed 20 months in the country, volunteering for Gawad Kalinga and other causes. His experiences will be documented in a book, “The Genius of the Poor.”