Young Filipino changemakers lauded

MANILA, Philippines - Four groups of young Filipino social entrepreneurs pitched their most innovative business ideas to emerge the winners in this year’s “I Am a Changemaker” competition organized by British Council Philippines. The competition encourages entrepreneurs to engage in business where it’s not only the financial bottom line that is important but also giving back to the community and making use of the business opportunities within their community to affect wide-scale social change.

British Ambassador Stephen Lillie congratulated the winners, pointing out that social entrepreneurship is not a new concept in Britain and goes back as far as the 19th century with the birth of the cooperative movement. “This movement is still alive and strong in Britain, continuing to our present day when our new Prime Minister David Cameron talks about his idea of the ‘big society’ which is very much about getting people from the community to take ownership of problems and solve them,” said Lillie.

A special prize was given by Starbucks to the finalist whose proposal best exemplified the values of a responsible business. Each winning team received P100,000 as seed capital and a business incubation and mentorship scheme courtesy of Social Enterprise Development Partnerships Inc. (SEDPI). All the finalists received project management and feasibility training from SEDPI based on a curriculum designed by the Ateneo de Manila and the National University of Singapore.

Team 3G emerged the big winner, bagging both the Visayas award and the Starbucks Shared Planet Award for their idea to establish a youth cooperative engaged in guso (seaweed) farming to address problems in education, employment and livelihood in Pangan-an Island.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), the Good Food Company won for its idea to reconnect people back to the land by making them stakeholders in the work of farmers in organic production. This will not only educate them on the values of eating organic but also open their eyes to the plight of the farmers.

Isla Cullion Souvenirs from Luzon won for their proposal of souvenir items to promote the sustainable use of natural resources and the welfare of the Tagbanuas, the indigenous people living in the Calamianes Group of Islands.

Entrepreneurs Responding through Social Service (ERSS) won in the Mindanao category for their idea to tackle problems of poverty and pollution by employing the women of Balulang, Cagayan de Oro to make bags out of used tarpaulins to help minimize waste and provide a source of income for the women.