Photo from left to right: Indigenous farmers of La Liga Farmers Association of Zambales walk the fields to harvest their crops. BPI Sinag Social Enterprise 2021 awardee, Mayani led by JT Solis
Marlon, together with his fellow indigenous farmers in Zambales, traverse the mountains of Zambales to tend to their farms and produce crops for their regular buyers. Decades ago, this was unheard of as smallholder farmers like him had to contend with various challenges to earn barely enough for the family.
Mayani, a social enterprise that connects over 139,000 smallholder farmers to retail and commercial consumers, has given hope to Marlon. This fastest growing farm-to-table online platform provides market access to both farmers and fisherfolk by sourcing direct produce and agricultural products to about 20,000 retail partners and 230 commercial stores.
This hope is multiplied many times over, thanks to over 160,000 social enterprises in the country.
The Social Enterprises
Social Enterprises are businesses with a social mission that address social issues to create a positive impact in society. Unlike regular businesses that may have their own corporate social responsibility programs, social enterprises are full-fledged businesses committed to uplift underserved communities and the triple bottom line of people, planet before profit.
While social entrepreneurs play a significant role in solving social issues and achieving an inclusive economy, they need strong support to continue their social and economic mission. Based on a study by Asian Development Bank in 2019, among the problems faced by Social Enterprises are financial constraints due to limited capital, unrefined business models and lack of access to investors and market. The potential of these social entrepreneurs to scale up, expand, and deepen impact requires a more robust environment.
The BPI Sinag Program
Responding to the need of social entrepreneurs to improve its value creation, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) – through its social development arm BPI Foundation – committed to champion the social enterprise (SE) sector through its flagship program, BPI Sinag.
Introduced in 2015, the BPI Sinag program was initially conceived as a business challenge competition for social enterprises. It has now evolved into a growing ecosystem that continues to bring together not just the country’s visionary entrepreneurs, but also mentors, investors, and other stakeholders with a collective goal of inclusive and sustainable growth through social entrepreneurship.
(From Left to Right) Owen Cammayo of BPI Foundation, Rob Mabiasen of BPI Banko, Carlo Calimo of Villgro and Ismael Augusto Gozon of Entrego poses with the BPI Sinag Social Entrepreneurs during the BPI Sinag Evolution Launch in 2022.
To achieve greater impact, BPI Sinag program recently embraced a multi-stakeholder approach highlighting three vital pillars: social entrepreneurs, educators, and intervenors or sub-sectors.
During the launch of Sinag Evolution in 2022, Sinag alumni JT Solis of Mayani, Catherine Diquit of Likhang Maragondon, Cecille Virtucio of Batangas Egg Producers Cooperation, and Lorielinda Bella Rago-Marte of Tagolwanen Women Weavers Association shared their experiences on how the program helped grow their social enterprises.
“Kami ay maliit na social enterprise lamang at ilang buwan pa lang kami noong sumali kami dito. Because of BPI Sinag, we had a better understanding kung ano ang social enterprise. We met so many inspiring people. Nagkaroon kami ng better connections and network. The funding that we got from BPI Sinag really helped us kasi ngayon nakapagpagawa na kami ng manufacturing hub,” shared Catherine Diquit, Owner of Likhang Maragondon.
“Evolution best represents the enhancements in our Sinag program over time to better address the needs of the broader SE ecosystem. Doing well by doing good as an economic and social imperative is more relevant now more than ever. This is the perfect time to increase our collective efforts to become more inclusive, responsible, and sustainable when doing business. This is the essence why we strongly support social enterprises,” said Owen Cammayo, Executive Director of BPI Foundation.
Over the years, Sinag has supported 331 SEs nationwide and awarded over Php 23
Million in cash grants to help them strengthen their enterprises, widen their reach, and further uplift the lives of their communities. The program enables SEs’ new and innovative solutions by empowering them through intellectual, social and financial capital.
BPI Sinag Sari-Sari Store
In 2021, BPI Sinag launched a dedicated marketspace for Filipino social enterprises called the Sinag Sari-Sari Store. In partnership with Bayan Academy and Alagang Ayala Land, it ensures that SEs are provided with a free space in Ayala malls nationwide to showcase their products and help increase sales.
BPI Foundation Sinag Social Enterprises showcased their local products in the Sinag Sari-Sari store located in Glorietta Makati.
Local and sustainable products made by different Social Entrepreneurs are displayed in the Sinag Sari-Sari store. These include food items, masks and fans, soaps, bags and purses.
The first Sinag Sari-Sari store was launched in October 2021 at Trinoma Mall in Quezon City with 15 different participating BPI Sinag SEs. With its success, and by providing more market access opportunity to BPI Sinag SEs, a second store was launched in December 2022 at Glorietta in Makati City, showcasing the products of 19 SEs.
This year, a third Sinag Sari-Sari store will be officially launched very soon in another accessible area in Makati.
Photo from left to right: Community members of Sitio Itanglew. Marlon with his father who are both members of La Liga Farmers Association of Zambales
Recognizing that social enterprises is not a formal sector in the country, BPI Foundation will continue to work with the Department of Trade and Industries (DTI) and other agencies that are part of the ecosystem to make a big push for a stronger and sustainable business model for the benefit of the social enterprises and their beneficiaries.
To know more about Sinag, visit https://www.bpifoundation.org/page/bpi-sinag and follow BPI Foundation on Facebook and Instagram.
