All Hail the New Changemakers
I’ve previously asked the question, where will the next generation of Social Entrepreneurs come from?
I think there are three sources -
1. fresh graduates from other disciplines (as there isn’t a formal social enterprise degree yet),
2. NGO practitioners who’ll deepen their business skills, and
3. corporate executives/entrepreneurs who’ll be making the leap).
I personally came from Bucket #3 and know a few who are in #2. But it’s the pool from Bucket #1 which excites me.
Their lack of work experience can be viewed as a potential weakness, but it’s also most certainly a source of strength. They’re not burdened by years of experience and dominant logic residing in their heads. They’ve got a deep wellspring of “intelligent naivete’” to see problems with entirely fresh eyes. And this approach leads to exciting new ideas for new solutions.
Now, I’m not saying they’ve got the operating models exactly down pat – in fact, this is where the experience factor will certainly play a role. But the audacity to see things from an entirely new perspective, to come up with new solutions is a most excellent starting point.
If anything, social entrepreneurship is about change. And change comes hardest to people who are deeply-entrenched in the way things are done. It will come easiest from new entrants, from new people who can easily challenge the status quo. This is precisely the Bucket #1 people who are asking ‘Why Not?’
Enter British Council Philippines’ ‘I Am a Changemaker’ – essentially, a social entrepreneurship competition.
I was invited to be a judge for their finals last July 31 at the Ateneo, and I must say that I’m highly encouraged by these idealistic and youthful changemakers who are already actively thinking about social enterprises.
From the official literature :
British Council – I Am a Changemaker operates like a business plan competition, awarding seed capital directly to the best social enterprise idea that best meets our criteria. It provides a vehicle for taking innovations from idea to reality, and is a real-world exercise for improving young people’s skills in 1. Starting a social enterprise, 2. Pitching ideas to possible investors (in terms of viability and scalability), and 3. Building networks (getting people to work together) Participants are challenged to unleash their ideas, energy and idealism to affect positive social change in our society. The only limit to the range of projects eligible for the award is dependent on their ambition and imagination.
In fact, as a judge, I was asked to “score” the entries along the following dimensions : overall concept, community impact, sustainability, risk assessment and market analysis, and management team. It’s a criteria that looks at the juggling act of social development and business modeling.
I was pleasantly surprised with the entries. I think there’s still a huge upside to further fine-tune most of them, but all-in-all I appreciate the fact that social entrepreneurship is being considered by these changemakers as a viable option.
The models were coalescing around certain themes – aggregation, community development, direct linkages/market access, capacity-building through livelihood development, working with the marginalized.
There are certainly more models of social enterprises out there, and I would certainly appreciate more diversity and originality from the entries – we really need more radical thinking for the “wicked problems” that plague society. But as I said, this is already an extremely encouraging beginning. I really believe it will create a very powerful snowball effect.
And on this point, congratulations to the British Council for really investing their time, focus, and resources on this extremely worthwhile project! (special mention to Jen Domingo and Ana Tan :p). It’s really setting young changemakers along the right path.
And to all those aspirants – just keep on pushing. This line of work is certainly not easy, trust me. But if a social problem absolutely consumes you, then nothing will get in your way.
Aside from the business planning skills gained in this competition, I’d just like to emphasize again the ‘soft side’ of social entrepreneurship - integrity, sincerity, and execution as key currency.
Good luck!! 
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here are some highlights, in pictures and videos :
There were several finalists coming from all regions. In fact, the entrants were clustered into NCR, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Here are some of the entries :
OrganiKa – Organika is a social business accelerator and resource innovator committed to grow and dignify Agri-Business Communities (ABCs) by providing marketing and distribution services through collaboration with institutions and experts across industry sectors. The enterprise was borne as a response to the market gap between local producers who are not able to reach the market and consumers who have limited access to comfortably-priced quality food products. As an entry strategy, Organika will market agricultural products such as coco sugar to institutional buyers including company pantries and food service establishments.
Hinabi – the premise is to use and promote various Philippine weaves in new, innovative and everyday products that cater to a target market that would not normally consider these products as an option for daily use. By creating weaeable products that feature those weaves, we would not only be promoting them, but also continuing a “dying” tradition and ultimately restores dignity to the weavers themselves.
HapiKaw Organics serves to unite and empower small-scale farmers by providing strategic marketing services to selected Dairy Federations in Mindanao with a production ethos based on organic farming technology. The short-term objectives are modest but the long-term goal is to become a world-class organic dairy industry that will address food security in Mindanao and eventually fair-trade export.
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Before the winners were announced, Fr. Ben Nebres, President of the Ateneo University gave the welcoming remarks. He talked on how Ateneo has been actively pursuing and supporting the social entrepreneurship movement as they believe it’s really the new model of social development :
And now, on to the Winners …
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NCR WINNER : THE GOOD FOOD COMPANY
The Good Food Company - The project aims to reconnect people back to the land by making them stakeholders by making them stakeholders in the work of farmers in organic production. Stakeholders also commit to purchase a fixed amount for a set period of time. The endeavor will also be a platform to educate the general public on the values of eating organic, the farmers’ plight, and other relevant matters.
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LUZON WINNER : ISLA CULION SOUVENIRS
Isla Culion Souvenirs – The increasing tourism activity in Culion Island and its neighbouring areas inspired the need to set up a model souvenir shop aimed at earning money not for profit but also for service to all stakeholders. It will not just cater to the market demand, but will promote the welfare of the Tagbanuas (indigenous people living in the Calamianes Group of Islands) and promote the responsible use of our natural resources.
VISAYAS WINNER : TEAM 3G (GO FOR GUSO)
Gasa sa Guso (Gifts from Seaweed) – proposes to address problems in education, employment and livelihood in Pangan-an Island by establishing a youth cooperative engaged in guso (seaweed) farming. Trainins in guso farming and entrepreneurship for high school students in Pangan-an Island, Cebu pave the way to managing the cooperative and the guso farm. Expansion in building a multi-purpose store, extending credit, and diversifying livelihood means through guso processing are also foreseen as strategies to improve living standards among families in the island.
MINDANAO WINNER : ENTREPRENEURS RESPONDING THROUGH SOCIAL SERVICES
Entrepreneurs Responding through Social Services (ERSS) – Bag Tarpreneurs wanted to address two of the major problems of society today – Pollution and Poverty. Bags made out of recycled tarpaulins by the unemployed women of Balulang, Cagayan de Oro is the focus of this social enterprise. Recycling one of the major waste materials found in most cities into useful and beautiful bags will help minimize waste and at the same time, provide sustainable employment and income to the women of Balulang.
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Here’s a group picture with all the winners :
Congrats to these new Changemakers, as they each won P100,000!
Gasa sa Guso also got another P100,000 as a special prize from Starbucks’ Shared Planet Special Prize. Personally, I really think that group nailed the social business model – although I did have some strong feedback on the financial model and their profit distribution (even after the panel discussion, I chatted with them to emphasize my point – couldn’t help it, such a promising group especially with some further tweaking) :p
HM Ambassador Stephen Lillie gave the closing remarks, and shares the UK’s deep experience on Social Entrepreneurship, and his belief that it can also have a strong impact in the Philippines.
Picture of the Panel of Judges with Ambassador Lillie and Fr. Ben
