BPI Sinag Accelerate’s 33 semi-finalists underwent an intensive bootcamp in August to strengthen their business management skills and hone their investor pitching capabilities. Photo from BPI Foundation Press Release
After two months of search and evaluation, BPI Foundation (BPIF) and the Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) have shortlisted 20 social enterprises qualified for the next round of BPI Sinag Accelerate.
READ: BPI Foundation launches bigger ‘Sinag Business Challenge’
BPIF’s flagship program, BPI Sinag aims to empower social entrepreneurs by providing them with intellectual, social and financial capital through access to mentorship and incubation, industry network, and grants, loans or equity. The BPI Sinag Accelerate category is tailor-fit to scale up social enterprises and make them investment-ready.
The 20 finalists of BPI Sinag Accelerate represent different industries such as food, agriculture, fashion and services. They were chosen from over 100 participants at the seminar orientations held all over the Philippines.
These finalists were among the 33 semi-finalists that attended BPI Sinag Accelerate’s first bootcamp in August, where they were challenged, coached and inspired by successful social entrepreneurs like Jeannie Javelosa, co-founder and director of ECHOstore and Great Women, Krie Lopez, founder of Messy Bessy, and Rob Crisostomo, founder of Seed Core Philippines. Furthermore, they were also trained on topics including the Social Business Model Canvas, Financial Management, and Investment Pitching by mentors Priya Tachadi, Anton Mauricio and Artie Lopez, respectively.
Aside from sharing practical advice on running an enterprise, they strengthened the participants’ understanding on how social impact can be brought about throughout their value chains.
“Without the social impact, you are just entrepreneurs,” Javelosa said. “Wherever you are now in your journey, don’t forget your passion,” she added.
At the second bootcamp, scheduled on Oct. 19-21, finalists will undergo training on value chain analysis, marketing, finance, social mission and digitizing enterprises in order to capacitate them to scale.
The bootcamp will conclude with the finalists pitching their plans to a panel of judges in the morning of Oct. 21, to be followed by the awarding ceremony in the afternoon, featuring a panel discussion with the theme “Gearing Up Social Enterprises to Win in an Asean Landscape.” Ten of the best social enterprises with the most potential to scale will be awarded with mentoring and incubation, grants and loans.
The top 20 finalists are: Akaba Ltd. Design Co., Bag 943, Balangay’s Best, Camotes Coop, Citihub, Fresh Start Organics, Ginto Fine Chocolates, Good Food Community, Kapwa Greens, KKK Coffee, LASIWWAI, Organic Options Inc., Rehobot Association, Risque Designs;
Scoop Garden Ice Cream, Shine Native Products Marketing, Solar Solutions Inc., Southern Leyte Integrated Farmers and Fisherfolks, Sustainable Alternative Lighting Corp. (SALT) and The Churner Group Inc.
Featuring two categories for 2016, the BPI Sinag business challenge caters to two distinct types of social enterprises – BPI Sinag Accelerate is tailor-fit for social enterprises ready to scale up and BPI Sinag U capacitates university students with social enterprise ideas.
While BPI Sinag Accelerate is currently in the middle of its challenge cycle, the second category, BPI Sinag U, organized in partnership with the Ateneo Center for Social Entrepreneurship, continues to invite students from 40 partner universities to sign up for the challenge until mid-September. Regional bootcamps for BPI Sinag U will be held from October to November in Davao City, Iloilo City and Quezon City.
Visit https://sinag.bpifoundation.org/ for more information. Join the discussion and add BPI Sinag on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bpisinag and Twitter https://twitter.com/bpisinag.