Bic encourages Filipinos to dream big dreams

Partners unite for a bright future

One of the first things we learn early in life is to write down our names.

Along with our names, we are to jot down essays on ourselves, talk about our family and friends, share what we did during summer vacations, and come up with the all-important answer to what we dream of becoming when we grow up.

It’s with the idea of writing our goals, ambitions and plans that we are a step closer to realizing them—at least, that’s what we were taught in school.

But kids these days learn differently about themselves in role-playing classrooms like Kidzania.

Stationery brand BIC had 200 kids, some as young as 5 years old, flock to the “streets” of the indoor theme park, with the hope that they might find a profession they could aspire for.

The confident children under the care of nongovernment organizations Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, Virlanie Foundation, Children’s Hour and Kariton Klasrum share out loud what their dream jobs are: teacher, police, lawyer, doctor, actor and rock star.

The fun trip to Kidzania is part of BIC’s back-to-school social campaign, where kids are taught to take responsibility in shaping their future even at play, and help them explore their interests and the immense range of possibilities.

It’s introducing different careers, which include being a marine biologist, pharmacist, pilot, car designer, firefighter, surgeon, comic artist or even an Inquirer reporter, at a young age.

At the end of the day, BIC wants them to dream to become bigger than they already are. And the company has a bigger dream for itself, too.

With the ambition to fulfill the UN Sustainable Development Goal for education, “BIC to School: Brighter Futures” is the company’s biggest social campaign that is set to be replicated with bigger scale investments at a regional level later on.

The BIC to School: Brighter Futures initiative is not only a way of helping students in the upcoming semester or school year, but it also aims to aid nontraditional classrooms in bringing out-of-school youth back on track.

(From left) BIC Senior Brand Manager – Asia Stationery & Shavers Josephine Ambrocio, Sales Director South-East Asia Ciprian Frates, Deputy General Manager of BIC Asia Frederic Dumon; and Filstar Distributors Corp. Vice President Trina Alindogan

“Supporting education—and education itself—is fighting inequality. We focus on quality education as it’s the cornerstone of personal development, with an undeniable impact on all facets of society,” BIC deputy general manager of Asia Frederic Dumon shares.

“BIC is a global stationery brand that has always advocated the social progress and access to universal education by means of financial and product donations, as well as volunteer work,” he says.

The company has donated P500,000 worth of school supplies to its beneficiaries Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, Virlanie Foundation, Children’s Hour and Kariton Klasrum, and to the organizations’ partner public schools as well.

“For us, a bright future starts with writing, a bright future starts with a pen, and a bright future starts with BIC,” Josephine Ambrocio tells the Inquirer.

The BIC senior brand manager also shared that the company had planned to involve its customers in BIC’s corporate social responsibility projects, and would come up with different promotions for the initiative on education.

“We also hope to partner with some organizations, hopefully like that of the Monster Radio scholarship program. These are all part of our plans for 2018,” Ambrocio adds.

Being at the forefront of advocating the universal access to quality education goes back to BIC’s DNA, which started with its founder’s vision that dates back to the 1950s.

Marcel Bich’s dream was to put a pen in every single hand, as the pen was—and still is—a symbol of the accessibility of learning.—CONTRIBUTED