“Great love for what we do and the people we do it for” has been the running mantra of the Filipino-owned, Christian family business, Sanitary Care Products Asia Incorporated (SCPA). For 25 years, SCPA has been distributing this great love to every Filipino through its brands Sanicare, Femme, Tisyu, Cheers, Naturale, and Jade. But what most people do not know about this company is how it has been motivated by great love for people.
SCPA founders, Renato and Babie Sio started with a noble goal of creating 10 jobs for 10 people back in 1996 during their mid-40s. Fast-forward to 2021, now being run alongside their son Ven and daughter Lea, the enterprise has grown to over a thousand employees with 23 sales offices and 7 plants nationwide.
25TH ANNIVERSARY INITIATIVE
In celebration of the company’s 25th anniversary, the Sio family desires to inspire and recognize startups, as new economic drivers, that have human investment in its business gene. SCPA partners with Asian Institute of Management-Dado Banatao Incubator (AIM-DBI) to roll out a program called HIIGENE: Human Investment x Impact Grant for Entrepreneurship and Empowerment.
HIIGENE is a social impact accelerator program that emphasizes and celebrates the principles of people management in starting, running, and sustaining a Filipino enterprise. Through HIIGENE, SCPA will award P500,000, equity-free, to up to three start-ups from AIM-DBI that evidently show human investment and social impact infused in their business models, operations, or organization.
Moreover, the winning startup(s) will be mentored by the Founders themselves through the HIIGENE Mentorship Program crafted by SCPA and AIM-DBI.
WHY HUMAN INVESTMENT?
It is fair to say that the Sio family understands how challenging it is to run a startup and sustain a business in general. SCPA faced the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, their main Taguig plant being fire gutted in 2012, Typhoon Glenda flooding their Batangas plant in 2014, and right now, operating under a pandemic crisis. Pressing forward was not the most convenient and enticing choice especially during a struggle, but there is a deeper purpose that goes beyond personal gain: their commitment to uplift people’s lives.
“Human investment isn’t that expensive when you start reaping its returns – they may come slower than the margins, but are definitely still powerful.” The Sio family was quick to recognize in those seemingly insurmountable odds the return on their human investment. “Witnessing how your people would want to stay with you and for you is quite fulfilling, to say the least.”
WHY STARTUPS?
“A thriving startup can be a game-changing platform that creates and distributes hope in the form of opportunities, technological advancements, and wealth that impacts all sectors of the society,” shares Prim Paypon, AIM-DBI Executive Director.
The Sio family believes investing in entrepreneurs creates greater impact and further reach considering their network and influence are also being unleashed. They intend to make a tiny ripple in the thriving local startup ecosystem through HIIGENE with the hope to eventually create a wave of people-first enterprises. SCPA desires to pass on their passion of seeing employees thrive, not just survive, with their fellow employers. The Sio family believes the employer-employee relationship should be an extension of a well-founded relationship with the Creator.
WHY WITH AIM-DBI?
At the Asian Insitute of Management-Dado Banatao Incubator, qualified startups go through a well-crafted, needs-focused, and mentorship-based progressive development program that allows them to realistically bring their innovative ideas to life-altering technologies and scalable businesses. During the program course, startups are able to better understand not just their customers, but also the scale of both their technologies and business models.
SCPA invests in AIM-DBI’s advocacy, together with its partners, to help startups achieve their target team and technological milestones. If achieved, their technologies can improve the quality of life their stakeholders and also create more, better economic drivers that contribute to the total socio-economic development of the Filipino people.
To know more about #HIIGENE grant, visit SCPA’s Facebook Page or inquire at aimdbi@aim.edu.
ADVT.