In a keynote speech in Lapu-Lapu City, Aquino discussed an “inclusive business framework” that promotes social enterprises to “get people out of poverty”.
The 37-year-old senator, a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, opened a post-WEF weekend gathering of 250 delegates called the Open Collaboration of East Asian New Champions (OCEAN) held at the Movenpick Hotel.
The forum in Cebu was the first time WEF extended its discussion in a local community-led dialog on topics of enterpreneurship, innovation and design.
Aquino said the Philippines’ growth in 2013 was its best in six years but this did not do much to improve poverty.
“The macro economic growth is great, but it will only be complete if it reaches the far-flung areas of the Philippines,” he said.
Social enterprises bring the benefits of business to the grasstroots, he said.
This business model looks at a triple bottom line of people, planet (the environment) and profit.
As an example, Aquino presented a program of Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) which sources over 50 percent of its onion requirements from the Kalasag Farmers in Nueva Ecija.
It took five years to get the system in place, but the program started with the owner’s decision to source the fast food chain’s onions from local farmers.
The Philippine is the only country in the world, Aquno pointed out, where McDonald’s is overtaken by a homegrown fastfood chain like Jollibee.
His observation drew applause from the mixed audience of Filipino and foreign delegates.
The “inclusive business framerwork” taps partners in both public and private sectors.
In his example The Catholic Relief Services provides the social enterprise, the local government of Nueva Ecija, Department of Agriculture and Department of Trade and Industry are critical stakeholders from the public sector while the Jollibee Foundation is the civil society organization.
The Senate last year passed the Go Negosyo Bill authored by Aquino to promote the growth of micro and small enterprises in every community.
He challenged entrepreneurs in Cebu yesterday to set up local Go Negosyo centers like pilot areas in Batangas, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Quezon City, Taguig and Bohol. Aquino is a founder of Hapinoy, a sari-sari store program that helped homemakers set up neighborhood stores in their homes.
In the OCEAN 14 forum, the senator showed slides reporting poverty incidence in 2009 at 26.3 percent and improving only slightly in 2012 to 25.2 percent. In 2003, the figure was 24.9 percent.
“The positive growths we had at 7.3 percent in 2010, was the highest in the ASEAN region, but did not go down to the community level. Growth should reach farther to the communities,” he said.
Aquno said the WEF forum in Manila, where his uncle President Benigno Aquino said inclusive growth “is everyone’s job”, described social enterprise as an “open collaboration of people willing to be champions of the poor.”
LESS JOBSEEKERS
In a breakout session on inclusive entrepreneurship, Islands Souvenirs president Jay Aldeguer said this strategy allows everyone to take part.
“The Philippines is known as a country of jobseekers. About 1.5 million Filipinos leave every year to look for jobs abroad and while they send home a huge amount of money – $23.6 billion a year – and contributing to the economy, this is something I’m not fully supportive of because we can encourage these people to instead look for opportunities here. Entrepreneurship is an opportunity itself,” he said.
About 99 percent of enterprises in the country are micro, small and medium scale with only 0.43 percent are large enterprises, he pointed out.
Aldeguer, is the curator of the first Cebu hub of WEF Global Shapers, an initial batch of 14 Cebu leaders and social innovators under 30 years old pursuing various projects “to improve the state of the world”.
To encourage more Filipinos to become entrepreneurs, an enabling ecosystem must be created, said Ryan Quadalquiver, country manager for HP Philippines.
Quadalquiver said that in America, people are encouraged through incentives and a ready ecosystem that gives them access to finances to set up a business.
Katherine Largo, co-founder of ASEANpreneurs Philippines and a Global Shaper in Manila, said the startup ecosystem in the country is not yet that attractive for anyone to even consider becoming an entrepreneur after finishing a college degree.
The current curriculum was crafted during the industrial years when students were primed in school to land a job after graduation, a mindset that doesn’t make Filipinos a keen to try striking out on their own.
Earl Valecia, president of IdeaSpace Foundation, said that it is actually the role of bigger companies to fuel the ambitions of the youth by helping them start their own business.
His foundation helps young aspiring entrepreneurs with great idea for a new business that answers real problems or gaps in the society.
According to John Echaus, executive vice president of Standard Insurance, who is also a WEF Young Global Leader, “inclusiveness” is an alignment of stakeholders.
“It involves the coming together of people who create or make the stuff and those who can sell the stuff,” he said.
Other topics discussed yesterday by interactive panels covered sustainable social initiatives, best practices of social entrepreneurs as well as preparing for the digital age.
In the afternoon, participants also discussed on the creative econmy and the environment in the next decade with the environment also becoming a critical factor that influences how countries develop and grow.
Keynote speakers in the morning included ABS-CBN anchor Karen Davila on the creative economy, Anna Oposa on protecting oceans, Winston Damarillo and hotel owner Manny Osmeña.
Damarillo , chairman of the OCEAN Summit, is a WEF Young Global Leader like Davila and Oposa.
“With OCEAN 14 we’re taking advatnage of the global experts that are in Manila and extenidng the opportunity for more dialogue with the local community,” said the Bohol-born Damarillo.
The forum ends today with presentations by designer Kenneth Cobunpue, Sen. Chiz Escudero, Bill Luz of the National Competitiveness Council, and Mon Ibrahim of the Dept. of Science and Technology.
The weekend forum was supported by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Province of Cebu./ With Eileen G. Mangubat