Young Entreps Launch Grant Facility to Promote Social Impact in Business

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Roots Collective, in partnership with Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) and Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP), launched the Sibol (growth) Program Fund last October 2 in Taguig City to enable start-ups to develop and improve their enterprises that helps in increasing the income of local communities and protecting the environment.

This three-year special grant facility, which will run starting January 2020, aims to ensure sustainability of social enterprises through product enhancements, sales generation, income generation for partner communities, and increased of areas for environmental protection.

According to Jamir Ocampo, chief executive officer of Roots Collective, the Sibol Fund is essential in promoting marketability of products while retaining the impact they bring to communities they support.

“Advocacy for entrepreneurs is not just about the message. It's about proving that this advocacy will work with products through market acceptance. It's also our capacity to generate our own resources to take on developmental initiatives,” he said.

"The future of social enterprises rest on the young people."

PEF Executive Director Roberto Calingo meanwhile noted that the youth sector is becoming the key players and influencers of the market and the need to engage them is vital to help poor communities.

“May pag-asa ang mga poor communities if we can combine their efforts with the efforts of the youth in looking at ways to improve the product, and ways to bring the product to the market,” he said.

Calingo added that PEF is looking forward to the expansion of the project to connect young social entrepreneurs for lasting impact to poor households and communities.

“Sana hindi ito one isolated success. My vision is that, someday, we can have the session in Visayas, Mindanao, and in key cities with a lot of linkages happening in the communities. Today is the first step towards that vision,” he said.

The youth as partner for environment conservation

To FFP Executive Director Atty. Jose Andres Canivel, the youth sector offers fresh ideas in resolving pressing problems that plague the environment.

“In this time of forest degradation and climate emergency, we need all of the innovation, we need all of the creativity, and we need all of the passion that young people can bring into our work.”

Atty. Canivel also stressed that young entrepreneurs have been an important partner in developing sustainable livelihood that promotes forest protection and conservation.

“We were looking for a way to link our partner communities to the market. That drew us into working with social entrepreneurs,” he said.

The launch of the Sibol Program Fund is a part of a week-long Roots Commune, an exhibit at Uptown Bonifacio Mall that showcases a wide array of ethically made products that highlights sustainability and local creativity.

DOST-SEI, C&E Publishing Hold Training for Student Innovators

Wazzup Pilipinas!

15 senior high school teams from public and private schools in the country were selected to participate in the five-day training/workshop on Arduino programming on September 9-13, 2019 at the Century Park Hotel in Manila.

The event is part of imake.wemake, an innovative technology project contest organized by the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) in partnership with C&E Publishing, Inc.

The qualifying school teams are Adelle Grace Montessori School, Bayambang National High School, Far Eastern University High School-Manila, Liceo-De La Salle Senior High School, Malinta National High School, Manila Science High School, New Era University-General Santos, New Era University-Lipa City, New Era University-Main Campus, Pavia National High School, Philippine Science High School-Central Luzon Campus, Ramon Magsaysay Cubao High School, Rizal High School, Science Technology Education Center Cebu, and St. Scholastica’s Academy Marikina.

Each team, composed of three senior high school students and one teacher-coach, attended the training facilitated by Thinklab Philippines. They were chosen as finalists after besting 70 other school teams who submitted project proposals for the competition.

The panel of judges, composed of UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute professor Engr. Percival Magpantay, Ateneo de Manila University professor Engr. Carlos Matti Oppus, and C&E Publishing Business and Market Research Head Mr. Rodel Cruz selected the finalists’ proposals based on project viability and potential to address important societal and community issues such as food safety, security, traffic/road congestion, health, education, disaster mitigation, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and environment.

The competition, now in its third run, was launched in July 17, 2019 during the National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) celebration with the signing of the memorandum of agreement between DOST-SEI and C&E Publishing.

DOST-SEI Director Josette Biyo graced the opening ceremony of the training along with C&E Publishing Vice President Gerric Gomez. Dr. Biyo thanked C&E for their support in the project and congratulated the students for their selection in the competition.

“We wish to create a space where you can share resources and knowledge as you work on your projects. Hopefully, at the end of the process, you will have your technology solution for your respective communities,” Dr. Biyo said.

Imake.wemake seeks to unleash the creativity of young Filipinos in innovation using accessible technologies. This year, participants will use the Arduino CTC 101 kits, provided by C&E Publishing, to build their projects. During the event, they were also given free kit-of-parts to start their project prototype.

“C&E is committed to actively raising the quality of creative and innovative minds of every Filipino student, especially with the advent of integrated STEAM education or STEM education in the global arena,” Gomez said.

The teams are given three months to build and test their projects. They will convene again in December 2019 for the Final Presentation and Awarding Ceremony where the top three teams will win P100,000 cash prize and the Youth Innovation Prize each.

PHLPost Celebrates World Post Day, Urges Student to Write Letters

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost) celebrated World Post Day today, October 9 by encouraging the students to write letters to their beloved teachers. Schools nationwide are invited to participate in the “Salamat Po” (Thank You Teacher) raffle promo and competition, with the goal to effectively promote the value of gratitude to teachers who have done most, apart from their parents, in shaping their future to become better persons in society.

The World Post Day was declared by the 1969 Universal Postal Congress in Tokyo as a means to mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) creation in 1874.

The purpose of World Post Day is to bring awareness to the postal service’s role in everyday lives of people and businesses, as well as its contribution to global social and economic development.

PHLPost is an active member of the UPU, a specialized agency of the United Nations who has a membership of about 192 postal administrations in countries worldwide.

The postal service is inviting students aged 10-15 years old to mail letters of gratitude to their teachers to give thanks and appreciate their sacrifices and dedication.

The “Thank You letters” can be mailed via the Post Office, through the Ordinary Mail Service, with theme “4As of Gratitude: Appreciation, Admiration, Approval and Attention.” Awards and cash prizes awaited raffle and competition winners.

Aside from the raffle draw, students had the chance to participate in the regional and national letter writing competition. The winner in the national competition will also represent the Philippines in the UPU Letter Writing Contest in Berne, Switzerland, to compete from among the 192 countries who are also members of the UPU.

Unfazed by the advent of technology, PHLPost has come up with an innovative idea to bring letter writing to schools. For particulars, visit the official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SalamatPoLetterWriting/.