Still on the Women’s Month, we mounted another gathering of vibrant entrepreneurs after the 7th Filipina Entrepreneurship Summit last March 6. More than 300 entrepreneurs attended the dinner forum with the theme: Women for Others. We celebrated their success as entrepreneurs and their personal advocacies to empower fellow Filipinas and others.
The dinner-forum featured Sen. Cynthia Villar, Doris Magsaysay-Ho, Socorro “Nanay Coring” Ramos and Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip. They are what we call empowered women, and for Dr. Alip, one who also empowers women.
Before the dinner-forum started, I shared my gratitude to all women entrepreneurs in the audience who are truly an inspiration to many like Nanay Coring and Esther Vibal who are in their senior age, but are still active in their businesses. These women entrepreneurs must share their knowledge and experiences with others so that we can all promote entrepreneurship in the country.
Sen. Cynthia Villar revealed the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey with husband and former Senate president, Manny Villar. They first delivered gravel and sand at the start when they saw the opportunity to construct homes for Filipinos. Their first customer who gave them a chance to start a construction business was an OFW. Thus, they developed a soft heart for OFWs since then. Her efforts as the head of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food also continue as they help farmers think like businessmen through the trainings they provide. They also help communities with social enterprise projects through shared service facilities and training, such as transforming coconut husk wastes into coconet, and water lilies into bags and gift items.
Doris Ho shared that before becoming the chair of the Magsaysay Group of Companies, she learned from her father how to be a more effective leader. Her father was her great business mentor. Hearing her story reminds me of how my father also prepared us to lead companies. The wisdom is being passed on from one generation to the next in order to keep the values and the integrity of the company.
Doris also believes that mass-based Filipina entrepreneurs must be empowered. She shared three important points in empowering small to medium enterprises. First, big businesses or corporations can help small entrepreneurs by including them in the value chain. Corporations need to tap on microentrepreneurs and serve as their sustained source of market which help microentrepreneurs reach stable progress.
Another point is the convergence of technology which she sees as a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to grow. She mentioned that technology, such as the Internet and e-commerce help entrepreneurs “trade across borders.” This has been the case for many entrepreneurs who use the internet to market their products. Lastly, she shared how innovation can help one accelerate. She said that digital products increase the capacity in education, equipping everyone who wants to learn with the proper knowhow.
Talking of OFWs, Doris advised our OFWs to maximize learnings and eventually settle back home. She summed this up into three words: Earn. Learn and Return.
Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip, founder of CARD-MRI which provides microfinance especially to rural women, shared that entrepreneurship is the solution to poverty and providing microfinance can help in the process. Their three million borrowers enjoy the easy transaction process of CARD-MRI. Dr. Alip proudly shared that they have a 99.5 percent repayment rate for all their borrowers, and credited women as real good payers. Rural women borrowers are really hands-on and can really generate economic possibilities, with multiplier impact.
Last, but definitely not the least, in our panel was the most endearing Nanay Coring. She, who is 92 years old, is still at her prime business mindset. She shared that her key characteristics include “sipag at tiyaga” which the audience cheered on. The matriarch of the National Book Store, the country’s largest book store chain, enjoyed telling the short story of how they started during the Japanese time and how they would hide from the Japanese the books they were selling, and instead would sell slippers and other goods when they were around. When asked about the highlights of her career as a ‘tindera’, she cannot think of any specific moment. Instead she quipped, “Marami.” And the room resounded with cheers and laughter. Being a hands-on entrepreneur, she still visits their branches and checks every display and price tag of their products. She is definitely the mother of their business, taking good care of its operations. She also mentioned that the key in preparing the next generation for business is to start them young, and start them at the lowest level like being a janitor, or sales clerk, to learn how it is done. As Nanay Coring told the audience “Kung hindi mo alam, hindi mo maituturo.”
The forum was a wonderful session with these business icons and entrepreneurship advocates. We have learned many lessons from their stories and advice. They are truly Women for Others, and we are one with them in empowering the Filipina to move up in life.