Women entrepreneurs sell to the world… That ’s great!

MANILA, Philippines — About 30 micro entrepreneurs from the Philippines who are part of the Great Women Project 2 were present at the Great Women Trade Showcase during the ASEAN Women Business Conference held recently at the PICC in Pasay City.

Their products were bought by delegates from Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and other ASEAN member-states as these were unique and only available during special trade shows such as this one. One entrepreneur from Palawan had all her jusi filipiniana wraps mopped up by the Vietnamese women shoppers when they learned that it was only running for P5,000 or less than $100 a piece. Hearing a Filipina lawyer ask for the price of what she tried on, the Vietnamese counted what was left on the table and paid for everything!

Another micro entrepreneur from Lake Sebu had her jackets bought by visitors from Indonesia, Thailand and even male shoppers tried the vests and belts which she had on display. “I ran out of big sizes because most of the foreigners wanted large size,” she says.

This Great Women Trade showcase is part of the market access initiatives of the ECHOsi Foundation under the Great Women Project 2 of the Government of Canada. The Global Affairs Canada or GAC signed up for another five years of helping women micro-entrepreneurs or MSMEs access markets. Through activities such as this, the women are able to show their products to possible importers from other countries and also to the local visitors who know that these women micros don’t have stores in the city. “I have to buy it already lest I lose the chance,” one buyer was overheard saying to her friends.

Jeannie Javelosa, ECHOsi president and Great Women Project in charge, only has kind words for her donors and the other agencies who help these women move to markets after ECHOsi’s intervention through product design and tweaking of some of the product lines.

“We have to prepare them for a global market,” Javelosa says. ECHOsi is on its second phase of the project after the initial phase was bringing the entreprenuers one or two levels up the value chain. “Upvalue, bring them up to what the market demands,” she continues.

The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) is the proponent of the GREAT project since inception. GREAT means Gender Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women – thus Great Women, now a byword in fashion circles and chic Filipiniana options for clothes, weaves, gifts and even home accessories.

PCW and ECHOsi have gone around the country looking for these women entrepreneurs who want to go up, not by scale, but by quality standards set by ECHOsi’s creative directors.

The best part was talking to a micro entreprenuer weaver from Davao who got an order from no less than the famous designer Christian Louboutin.

“Yes,” she says, pinching herself. “It’s C. Louboutin on my receipt and the designer Yannick really ordered my weaves,” she says.

The next day, she was computing how many weavers and how many months they will take to process this order from the Parisian fashion house. But all smiles, she knows it’s just the start of good things coming to the micro entreprenuers from far flung areas in the mountains of Mt. Apo in Davao del Sur.

All is good even with coffee. The coffees from Sulu from Princess Kumalah and her two youthful trainees were a hit with the international crowd. The scent of  coffee wafted through the hall as Sulu coffee was being brewed for the customers to taste. The young girls, all training under Princess Kumalah, had a good time meeting international visitors as one of them even spoke Bahasa Malaysia and provided translation for some buyers and sellers in the ASEAN-inspired marketplace.

And in the evening, a Tapestry of Weaves was a fashion walk featuring our local weaves along with the ASEAN sisters’ weaves like Ikat and Cambodian silk – a blend of Philippines with various ASEAN designs. The micro entrepreneurs stood up to be counted as their products were shown to the ASEAN Women Entrepreneur awardees numbering about 70 notable women, some of whom were small producers like they are. The micro entrepreneurs were on the same stage as ASEAN MSMEs and showed the world that their unique designs, their one-of-a-kind products, were worthy of being shown in a global display of talent and cultural diversity.

Great Women Project 2 is well on its way towards its third year, with more women producers coming on board to reach markets they never thought they would even be close to. The best test is showing people your product and telling your story. That way, even the customer or client feels the greatness of the simple act of empowering a woman through conscious consumption and responsible luxury.

Great Women Entrepreneurs now know they can sell to the world.