Changing the mind-set of sari-sari store owners from being “just a small store owner” to “an entrepreneur running a business that has potential to grow” is one way to empower people to start their own business.

Paolo Benigno “Bam” A. Aquino IV, founder of Hapinoy Store, said this was the aim of the group behind the network of sari-sari stores which he helped set up in 2006.

“We believe in empowerment. We feel this is a new form of ‘people power.’ We fight the poverty of the mind, spirit and wallet,” said Aquino during last Wednesday’s annual membership meeting of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) Visayas at the Casino Español.

BEYOND helping the less fortunate, social enterprise is the best business model for the future, said an entrepreneur.

Speaking at the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) general membership meeting, Microventures Inc. president Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV said social enterprise simultaneously addresses spiritual, material and environmental divides in society.

While he lauds the Filipinos for being charitable, especially during times of calamities, he believes there are some poor people who do not need charity. Instead, they need help acquiring skills to better themselves.

Aquino, who organized the Hapinoy stores with his business partner Mark Ruiz in 2006, likened successful social enterprises to “a new form of people power.”

“There is dignity in livelihood. If they (poor) are able to build a business on their own, there is a dignity there that can’t be bought,” he said.

PinoyME, a non government organization, recently held its first micro-entreprenuers forum aimed at giving entrepreneurs full knowledge in running a small business and the available financial vehicles in the country. Ken Ishikawa, one of the organizers from PinoyME, said the group usually hold forums on value chain purposes and on business development services but they…

Knowing the importance of skills mastery for budding businessmen, the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) in partnership with Accenture, Inc., and ABS-CBN Bayan Academy created two-day training for BiD entrepreneurs. Sixteen Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) owners took part in the said training held last November 28-29, 2011 in Manila to hone their abilities…

MANILA, Philippines — Among the opposing great forces of human nature are: self-interest and caring for others. In business, the former is simply called “corporate greed” while for the latter, we put many labels to it – “corporate philanthropy,” “corporate social responsibility,” and just recently, “social enterprise” or “social business.”

What is Social Enterprise or Social Entrepreneurship?

How do you define social enterprise and how is it differentiated from a profit-oriented business? The term was originated by Bill Drayton, a famed social entrepreneur and founder of Ashoka Foundation. As its central organizing principle, social enterprise aims to directly and deliberately address societal inequality. Its primary objective is to maintain or uplift social conditions that go far beyond financial criteria usually mandated by traditional corporate funders and other stakeholders. In contrast, the first priority of business is mainly geared towards economic accomplishment. A typical business by its very nature has to show profits at least equal to its cost of capital otherwise, it will fold up and cease to exist.