Global markets await local winners
The corporate-led Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) and Citibank have jointly announced that the PBSP-Citibank BiD Challenge Philippines 2010 marketplace and awarding ceremony for the winning innovative entrepreneurs will be held on Monday at the Rockwell Tent in Makati City.
The event will be highlighted with business matching and advisory services, and an interactive exhibit showcasing a total of 30 qualified entries from the participating entrepreneurs to display and demonstrate their products and services to prospective investors. On development is the publication of the 2010 edition of the BiD Book to showcase the 30 enterprise entries.
Expected to grace the event are PBSP executives Manuel V. Pangilinan as chair of the board of trustees, Rafael “Rapa” Cojuangco Lopa as executive director and Nicolaas “Klaas” Oreel as chief executive advisor, together with Citibank country director Sanjiv Vohra and Netherlands-based BiD Network director Cecilia “Cily” Keizer.
The BiD Challenge is an annual online business plan competition aiming to stimulate and support business ideas that combine profit with the improvement of living standards in the country, as well as boost private sector development by creating a platform where entrepreneurs, expertise, and investors can meet.
The non-government Dutch group National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO) initiated the BiD Challenge Phils. in 2006, when the BiD Network Foundation and PBSP locally launched the business plan competition in September that year.
Since 2007, PBSP together with Citibank launched the annual competition to recognize and award the most innovative, viable, and socially developmental enterprises that combine profit and poverty reduction.
The marketplace and awarding ceremony at Rockwell Makati aims to award the Top 10 outstanding entries and special prizes for the 2010 entries, showcase the 2010 BiD Challenge entries for possible investment matching, and provide technical assistance for 2007-2010 BiD participants and finalists.
Inspired by Citibank, the 2010 BiD Book under development will highlight the 30 best innovative business ideas ranging from agriculture, food, manufacturing, waste recycling, renewable energy, and other ventures that aim to help reduce poverty in the country.
These 30 entrepreneurs will also have the opportunity for a one-to-one interaction of about 10 to 15 minutes with their most preferred investors to discuss their business proposals for possible financing, and for them to be enlightened on the different financing packages, criteria, and requirements of investors.
The 30 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are also expected to select their most preferred investors, who then will review their one-page business fact sheets and pre-assess them based on their investment qualification criteria.
After a “mutual” pre-match is made, a “date” between the entrepreneur and investor will then be scheduled or arranged during the marketplace.
Some volunteer business advisers will be engaged and stationed at a designated business advisory booth, particularly to provide advisory services for entrepreneurs and interested individuals needing technical advice in the areas of marketing, product development, pricing, and financial management.
For the BiD Challenge Business Clinic, selected BiD enterprises will deliver short talks to share their stories and testimonies on how they have effectively put their business plans into action and ably deal with obstacles along the way.
The business clinic will also showcase how other companies and organizations have practiced the value chain approach as a strategy to attain customer satisfaction and value.