Sen. Cynthia A. Villar on Tuesday pushed for the promotion of social entrepreneurship, citing the “direct and fast” benefits it can provide to the people, especially the poor.
Villar noted that social entrepreneurship does not need big capital because the raw materials can come from waste. As a social entrepreneur, she said she has established livelihood projects in more than 500 towns and cities all over the Philippines.
She said the raw materials of these livelihood enterprises are from waste.
“They use water hyacinths for basket weaving and handmade papers. They tap waste coconut husks for the coconet and charcoal and kitchen waste for the organic fertilizer-composting facility.”
She also said plastic waste are being turned into “sturdy and durable” plastic chairs which are distributed to public schools.
“Being a social entrepreneur, I will continue promoting these livelihood projects,” she assured, as she called on more people and groups to create social enterprises.
She said this was one of the reasons they started the poverty-alleviation project.
“It does not merely serve as a home of all our efforts and endeavors in fulfilling our advocacies. It is a working hub and a proactive center. Its name alone highlights and promotes the value of hard work as a tool in overcoming poverty,” she said.
She added they nurture and recognize community-based social enterprises through continuous workshops, training sessions and symposia.
“We also recognize the leading and promising community enterprises through the yearly Villar ‘Sipag Awards,’ which started last year. It recognizes good practices or innovations of community enterprises, which grow jobs and increase household income. It also highlights outstanding initiatives of community enterprises as models of good practices in income-poverty reduction,” related the former congresswoman of Las Piñas.
Acknowledging that poverty continues to be a major development challenge for the Philippines, she expressed hope the awards can help contribute to reduce poverty by recognizing and promoting Philippine innovations at the
community level.
The chair of the Senate Agriculture and Food Committee said she is happy that there is an increasing number of schools and universities that are now offering entrepreneurship courses.
She noted that a few months ago, Senate Bill 2212, or the Youth Entrepreneurship Act of 2014 that she co-authored, was passed in the Senate.
She said this will further promote entrepreneurship among the youth, since it calls for the inclusion of entrepreneurship as a separate subject in secondary education.
“We really need to cultivate an entrepreneurial mind-set among the youth,” she said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Rene L. Relampagos of the First District of Bohol has filed a bill establishing the proposed “Poverty Reduction through Youth Entrepreneurship Act,” seen as a potential driver of economic growth and social progress.
Relampagos said House Bill 5169 seeks to stimulate interest in entrepreneurship among the Filipino youth by providing entrepreneurship opportunities, financial and technical assistance and by incorporating subjects and competencies in entrepreneurship in the school curriculum.
He said micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are important sources of employment and productivity growth.
“We need to equip the youth with the necessary skills and values to turn their ideas into successful business and to be able to sustain growth amid challenges,” he added.
Relampagos said the new generation of entrepreneurs would also pave the way for the creation of more MSMEs, a strong engine of growth in the country.
“We hope that through the passage of this bill, we will further foster entrepreneurship among our youth with the ultimate goal of fueling and improving the country’s growth, prosperity and quality of life,” Relampagos said.
Under the proposed law, the Department of Education, in consultation with learning organizations, non-governmental organizations, local government units and other concerned groups, shall develop and integrate subjects and competencies in entrepreneurship in their curriculum.
At the primary level, the subjects or competencies on entrepreneurship will principally focus on teaching the fundamental and ideal values necessary to become successful entrepreneurs, which include being hardworking, creative, cost-efficient and the propensity to save.
On the other hand, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority are directed to develop and integrate subjects and competencies in entrepreneurship in the curriculum of post-secondary level.
The bill mandates the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to help in strengthening the entrepreneurial capabilities of the youth by providing support and training as needed.
These interventions may include linkages to private industries, strong information campaign, business-infrastructure support and mentoring.
The DTI shall seek partnership with the private sector, academe and the civil society in order to achieve its objectives.
The measure provides for the creation of an Entrepreneurship Education Committee which is tasked to ensure coherence and clear progression in the learning objectives and course design, study and standardize all current efforts of schools and institutions to teach subjects and competencies in entrepreneurship and research best practices in foreign countries.
(With PNA)