Philippine High School Team Wins International Award For Social EnterprisesI

Odessa, Ukraine --- Ateneo High School TEAM garnered the Arthur Boschee and Evelyn Ball International Award for Social Enterprise by the Institute for Social Entrepreneurs at the Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) World Cup held August 3, 2007. Miguel Felipe L. Evangelista, Miguel Francisco Macaalay, Alexander Jason A. Lumantao, and Ron Aldrich V. Reodica are the members of the official Philippine SAGE team, chosen after having won the SAGE Philippines Cup held last April 2 at the University of Asia and the Pacific. SAGE is a global program adopted locally in the Philippines by the Philippine Youth Employment Network (PYEN).

The team managed to satisfy what Jerr Boschee, the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Social Entrepreneurs, refers to as the double bottom-line of all social enterprises: which is to create profit and at the same time incorporating a social cause as a main objective. The Ateneo team’s social enterprise is fondly called Truly Authentic Re-used Posters or TARP Inc that recycles tarpaulin posters widely used by the candidates in the recent elections and other disposed company promotional posters into bags. The group has specifically chosen used tarpaulin as the material for the production of trendsetting bags as tarpaulin has no further use after being utilized for advertisements or campaign materials. Tarpaulin is classified as xenobiotic, more commonly-known as non-biodegradable, due to its high plasticity and takes approximately 500 years to degrade. By the group’s innovative business idea of reusing and transforming this material into bags of various designs, the social enterprise contributes to the lessening of wasteful and careless discarding of these xenobiotics.

Furthermore, the group has also purposely commissioned workers in Angono who have lost their jobs from a failed industrial apparel-making company. The group managed to collaborate with ERPAT, a coalition of about 300 displaced workers, mainly fathers, for the production of the bags.

The International Award has been established in memory of Jerr and Ken Boschee’s father, Arthur Boschee, and in memory of Linda Ball’s mother, Evelyn Ball. Arthur Boschee (1910-2000) and Evelyn Ball (1910-1993) were both successful small business entrepreneurs who took significant risks while building their businesses and had an abiding concern for the welfare of others. The team received a plaque and a prize money of USD 2,000 for their business and as the first-place team, the Ateneo High School team will have its name inscribed on a permanent trophy that will be displayed at each succeeding SAGE World Cup. This is the first time that the International Award for Social Enterprise was given.

SAGE is a global program initiated by Dr. Curtis DeBerg from California State University School of Business, locally adopted by the Philippine Youth Employment Network (PYEN). PYEN incorporates SAGE’s global mission into its own local competition, which is to advance entrepreneurship education and community service learning across the world emphasizing ethical business practices, social responsibility, civic engagement and environmental awareness. SAGE Philippines is a business competition for high school students; it provides a new way of working with secondary schools by involving college students and successful business leaders for mentorship. This project is so unique that the local offices of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Asian Development Bank, the National Youth Commission (NYC) and even the US Embassy in Manila has taken notice.

PYEN is a non-government, not-for-profit organization uniquely youth-led. It works toward a sustainable approach to poverty alleviation through the advancement of employment, employability and entrepreneurship among the youth, especially youth at the grassroots level. It recognizes the importance of Small-Medium Enterprises in the generation of income, job opportunities, and the overall promotion of social equity. PYEN believes that the youth, despite its marginalization from society, contributes greatly to society. With the SAGE program, PYEN is already teaching the much-needed entrepreneurial values and spirit crucial to the ordinary high school student’s development as responsible citizens and the overall economy of this country. As PYEN’s organizational philosophy goes, “the youth is no longer just the future; the youth is now the present”.

Remus Mark A. Carballo [Travel Specialist]MASTER GLOBE TOURS & TRAVEL