BPI Foundation, the social innovation arm of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, recently named the top 10 winners of BPI Sinag, its pioneering business challenge initiative for social enterprises.
“BPI Foundation created BPI Sinag to help foster economic growth in the country by supporting businesses with the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit,” said Maricris San Diego, executive director of BPI Foundation.
She continued, “Our 2018 awardees serve to reinforce our commitment to sustainable nation-building and wealth-creation.”
BPI Sinag Year 4 awardees are CarbonCycle Processing Inc., a recycling company that designs, constructs, and operates solar concentrators for agricultural processing using scrap materials; Junk Not Handicraft, a small-scale brand that promotes and produces eco-creative furniture from upcycled materials; Palamigan Co., a freezing system that uses the brine immersion cooling technique for ice-based businesses; Saret Organic Farmville, a social, inclusive agri-enterprise working with poor upland farmers and indigenous tribes in Bulacan; and Uproot Aquaponics, a social enterprise that aims to introduce Community Shared Aquaponics to low income communities in the Philippines.
Rounding up this year’s winners are Calaboo Dairyard Inc., a social enterprise that valorizes grass-fed carabaos’ milk; CocoAsenso Corp., which established a network of medium-scale coconut processing centers where coconuts are purchased directly from local farmers; Edaya Cordillera, which designs bamboo jewelry, instruments, and music inspired by Kalinga culture; Got Heart Social Enterprises Inc., a platform for developing social enterprises among various grassroots communities in the Philippines; and House of Ekolife, a social enterprise involved in packaging and promoting eco/agrotour destinations that involve the OFWs and families as both service providers and customers.
The top 10 awardees were chosen by a panel of judges based on the scalability of their business proposals. The judges included Jessymel Cruz of BPI Business Banking, Rico Gonzalez of xchange, Dr. Eduardo Morato, Jr. of Bayan Academy, Priya Thachadi of Villgro Philippines, and Rhyan Uy of Executive Optical.
The top five awardees are entitled to P500,000 cash grants, while the remaining five will get P100,000. They will also receive specialized mentorship to advance their businesses.
Nanaycare, Inc. also went home with the People’s Choice Award, receiving P20,000 seed funding, P50,000 worth of Facebook promotion budget, and access to credit lines from BPI Business Banking. Kayumanggi Organic won the Negosyo Ko Award and will receive P20,000 capital funding from BPI Direct Banko.