Social Enterprise Development for Communities

      Partner people’s organizations and communities of De La Salle University (DLSU), social enterprise (SE) advocates including faculty members and other delegates from twenty-five 25 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) representing 10 countries from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)  plus Japan, China, and Korea participated in the September 9-18, 2019  # WeCAN  International Boot Camp.   The International Boot  Camp and Research Colloquium hosted by DLSU through the Lasallian Social Enterprise for Economic Development  Program of the Center for Social Concern and Action (COSCA) was supported by the government’s Commission on Higher Education.   

     The 10-day learning and mentoring sessions, cultural appreciation, social enterprise / social  incubation and innovations exposure aimed to equip participating HEIs  to contribute to the  localization of the  United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through social entrepreneurship.  The international boot camp also included a research colloquium co-organized by the Social Development Research Center.  DLSU showcased in the research colloquium studies on SDGs undertaken by faculty members, students and researchers. 

      Also, COSCA pushes to engage more community partners in the series of sessions for the LSEED SE Fellowship Program.  Women members from the following partner community organizations participated in the  series of  workshop held from July to  August 2019: a)  Bukluran ng mga Migranteng Manggagawa at Kapamilya, Inc., b) Kababayan Samahan ng Bagong Barrio, Caloocan, Inc., c) Erinyes Community  Kaingin I Chapter, Inc. and d) Kayumanggi Valenzuela City Chapter Association, Inc.  The  program capacitates more community members to  help  them  prepare themselves in their  social entrepreneurship  journey.  The series of workshop  introduce them  the concepts of  “social entrepreneurship and the SE landscape, organizational development, conflict management / resolution, social business canvass and creating and  developing the  SE idea and  business incubation.

      SE workshop sessions aim to deepen understanding  of the opportunities and challenges identified during community business scoping as well as facilitate the identification of immediate action plans that will enable partner communities and students to create / develop social enterprises that are relevant, sustainable and impact-driven.

         Four teams completed the second LSEED Fellowship Program held on May 6 to 10, 2019. L-SEED SE Bootcamp 2019, just like the first LSEED boot camp, aims to enable more partner communities and students create social enterprises that are relevant, sustainable and impact driven. These new sets of potential social entrepreneurs are community members from twelve (12) targeted DLSU-COSCA’s partner communities/organizations in Metro Manila. The Social Entrepreneurship training introduced the participants to concepts such as “social entrepreneurship in the  Philippines and characteristics of SEs”, and “responding to community problem/s and  creating and  developing the  SE idea.”   The second batch  of student  Social Enterprise ( SE) Fellows, in partnership with DLSU’s Council of Student  Organizations (CSOs) collaborate  with the partner community organizations and communities  in the  writing and implementation of their project proposals.

           The series of workshop for another batch of 30 potential entrepreneurs who members of COSCA’s partners in Metro Manila, and the identification and engagement of student “Champions” on social entrepreneurship, is DLSU’s strategy to support the development of social enterprises in urban poor communities.  The program helps build the social entrepreneurship capacities of promising urban poor women and out-of-school youth. 

           This initiative gains recognition with DLSU’s LSEED program winning (runner up) in the 2019 In _Pact Asia under the Academic Leadership in Social Innovations category.   Also, four teams from DLSU successfully competed in SEED Malaysia, HP Regionals in Shanghai, Tokyo, and in Manila, Philippines while two teams participated in SEED Vietnam and Indonesia. Likewise,  Team Isdabest, another social enterprise being incubated under DLSU’s LSEED through its Hult Prize On Campus Initiative successfully presented their pitch in the July 27, 2019 Enactus Business Innovation Challenge.

          Based on an update made by Mr. Salonga, LSEED  Development Specialist, LSEED’s expansion in  Lian, Batangas, initiated the formation of 20 social entrepreneurs in the Lian area  while its   expansion in DLSU-Laguna campus supported the formation of at least 10 social entrepreneurs.