FROM THE MARGINS
Coming from yesterday’s Easter celebrations, I find myself thinking of today’s youth. Easter signifies hope, renewal and new life – what we associate with youth, knowing how they are driving social change.
I was so inspired after attending the launch of the 2023 Ramon V. del Rosario (RVR) SIKLAB Awards, a nationwide search for young trailblazers who champion sustainable entrepreneurship and nation-building. Organized jointly by PHINMA and the De La Salle University RVR College of Business, the award recognizes youth entrepreneurs aged 25-40, who demonstrate exceptional leadership in sustainable businesses, social enterprises, and other self-initiated programs that uplift people’s lives. SIKLAB has previously recognized five exceptional individuals in 2019: Jan Bernard Tan, co-founder of iVolunteer and The Good Store PH; Clarissa Delgado, co-founder and CEO of Teach for the Philippines; Edgar Elago, founder of Project Scholar, Project ADAMMS (Adopt a Mamanwa, a Manobo student) and Cooltura Couture; Gary Ayuste, founder of BEEngo Farm; and Melissa Yap, founder and executive director of Got Heart Foundation.
I was pleased to meet JB Tan and Gary Ayuste during the launch. JB Tan and Bel Padlan, his fellow founder of iVolunteer Philippines, developed the website that has engaged more than 123,000 Filipinos to volunteer in various programs/projects across the country. They also set up a digital market website to help farmers, out-of-school youth and communities sell their products online via The Good Store. Gary Ayuste raised honey bees in a 400-sqm mango farm in Tunga, Leyte. His BEEngo Farm has become a popular tourist attraction, serving visitors organic, farm-produced food while Gary gives lectures on bee-farming. He also organized into a cooperative the housewives who supply the farm with chickens and vegetables.
All SIKLAB Awardees have inspiring stories. Melissa Yap started her first outreach by visiting an orphanage when she was 13. Fresh out of college, she established the Got Heart Foundation to help farmers, indigenous people, PWDs, and other marginalized sectors. In 2013, in partnership with Hizon’s Catering, she opened Earth Kitchen — a farm-to-table restaurant that serves healthy and organic dishes that showcase the produce of Got Heart’s farms in Tarlac and their partner communities from Luzon to Mindanao. There is also a one-stop shop for the all-natural food and non-food products selected from Got Heart’s partner indigenous communities and small business partners. In 2017, she also opened Got Heart Gallery, an art space that not only supports up-and-coming Filipino artists; it offers art therapy sessions for children and helps fund the Foundation’s projects.
These are really good initiatives that encourage nation-building and community participation! Hooray for youth entrepreneurs and their social enterprises!
Agriculture and agri-enterpreneurship
With PSA data showing that farmers remain the country’s poorest and NEDA reporting that the number of Filipinos engaged in agriculture are dwindling, initiatives to promote agriculture and agri-entrepreneurship among the youth is very important.
People’s renewed interest in agriculture is one good thing that resulted from the pandemic lockdown. There is now a growing trend in urban agriculture, hydroponic vegetable farming, mushroom culture, growing fruits in makeshift gardens, planting using repurposed bottles and other means of food production in urban spaces. Being plantitos and plantitas (or ‘plant parents’ for millenials), have become the “in” thing. This is a trend that both government and private business should support.
That is why I also like the “Young Farmers Challenge” of the Department of Agriculture-Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service (DA-AMAS). It is a competitive financial grant assistance program for the youth who are engaged in agri-fishery enterprises. DA-AMAS gave cash grants to twelve outstanding agribusiness models last December 2022, providing motivation for our youth to explore the opportunities and potentials of agricultural enterprises. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) also has good programs for start-ups that the youth can participate in, like the SMART (Strategic MSMLE & Startup) Link which matches up startups offering commercial products with micro-small-medium-and-large enterprises and the StartupAID, which provides specialized training for startups.
Entrepreneurial youth
Coming from Taiwan recently, I was impressed with their thriving ecosystem for young entrepreneurs. I saw many young people running enterprises everywhere, even at the night markets. Their innovative products — from food, processed items, agri-based products, handicrafts, jewelries – are amazing! I even saw a chocolate factory teaching visitors how to make chocolates, chocolate drinks, ice cream and other products using varieties of cacao sourced from all over the world. I was thinking that a visit there and similar environs would inspire our young entrepreneurs. Imagine our youth running a business similar to that chocolate factory, but with coconut-based products like vinegar, lambanog, desiccated coconut candies, cookies and others! Wouldn’t that be great?
We should motivate our young people to become entrepreneurs, create jobs and help revitalize the economy.
Thinking of today’s youth, I can only smile, remembering what A.A. Milne’s Christopher Robin once said to Winnie the Pooh: “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
(Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip is a poverty eradication advocate. He is the founder of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually-Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), a group of 23 organizations that provide social development services to eight million economically-disadvantaged Filipinos and insure more than 27 million nationwide.)