Ten local startups won cash grants, mentorship, and more at the recently concluded BPI Sinag Awards, BPI Foundation’s flagship program championing Filipino social enterprises.
Now in its fifth year, BPI Sinag Accelerate aims to discover, equip, and empower social entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas towards uplifting Filipino communities. Through strategic partnerships with government agencies, non-profits, and other private organizations, the platform hopes to nurture impactful enterprises by helping them develop three types of capital:
- Intellectual capital – business workshops and boot camps
- Social capital – networking opportunities
- Financial capital – funding assistance through grants
This year’s ten winners will be entering a six-month mentorship program under BAYAN Academy for Social Entrepreneurship and Human Resource Development, as well as cash grants to help further grow their businesses. The top five winners were awarded P500,000, while the remaining winners were given P100,000.
The winners of BPI Sinag Awards 2019 were:
- Down to Earth – a biodegradable waste solution for primarily urban environments with little to no access to land, turning unused spaces into productive gardens
- Gi Crafts Shell Museum and Gallery – a model for developing local communities into tourist-friendly destinations through job creation and vocational skill training
- Organic Growth – modernizing Filipino farms and agribusinesses by introducing new crops and best practices to best cater to today’s consumers
- Malingkat Enterprises – a platform for Philippin handwoven fabrics, with a special focus on Mindanao weaving communities
- Mavil’s House of Mushrooms – healthy snack foods providing livelihood programs to farmers through mushroom cultivation
- Meaningful Travels PH – eco-tourism social enterprise offering immersive guided experiences to unique locations all over the Philippines
- Halal Organic Crops Production – organic vegetables, free-range chicken, and halal chicken siomai produced by communities internally displaced by the siege of Marawi City
- Sabang Daguitan Surf Camp and Dao Balay Kawilan – a spa and resort destination addressing unemployment, access to health services, education, and environmental conservation in Dulag, Leyte
- Subida – manufacturers of unique Filipino souveniers produced by local artisans from marginalized communities in Negros Oriental and Siquijor
- Yumi’s Farm – a bed and breakfast offering training seminars in organic farming
Each of these enterprises will be exhibiting at the BPI Sinag ng Pasko Christmas Bazaar taking place in December at Glorietta, Makati City.
