Digital Reporter
Lucia Edna P. De Guzman
BPI Sinag, the flagship program of the BPI Foundation of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, is starting its 4th year by accelerating social enterprises.
This is also the 40th anniversary of BPI Foundation, so it’s busy busy busy for the bank’s social innovation arm in making sure that they can reach out to more communities outside Metro Manila and the entrepreneurs who are trying to make things better.
“Social enterprises are businesses with heart for the communities and the environment,” said BPI executive director Maricris San Diego in a roundtable discussion with reporters on March 22 at the bank’s main Makati office. “They drive inclusive growth by approaching social problems with a business approach, helping ensure their sustainability.”
“By helping them accelerate through BPI Sinag, they can get a better chance to be competitive businesses and impactful community builders,” San Diego said.
Social entrepreneurs who are interested in signing up for BPI Sinag’s accelerate program can go to their website. BPI Sinag will also have roadshows from April 4 to 13 in Cebu, Iloilo, Davao City, Cagayan De Oro, Baguio and Pampanga, in order to get social entreprises from outside Metro Manila to join. Participants in these roadshows will have a chance to give a 7‑minute elevator pitch to BPI representatives that will secure them an automatic slot in the BPI Sinag Top 40.
The top 40 social enterprises will be able to participate in a bootcamp where they can find mentors and networking connections to accelerate their business. Then the top 40 will be whittled down to the top 20, who will be able to participate in a more intensive bootcamp where they’ll be taught human resources, operations, finance, and marketing strategies. Finally the Top 10 awardees will receive cash grants (₱500,000 each for the top five and ₱100,000 each for the rest of the top ten), continued mentorship, and special access to BPI Foundation events where they can pitch and promote their businesses to more people.
For this year, BPI Foundation is partnered with BPI Business Banking, BPI BanKo, Bayan Academy for Social Entrepreneurship and Human Resources Development, impact investor Villgro Philippines, and business accelerator StartUp Village.
BPI Sinag is particularly looking into the following impact industries: agriculture, health care, education, and energy. This does not mean that they will be ignoring all other social enterprises, but these will be their main focus. “These are the industries that are currently growing,” San Diego explained.
Four years down the road, BPI Sinag has become an ecosystem of social enterprises and partners. With its efforts to reach out to more people, it can only grow bigger from here.
