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CAPs Friday 18/12/09

Friday, 18 December 2009 | posted by Sara_BC

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Jason speaks of his CAP, SAGE Cup Philippines:

Promoting Social Entrepreneurship to Young People

People support what they help create. Anchored on this philosophy, SAGE, which stands for Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship, aims to create better futures with the youth by conducting annual national business competitions for high school teams in various countries. My CAP focused on promoting social entrepreneurship to young people by organizing this year’s SAGE Philippines Cup.

What is SAGE?

SAGE is a global network of teenage entrepreneurs, and their advocates who share a common purpose: to make the world a better place. SAGE works by linking high school students to college mentors, business and social leaders to help and mentor them in creating successful ventures. At the end of the school year, SAGE provides a platform for them to showcase their products and services through the SAGE national competition. And for the most exceptional team, a global platform is offered.

SAGE Philippines Cup 2009
June 20-21, 2009

On Day 1, two notable speakers in the entrepreneurship field gave inspiring talks for the participants. Reese Fernandez, who is one of the pioneers of Rags2Riches shared their success story on how they helped disadvantaged women in the slum community earn more by turning rags into highly fashionable and marketable bags. Rags2Riches started when students like Reese went to Payatas (a slum area) to teach kids Catechism. Now, they have also made an impact on the livelihood of many mothers who weave the rags and their families.

Dr. Aida Velasco, a professor from De La Salle University (a leading business school in the country), shared her insights on the qualities that entrepreneurs must develop and encouraged young people to make money out of their bright ideas.

Day 2 is the competition proper. There were six high schools that presented in the Cup. Unfortunately, other teams were not able to make it due to health and other concerns (it happened to be the outbreak of AH1N1 and classes were suspended).

We invited a number of business and civic leaders to serve as judges and provide our teams with valuable feedback. Among them was Andrew Picken, Director of British Council Philippines.

The greatest return for us working in SAGE is seeing these young Changemakers present their ventures. These people do not wait until after graduation to create positive change. These students work with what they have, and where they are. Competing in the SAGE Cup is not as easy as joining a quiz bee, or preparing for a dance competition. SAGE is not only a business plan but a business-do competition. And you have to be sincere in what you do because you will be working with the community. I have seen high school students from privileged backgrounds that, because of their SAGE projects, have gone to slums and seen under what poor conditions people live there. And that kind of experience is the real prize.

Champion: Sultan Kudarat Polytechnic State College Science Laboratory High School

The champion team’s business strikes a balance between economy and ecology by coming up with an innovative use of palm fronds into cement blocks. The final product proves to be 20% more economical than commercial hollow blocks used in construction. Palm Fronds Hollow Blocks are also fire-resistant and light weighted. The business promises to address the acute housing shortage in the country and arrest the rising costs of construction materials.

The team also established a handicraft-making project teaching T’boli women financial literacy, marketing and quality-control. Through this SAGE team, the ethnic group can preserve their art and access a market for their products.

It was a long journey, from besting other teams in the national competition, raising funds to the actual plane ride, but all the sacrifices did not remain unrewarded. The team from Sultan Kudarat Polytechnic State College (SKPSC) Science Laboratory High School travelled to the SAGE World Cup 2009 in Brasilia and garnered four (4) Special Awards and the coveted gold medal of the Arthur Boschee and Evelyn Ball International Award for Social Enterprise.