Long-term business success matters – for the employees, communities, and our planet. As part of its vision to build a better Philippines, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has always been at the forefront of shaping a more sustainable future. The bank continues to actively lead this movement by providing various business sectors with opportunities to grow in a responsible and inclusive manner.

Ongoing development efforts to empower and nurture social enterprises (SE), a sector that continues to bridge societal gaps in the country, is reflective of BPI’s commitment to sustainability. For years now, SEs have played a crucial role in creating more purpose-driven enterprises that benefit vulnerable and underserved communities.

Recently, BPI Foundation, the social development arm of BPI, officially launched the 8th iteration of its flagship program, BPI Sinag, which champions the social enterprise sector in the country.

With this year’s theme, BPI Sinag Evolution, the program aims to elevate its impact and achieve inclusive and sustainable growth by implementing for the first time, a multi-stakeholder approach, highlighting three vital pillars: the social entrepreneurs, the educators, and the intervenors or sub-sectors. BPI Foundation has committed Php 3 million worth of cash grants for these pillars this year.

BPI Sinag Evolution is also aligned with the National Social Enterprise Development Roadmap, one of the accomplishments of Sinag Spark last year, translating the roadmap strategies into viable programs.

According to BPI Foundation Executive Director Owen Cammayo, evolution best represents the enhancements in its Sinag program over time to better address the needs of the broader SE ecosystem. He said, “Doing well by doing good as an economic and social imperative is more relevant now more than ever. This is the perfect time to increase our collective efforts to become more inclusive, responsible, and sustainable when doing business. This is the essence why we strongly support social enterprises.”

The program’s business challenge recently opened its doors to local social enterprises operating for at least six months. Of the 60 SEs who will qualify for bootcamps and mentoring sessions, the Top 10 SEs will receive as much as Php 300,000 cash grant. The application period will run until June 30, 2022.

Aside from the cash grants, Sinag SEs will also undergo MBA-like training, which will include sessions on business strategy and planning, marketing, operations, finance, organization & HR development, and social innovation, among others. Sinag SEs will also benefit from market access through the Sinag Sari-Sari Store in Ayala malls nationwide through its partnership with Alagang Ayala Land.

With the multi-stakeholder approach, the “Sinag Evolution” will also give opportunities to the members of the academe and the support intervenors of SEs through a customized management program and competition.

Aiming to encourage academic institutions to be at the active forefront of social entrepreneurship, BPI Foundation offers the BPI Sinag Social Entrepreneurship and Management Course for Educators. The course, which will focus on effective methodologies in teaching social entrepreneurship management, is open to the members of the academe, including school heads, administrators, and lead teachers who specialize in general entrepreneurship and business management.

The deadline for applications is on June 10, 2022, while the training will be from June 13 to 17. The participating educators will then submit their proposals and present them to an esteemed panel of judges. Five educators with the best proposals will win a cash grant of Php100,000 each.

For the SE Intervenors and Subs-sectors, BPI Foundation aims to collaborate with various organizations, including corporate foundations, NGOs, civil society organizations, and other government agencies, in promulgating social entrepreneurship as part of their corporate social responsibility programs.

The participants will be given the chance to learn about social entrepreneurship management and frameworks that may be used as interventions in the community that they support. In addition, they will be asked to present proposals to integrate social entrepreneurship in their existing programs to achieve better social impact in the communities they serve.

Interested participants may register until August 12, 2022, while the five-day bootcamp will be held from August 22 to 26. Five participants with the most viable proposals will win a cash grant of Php100,000 each.

To know more about Sinag Evolution, visit https://www.bpifoundation.org/page/bpi-sinag and follow BPI Foundation on Facebook and Instagram.