ISEA Partners with ABAC Philippines for APEC SME Summit
ISEA was invited by the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Philippines as partner for the social entrepreneurship (SE) segment of the APEC SME Summit which occurred last January 20, 2013. The APEC SME Summit was organized as a related event to the ABAC Meeting in Manila this year. ABAC is the recognized voice of the business sector at the Asia Pacific Economic Council or APEC. The theme for the APEC SME Summit is Breaking Barriers Through Innovation. The summit showcased the stories of successful entrepreneurs in the region and was divided into three major segments: Breaking Mindsets, Breaking Into New Markets, and Breaking Traditional Business Models. The third segment, Breaking Traditional Business Models, featured three successful social entrepreneurs invited in partnership with ISEA: Ms. Anna Meloto-Wilk, Co-founder and President of Gandang Kalikasan, Inc; Dr. Aris Alip, Co-founder and Managing Director of CARD-MRI and Mr. Bambang Ismawan, Co-founder and Chairperson of Bina Swadaya. Bina Swadaya is a founding member organization of ISEA from Indonesia.
The APEC SME Summit 2013 took place from 1:00pm to 5:00pm at the Francisco Santiago Hall, South Tower, BDO Coporate Center, Makati City. A VIP lunch organized by the ABAC was attended by ISEA President Marie Lisa M. Dacanay, Mr.Bambang Ismawan and Dr, Aris Alip before the program. The ISEA delegation to the summit was composed of ISEA President Marie Lisa M. Dacanay, PRRM President Isagani Serrano, Philippine Business for Social Progress Portfolio Manager Mercedita Rosetes, Foundation for a Sustainable Society Advocacy and Communications Officer Heidi F. Fernandez and ISEA Program Officer Kaisa S. Sol Cruz. The summit was attended by leaders and members of the business industry, members of academic institutions, and government officials.
The opening speakers were Ms. Doris Magsaysay-Ho, Member of the APEC Business Advisory Council Philippines, Hon. Gregory Domingo, Secretary of the Department of Trade Industry of the Philippines and Mr. Juan Francisco Raffo Member of the APEC Business Advisory Council Peru and Chairman of the ABAC SMME and Entrepreneurship Working Group.
As the resource speakers for the Breaking Mindsets segment of the summit, Ms. Cher Wang, Chairman of HTC Corp and VIA Group, Mr. Vincent Lo, Founder and Chairman of Shui On Group, Mr. Dado Banatao, Managing Partner of Tallwood Venture Capital, and Mr. Tony Tan Caktiong, Chairman and CEO of Jollibee Food Corporations spoke about how their respective companies broke mindsets and the importance of aligning one’s perspectives with one’s goals. Speakers for the Breaking into New Markets were composed of Diane Wang, Founder of DHGate.com, Ms. Sheila Marcelo, Founder and CEO of Care.com, and Mr. Winston Damarillo, CEO and Co-founder of Morphlabs. Their businesses illustrate the use of technology as a tool to break into new markets.
Ms. Maria Ressa, in her closing remarks, spoke of how ground-breaking developments in technology coupled with social networks can be used to create new ways of solving social problems.
The APEC SME Summit was successful in providing an opportunity for the business community to gain awareness of the emerging social enterprise sector and ISEA as a facilitator for building bridges between the social enterprise with the business sector in the region.