SALI, KENT ANDREW M.

GE-FEL-ISE TTH 1:30 – 3:00PM

Social enterprise in the Philippines is vibrant and growing. The country is on the cusp of
important policy changes that could see social enterprise start to have much wider presence and
impact in the coming years. Ensuring that legislation is in place to recognize social enterprise
and provide forms of support that are widely acceptable will be important to the implementation
of any legislation that is passed, and to the impact it can have. There seem not to be significant
numbers of social enterprises addressing basic social service provision for those lacking access
to quality education, healthcare and water and sanitation. This gap could be further explored and
understood to establish if it is an area in which social enterprise could benefit from further
support. Stakeholders mentioned the contention around private sector provision of healthcare and
education in the Philippines. Expectations of state provision seem high, even if the state’s
services are not sufficient to address need in the country. Stakeholders and social enterprises
alike recognized a skills gap in terms of knowledge of the commercial side of social enterprise
operations – business development and management, accounting and legal and fiscal processes
as well as marketing, logistics and distribution. Support seems to work best when targeted to the
needs of individual enterprises, or accessible to enterprises as and when they require it.
Mentoring and peer learning is important and several Filipino social enterprise founders spoke
about the importance of making business connections and learning from people going through a
similar process to themselves. Capital cities often have disproportionate access to resources in
general, and social enterprise activity and support is no exception. However, the nature of social
enterprise ethos means that it is particularly important that stakeholders and support
organizations continue to increase access to support and to raise awareness outside Metro Manila
and Luzon. Cebu and Davao have growing social enterprise presence, and support organizations
are starting to either set up in Visayas and Mindanao or run outreach programs to these areas
from Manila. The Philippines is also building a considerable wealth of research and information
about how social enterprise is developing. Assuring that this research is diverse and rigorous is
important, as well as help to make it more accessible – through online publication and
dissemination beyond tertiary education institutions.