Story & photos by Thomas Graham
LAST year my company MAD (Make A Difference) Travel had the opportunity to welcome Frenchman Jean-Philippe Courtois, the president of Microsoft International, to the Philippines.
The primary reason for his visit was not to visit the beaches of Palawan or Boracay, but to go on a social-enterprise discovery tour, which included a stopover at the Gawad Kalinga (GK) Enchanted Farm in Bulacan.
Courtois’s visit to the farm confirmed to me that social enterprise, while not a new idea in the business world, has certainly started to gain a lot more traction in recent years. Perhaps, this should be of little surprise given that, according to a survey conducted by online news portal Rappler, 90 percent of millennials today value purpose as highly as salary and career progression in choosing their place of work. They prioritize impactful businesses that are sustainable and responsible in conducting their operations.
Indeed, Microsoft Philippines’s president requested to visit the Enchanted Farm not simply to give back, but to meet the entrepreneurs there and learn more about how their values-driven approach has been able to make an impression the market. Indeed, some of the more successful social enterprises at the farm have already made an impact beyond their sphere as their products are sold in grocery stores, supermarkets and high-end restaurants, while another, a homegrown brew-beverage could be found on commercial flights across the region.
Good business sense
THE greater goal of the farm, however, is not to convince everyone to become a social entrepreneur, but to demonstrate that doing business in the spirit of walang iwanan (no one gets left behind) can be beneficial to everyone, no matter how big or small a business is.
One such entrepreneur who demonstrates the value of a more socially conscious entrepreneurship is France’s Fabien Courteille, founder of Plush and Play, which gives work to around 50 nanay from the GK Enchanted Farm community and surrounding area, then produces the only locally made toys that are sold in the a big toy store in a major mall.
Six years ago, Plush and Play started out with just $100 of capital investment, yet today it sells 30,000 to 40,000 toys every year, thanks to partnerships with banks, manufacturers and even cosmetics companies, which provide customized items and mascots according to their specifications.
Instead of conducting a more conventional business approach, which might involve extensive market research and a strict business model, followed by the importing of skills from elsewhere, Courteille instead spent his time living in the GK village, discovering the aspirations and talents of the community—in this case, sewing—and building a business plan out through unleashing the potential he saw before him.
“I did not choose an industry, but a beneficiary,” he explained.
Having studied business management and entrepreneurship in France, Courteille was eager to discover a more humane approach to entrepreneurship which does not focus merely on profit alone, but on maximizing the power of business to make life better for both the people he employs and the market his company serves.
The nanays, many of whom were made redundant following the collapse of the textile industry in Bulacan, did not need mere donations; the elderly females needed to be shown ways to lift themselves out of poverty.
Courteille also saw a great need in the market. He was inspired to do something with the children whom he had met in the community, who, despite having only makeshift toys to play with, such as plastic bottles or even car tires, somehow found a way to smile.
So, the Frenchman thought of the idea of putting the nanays’ skills to work through building a business in which they would sell safe and educational toys for the children to play with.
Plush and Play does this by providing the nanays with opportunities to work from home, which means that they are able to organize themselves. Not only is it easier for them to look after their children as they work, but this empowers the seniors to take charge, be more efficient and exercise flexibility in accomplishing their objectives.
In his business model as a social enterprise, Courteille insists: “Salary is not an expense, but a social impact that goes to the nanays.”
Eventually, he would want to see the nanays take over the leadership of Plush and Play, passing on the business to them and letting them grow the business on their own so that they may set the direction of the company.
All these would mean very little if Plush and Play was not able to compete in the free market. Fortunately, while the price of their products is a little higher than cheaper, imported alternatives, the company’s commitment to being pro-poor and pro-Filipino gives it an edge in a different department.
For example, as a proudly owned Filipino company, they are able to capture the patriotism of the market with their Filipino-specific ideas and designs, such as Manny Pakwan, Buko Martin and Anne Kamatis.
On top of that, they have the benefit of flexibility in design and geographic proximity to businesses in the Philippines.
Therefore, instead of only seeing a finished product imported from abroad, the client can meet and discuss prototypes with Courteille and his team, revise, then redesign them until they are satisfied, thus being a more logistically appealing source than foreign toy producers.
Lessons learned
OF course, Plush and Play still has a long way to go before its volume of sales can compete with other mainstream brands in the Philippines, but there are lessons we can take from Courteille progress thus far. As consumers become increasingly patriotic and socially/environmentally conscious, having a great and authentic story to tell can set you apart, even in the most congested of markets. In this sense, doing good really does make good business sense.
Every month, we welcome large-scale corporations to the Enchanted Farm to experience the true magic of this 42-hectare farm-village-university, where rich and poor, east and west, rural and urban, as well as big businesses and start-up entrepreneurs, come together to build businesses and ecosystems where no one is left behind.
Many companies come to the farm not only as an expression of their corporate social responsibility activities, but because they agree that there is much to be learned from the genius of the Filipino poor.
There are over 40 different social enterprises all at varying stages of growth and development, but what is to learn from them is valuable to any business: hard work, resilience, ingenuity, creativity, innovation, sustainability and taking care of one’s employees and environment.
If the president of Microsoft International traveled from France to visit the Enchanted Farm, we hope that more of the local business community might consider the two-hour journey from Manila, too.
To find out more about visiting the GK Enchanted Farm, contact events@madtravel.org or visit www.madtravel.org.
Graham is a social entrepreneur, author of The Genius of the Poor and host of the podcast, In Good Company. For comments and suggestions, contact him at tom@madtravel.org.