Ateneo de Zamboanga University junior students, taking up Business Administration major in Entrepreneurship, attended the Level 1 Enactus Entrepreneurial Institute (EEI) Philippines training held on February 28 to March 1 2014 in Makati City. The students were Ms Mary Joy A. Bernardo, Ms Fritzie Lee B. Credo, and Mr Gerald John A. Baruc along with their faculty adviser Dr. Josephine L. Dajuela.
The Enactus Philippines, which is ‘a community of student, academic, and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better more sustainable world,’ launched the new ENACTUS ENTREPRENEURIAL INSTITUTE (EEI) PHILIPPINES, which aims to elevate Enactus Philippines as a pioneering organization in Social Entrepreneurship Development in the country. The EEI Philippines has developed a two-level course. Fifty-one universities from all over the Philippines participated in the said event.
In level 1, the participating teams were taught how to develop and improve their social entrepreneurship ventures including leading their teams, diagnosing problems, working with the communities, creating partnerships, and marketing products and services. This training allowed the students to come up with a social entrepreneurial project concept with specific action plans and a financial plan to be implemented in 4 months time. This project aims to not only enhance the entrepreneurial skills of the students but to also help in the socio-cultural, economic, and environmental fields in the community.
Level 2 will be conducted in June 2014 where participating teams will review what they have accomplished within 4 months. Level 2 will involve a deeper understanding of conducting businesses in the Philippines especially social enterprises and how the teams can achieve sustainability.
At the end of both levels, the teams will be eligible to join the Enactus National Competition on July 2014 where the teams would be presenting their respective projects. The winning team will compete in the Enactus World Cup held in Beijing, China on October 2014.
