2 Ilonggo studes to represent RP in business gab in The Netherlands
A website development package, P300,000 in cash, and a trip to The Hague, Netherlands. Not bad a price for a feasibility project.
At their young age, two students from Iloilo have been making names in the field of small entrepreneurship in the country.
Ryan Pelongco and Noreen Marian Bautista are part of a group of five students from the Ateneo de Manila University whose feasibility study won them in the best business concept as a small entrepreneur at the Business in Development (BiD) Challenge Philippines 2009.
Pelongco and Bautista both graduated high school in 2006.
He graduated from Ateneo de Iloilo while Bautista, daughter of retired Iloilo City Police Office ICPO) director Senior Supt. Norlito Bautista and bank executive Nilda Marie, graduated from Philippine Science High School WV.
Aside from Pelongco and Bautista, Anne Krystle Mariposa, Maria Charmagne Cruz, and Patricia Lalisan conceptualized their project, Jacinto & Lirio (Spanish for “Hyacinth & Lily”) Fashion Bags made from water hyacinth, which would enable them to win a trip to The Hague, Netherlands, to join other entrepreneurs at the BiD Network Week.
Cruz is the group’s finance and operations director while Mariposa is marketing and sales director.
Bautista is the R&D and social entrepreneurship director; Lalisan, marketing and creative director; and Pelongco, legal affairs and logistics director
The four girls are all taking BS Management major in Communications Technology Management while Pelongco is taking up BS Legal Management.
The J&L won over 33 other contenders for the top spot of the BiD Challenge Philippines, which is an annual competition hosted by the BiD Network Foundation in partnership with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP).
They also brought home the Foundation for a Sustainable Society Triple Bottomline Award, which awarded them P50,000.
Environment-friendly alternative
Jacinto & Lirio is a Filipino social enterprise to reorient the design and fashion industries worldwide to embrace the environment-friendly alternative with innovative, eco-ethical plant leatherette. Its first collection is composed of bags from water hyacinth (or water lily) leather designed by Cora Jacobs and produced in collaboration with Laguna communities.
According to Bautista, they started the business for their entrepreneurship program, The John Gokongwei School of Management Business Accelerator Program, which is a three semester course that enables students to start their own enterprise and learn the ropes of entrepreneurship.
Initially, the group wanted a product that would help in the conservation of the environment, specifically on the reduction of plastic use.
It was Bautista’s aunt, a DTI employee, who introduced them to using water hyacinth as their raw material.
Why water hyacinth? The group believed that in spite of its seemingly innocent exterior, the water hyacinth (often miscalled the more popularly known “water lily”) is in fact an invasive species that clogs up waterways and creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
In its website jacintoandlirio.com, the five students said that Jacinto & Lirio sees so much potential in the water hyacinth, aiming to create fashionable items out of this unique material. “Owning a one-of-a-kind Jacinto & Lirio bag shows that you have embraced the eco-friendly alternative by combating the spread of the water hyacinth. You have also helped Jacinto & Lirio empower a community in Laguna, Philippines by contributing to a special livelihood program of the Cora Cares Foundation, founded by the world-renowned designer Cora Jacobs.”
J&L’s prices range from P2,600-P4,100. Although it’s quite pricey, Bautista explained that one of the reasons was the amount they spend on paying the workers.
J&L bags are currently available at Firma (Greenbelt 3), Felicity (Shangri-La Plaza), Terrie (Greenhills) and Cora Jacobs (NAIA souvenir and gift section).
Proud workers
There are around 20 student run companies under this program.
“All the capital came from hard-earned savings and the generous support of our families,” Bautista said.
Further, “we’re proud to be working with Jacinto & Lirio because it was really our dream to build an enterprise that exists specifically to develop society and bear the mark of a high Philippine product standard that can give pride to the country.”
Interestingly, Jacinto & Lirio merged several of our interests as a group.
“And that’s what I personally love about the business,” Bautista said adding, “we have a groupmate who is into fashion design, another one interested in creative communications, hence she makes our superb posters and communication materials. Another is very meticulous with finance and operations and she makes sure the business is going smoothly and efficiently.”
Ryan, meanwhile, has used his background in legal management to draft contracts and made sure the group paid taxes on time.
He has also been passionate about the impact of the business on the environment and social benefit.
“I, on the other hand, also help direct the business to take a heart of a social enterprise because that is my passion—to serve communities and empower them,” Bautista said.
She added, “We definitely want to continue the business after graduation. Although all of us will also be employed in different institutions, we will find a way to be flexible so that we can still handle the biz.
As of the moment, Bautista said that all efforts are being set to prepare for our competition in The Netherlands come last week of May to first week of June.
“Hopefully we bring back Philippine pride after that,” Bautista said.
