The British ambassador to Manila praised Filipino entrepreneurs for their resilience, perseverance, dynamism and innovativeness in the face of global economic crisis, while citing good financial management and bold ideas as two of the reasons for the early recovery of the Philippines. “Entrepreneurship is a strategic issue as the Philippines and the region take the road to recovery,” Ambassador Stephen Lillie said on Friday in his opening remarks to the Global Entrepreneurship Forum. The British Embassy in Manila, the British Council and the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) organized the forum.

“It is strategic because recovery is more than simply an economic issue, for beyond the recession are other critical concerns that need to be addressed to ensure that growth is sustainable and beneficial to society,” he added in a statement.

“Indeed, business itself cannot be business as usual,” Lillie said. “Witness for example the effects of the recent typhoons on the ability of poor communities to sustain agriculture-based enterprises—or the ability of food producers to meet demand, or the reliability of storage and distribution chains to bring products to the market.”

The forum emphasized that entrepreneurs could turn a profit while adding value to distinct social objectives, according to the statement. The event also gave the students attending a chance to study other enterprises and the people behind them, in the hopes of providing an expanded toolbox to spur the growth of businesses that deliver profit and address distinct social needs.

Sharing experiences

British entrepreneurs doing business in the different sectors of the Philippine economic landscape also shared their experiences with students from the UA&P’s School of Management.

Jane Walker of the British charity Philippine Christian Foundation shared her experiences in building a school in Tondo using discarded freight containers. British entrepreneur David Charlton related how he took a small business—David’s Salon—and turned it into one of the top chains in the Philippines by investing in its employees and allowing them to grow with the company with stock incentives. David de Montaigne, president and founder of Global Green Power Plc. Philippines, talked about British investment in the Philippine energy sector that works with local governments and communities. Global Green is set to put up biomass plants that will turn waste into a valuable energy resource.

Social entrepreneurship

In her closing remarks, British Council Director Amanda Burrell encouraged the students to engage in social enterprises, which are organizations that apply market-based strategies to generate profit in furthering their social or environmental goals.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play a major role in the country’s economic development. In the last five years, these enterprises accounted for about 99.7 percent of the registered businesses in the country, from which 70 percent of the labor force earn a living.