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An organization that partners colleges and universities with the
business sector called Pilipinas-Students In Free Enterprise (Pilipinas-SIFE)
launched on Wednesday a competition among college and university
students that seeks to develop projects which will help
underdeveloped communities through free enterprise.
According Pilipinas-SIFE Chairman Jose Leviste
Jr., at least 20 colleges and universities, together with their
business sector partners, are set to compete for the best
school-based social entrepreneurship program.
“SIFE students form teams that serve their
communities by developing projects that take what they are learning
in their classrooms about business, and use it to solve real world
problems for real people,” Leviste said in a press conference.
“On the other hand, business executives
support the program through corporate donations, personal
contributions and the gift of their time,” he added.
When asked on how the Philippines performed in
the international competition, Leviste said the country has a dismal
performance in New York City last year.
“There are four blocks composed of five teams.
We only placed third in our block. That’s why this year we are
focusing on the quality of the participants,” he said.
In this year’s SIFE local competition set on
Saturday at the Dusit Thani Hotel, the teams will present their
projects to prominent business leaders who will vote to choose which
team will have the honor to compete at the international level.
The competition will focus on five areas:
entrepreneurship, financial literacy, business ethics, success
skills and market economics.
This year’s finalists include the last four
national champions, namely San Beda College, Divine Word College of
Calapan, Sultan Kudarat Polytechnic State College and Mariano Marcos
State University.
Also making the final cut are teams from Far
Eastern University, Holy Trinity College of General Santos, Lorma
College, St. Nicholas College, Baliuag University, Central Luzon
State University, Columbian College, De Las Salle University-Dasmarinas,
Mindanao State University, Pangasinan State University, St. Nicholas
College of Business and Technology and the University of Luzon.
Leviste said the winners would represent the
country in the SIFE World Cup in Singapore slated from October 1 to
3.
-- James Konstantin Galvez
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