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Twenty-two educators from academic institutions across the Philippines recently completed the SE 101 SE Roadmap Onboarding Program by the National Association of Educators and School Administrators for Social Enterprise Development (NASEEA). From September 18-22, 2023, NASEEA led SE 101 as part of its initiatives under the National Social Enterprise Development Roadmap. 

The program covered social enterprise models and the practice of social entrepreneurship in the Philippines; the use of Design Thinking for social good; technology, market, and social innovations in social entrepreneurship; and the practice of sustainability through social entrepreneurship. Through SE 101, NASEEA aims to deepen the understanding of social entrepreneurship in its incoming membership. 

Dr. Norby Salonga, Chairperson of NASEEA and Founding Director of LSEED Center, De La Salle University, opened the weeklong program by giving context to the practice of social entrepreneurship in the Philippines and globally. Expounding on the key principles of social entrepreneurship, he then broke down the social enterprise models of cooperatives, microfinance institutions, fair trade organizations, and new generation social enterprises in the form of single proprietorships, partnerships, one person corporations or corporations. Given the range of perspectives on SEs, Dr. Salonga’s session also served as a leveling off for the participants. 

On Day 2 of SE 101, Mr. Aris Lacuna, co-Chairperson of NASEEA and Assistant Professor of Southville International School and Colleges, welcomed participants with a recap of Day 1. Mr. Allan Gozon, Manager of the Center for Social Entrepreneurship of the University of San Carlos, then facilitated the main session on Design Thinking for Social Good. 

Mr. Gozon first tackled the 5Ps of the  Sustainable Development Goals: people, planet, prosperity, partnership, and peace. He then discussed Design Thinking and how the process of defining, empathizing, ideating, prototyping and testing can enable organizations to develop better processes, products and services.

For the third session of SE 101, Dr. Norby Salonga introduced the key concepts of sustainability and their application in building SE ventures. He zeroed in on the need to shift from a linear to a circular economy - an essential model for sustainable production and consumption of goods and services. 

On the topic of balancing bottom lines of profit and socio-environmental impact, Dr. Salonga emphasized the importance of acknowledging our role in societal challenges and development outcomes. Sharing examples of brands that had integrated circular economy processes into their business, he showed how this could create value for both the organization and society through higher-quality products, multi-stakeholder engagement, increased profitability, as well as people and planet bottom lines being met. 

In the final session of SE 101, Ms. Maan Sicam, Board Member of the Society for the Advancement of Professional Social Entrepreneurship (SAPSE) and co-founder of the social enterprise Happy Helpers, led the discussion on Technology, Market, and Social Innovations. The interactive discourse focused on technology innovations as not just product but process breakthroughs;  optimum product-to-market-matching; and the community organizing and empowering aspect of social innovations. It was a fitting close to the weeklong program to see the critical role of innovations in implementing societal change. 

Huge congratulations to the SE 101 completers, who will now officially be inducted into NASEEA! As it leads the Academe subsector for the SE Roadmap, NASEEA has identified three key focus areas for the immediate term: membership-building; capability-building; and the localization of SE Roadmap programs. 

To grow its membership, NASEEA is continuously recruiting schools and universities through its networks and providing full onboarding support through SE training programs and membership guidance. 

Following its institutional recruits’ onboarding, NASEEA aims to build capability within its membership by providing them with coaching and mentoring support, as well as guiding them in the integration of social entrepreneurship into their curriculum, research, and social engagement. As they create tighter linkages within the Academe, NASEEA looks to be a hub for the sharing of best SE practices and a convergence point for resource mobilization among its members. They also hope to ink more partnerships across the SE Roadmap ecosystem - with NGOs, MSMEs, Cooperatives, Corporations, as well as public agencies - to localize education programs and increase SE learning opportunities for the public. 

BIG things to come as we look forward to the Academe’s next ventures! 

To learn more about the SE Roadmap, connect with us through collaborate@bayaninnovationgroup.org.  

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