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The Association of MSMEs and People’s Associations for Social Enterprise Development held its second SE Workshop on November 22, 2023 on impactful collaborations, featuring the fashion brand, Zarah Juan.

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To open the online workshop, Trish Lim-Francia, CEO of the social enterprise Woven, welcomed everyone to the continuing conversation on social entrepreneurship, its potential to drive development outcomes, and the role of community collaborations in creating sustainable impact. 

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Wryneth Gay Mayapit, co-founder and Chief Community Engagement Officer of INDI Heritage PH, then introduced the National Social Enterprise Development Roadmap and gave context to the multi-sectoral effort for SE advancement before giving the floor to Christian Juan, President of Zarah Juan. 

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Zarah Juan, which Christian runs with his wife, Zarah, is a social and cultural enterprise that supports sustainable livelihoods through partnerships with different Filipino artisans. They currently work with seven primary communities from Abra up in North Luzon down to Davao in Mindanao. 

Now with four retail outlets and over 350 community artisans, Christian shared Zarah Juan’s four pillars: people, planet, profits, and purpose. He zeroed in on the purpose-driven pillar, highlighting how their organization fights for LIFE: Livelihood and Community, Innovation and Technology, Financial Sustainability, and Environmental Sustainability through programs that are responsive to the needs of their artisans and employees. 

Just a few examples of how Zarah Juan has integrated their team's everyday realities into their operations: they implemented a clock-in time of 8:30am at their factory, 30 minutes later than their original 8am work schedule, to consider home and family responsibilities that their team members must manage. This move resulted not only in zero tardiness in the organization but in greater productivity. They also instituted daily nap time at work, which likewise increased focus and efficiency and continues to save multiple man hours due to its positive effects in productivity and well-being.

As Zarah Juan continues to grow its communities, its founders take pride in their artisans and their varied range of skills in weaving, handling textiles, hand-painting, and hand-beading. Christian emphasized that they do not taint, distort, or dilute Filipino artisan skills, which have been inherited from their ancestors. Furthermore, he explained, harnessing the power of collaboration lies in members from different communities benefiting and learning from each other’s skills. 

The brand now has four product lines: shoes, bags, fashion accessories, and home accessories. Soon, Zarah Juan will launch its apparel line, for which they are expanding their team. Christian shared that a minimum of three communities are involved for each product that they develop – highlighting their thrust toward impactful collaborations. 

To date, one of their most significant milestones was the ASUS X Zarah Juan partnership. In a celebration of Filipino craftsmanship, Zarah Juan and its artisans designed and created the limited edition Zarah Juan Zen Tote as part of the ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED launch in 2022. The sustainably sourced and locally made tote was a nod to both Filipino heritage and the importance of balancing form and function. 

The collaboration wrapped up in March 2023 with the Incredible Transformation: Future-ready Business Management Workshop for Filipino Artisans. All of Zarah Juan’s community artisans - from Isabela Province, Davao City, General Santos, Paete, Bulacan and Marikina City -  came together for a specialized digital literacy training geared to support their business transformation. They learned how to encode data, do product costing and materials inventory - all on state-of-the-art laptops. ASUS also turned over laptops to each community to aid them in digitizing their daily business transactions. As Christian recalls, iit was a sight to behold, Seeing their artisans in that setting was a truly proud moment for Zarah Juan’s founders. 

Moments like these affirm the kind of impact that collaborations can create. Christian credits the interest in Zarah Juan to their continuous effort to bring communities together in a process of constant learning and collaboration. Before closing the session, Christian shared advice on what he sees are crucial to growing and sustaining an organization. First, he stressed the importance of professionalizing one’s business, including the administrative and legal requirements that come with it. Getting registered is an advantage as big organizations always look for legitimate enterprises. Second, staff competency and continuously developing capability within the organization are crucial, especially since you may need to activate your people quickly when collaboration leads come in. The key is to be ready to seize these opportunities. Third, a brand must keep its communication channels open. Potential partnership may come unexpectedly and through the least likely channels. Finally, Christian says, “Always under promise and over deliver.” 

A short Q&A followed, with SE Workshop participants keen to learn about the dynamics of managing Zarah Juan between husband and wife; creating opportunities ahead of lean season; and potential collaboration avenues with the brand. 

Wryneth closed the workshop and thanked everyone for their support of SE in the Philippines. She also encouraged participants to keep participating in SE events such as these to help grow the Tatak SE community.  Congratulations to the MSMES and Associations subsector on another successful SE Workshop! 

The SE Workshop Series is a monthly gathering hosted by the Association of MSMEs and People’s Associations for Social Enterprise Development (MSMEs and Associations subsector). It is dedicated to supporting social enterprises and people’s associations in their journey through the sharing of knowledge, experiences, and resources. An initiative under the SE Roadmap, these workshops also provide a space for the public to engage with the SE community and to learn more about the work that they do. 

Commissioned by BPI Foundation in 2021, the SE Roadmap is a five-year, strategic plan to advance SEs in the country through a multi-sectoral approach. To realize this vision, the SE Roadmap established a governance system that would lead the nationwide implementation of the plan. The SE Roadmap Council was thus organized over the second half of 2022 and formalized during the 2023 Philippine Social Entrepreneurship Summit in February of 2023. This council is composed of 52 sector representatives from the five SE Roadmap subsectors (cooperatives, NGOs, MSMEs and People’s Associations, corporations, and academic institutions) and spans the four major regional clusters of the Philippines (North Luzon, NCR and South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao).

To learn more, connect with us through collaborate@bayaninnovationgroup.org. 

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