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Philippine children playing with wooden toys called Ecobloks, a finalist in the 2009-2010 BiD Women in Business Challenge.

NATHALIE ARSONILLO FROM BUKIDNON
WINS PBSP-CITIBANK BiD CHALLENGE
TO MAKE 2011 INTERNATIONAL FINAL

COFFEE, COCONUT SUGAR, CASSAVA CHIPS, BANANA FRIES and everything nice from Central and Eastern Mindanao have just made waves in the marketplace exhibit and awarding ceremony for the recently concluded Philippine leg of a global online business plan competition based in the Netherlands.
      Peace-promoting fair-trade coffee and healthy banana-based French fries from Davao City together with healthier coco-based sugarcane substitute from Panabo City, Davao del Norte province, were just three of the Top 10 winning entries of the local leg of the international Business in Development (BiD) Challenge.
      But the biggest winner of the night was a transportable farming mechanism from nearby Quezon town, Bukidnon province, called a Mobile Cassava Processing Unit, which aims to provide higher income primarily to cassava farmers in Central Mindanao by giving them access to better processing facilities right at their doorsteps.
      In the local BiD Challenge organized by Citibank, the Citi Foundation, and the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the winning entry of Bukidnon entrepreneur Nathalie Arsonillo has given her the prestige to compete in the 2010-2011 Women in Business Challenge of the Dutch BiD Network in Amsterdam slated on June 9, 2011.
      In last year's Philippine marketplace awarding for the previous BiD Challenge season, another entry from the same province became one of the 2009-2010 finalists: corn coffee production benefitting the celebrated farmers of Sumilao town, Bukidnon, courtesy of Sumilao Agri-Enterprise Inc. and its E-Farmers entry.
      Coffee for Peace, fronting famous Matina Town Square in Davao City, and banana fries manufacturer GUV Nutrifies of nearby Sta. Ana district were announced as two of the 10 top winners on May 30 at the Rockwell Tent in Makati City during the PBSP-Citibank BiD Challenge Philippines marketplace and awarding.
      Another winning entry from the Davao region was coco-sugar substitute maker Healthy Sweets of Panabo, Davao del Norte, which rendered another winner for health-conscious sugar like the muscovado variety as those manufactured by previous BiD Challenge finalist Global Organic and Wellness Corp. (Glowcorp).
      Also called "Factory Goes to the Farmer," the winning mobile cassava processing entry will represent the Philippines and the rest of Asia in competition with two entries from Uganda representing Africa and two entries from Peru representing Latin America, plus special runner-up entry from Afghanistan.


African women entrepreneurs.

      Of the two Peruvian finalists, who both submitted their business plan in the Spanish language, one focuses on granular organic fertilizers to cultivate coffee and cocoa, while the other specializes in dried golden berry as an organic snack.
      Meanwhile, one of the Ugandan finalists promotes locally available materials to produce eco paper bags for packaging purposes. The other develops and maintains what it claims to be the largest and most interactive online business community website platform in Africa connecting people and businesses to the global market.
      The special Afghan runner-up entry is a cardboard manufacturing plan application which it said would encourage environmental protection, decrease the incidence of diseases, and even promote education from the capital city of Kabul to the province of Herat.

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      The finalists are expected to "get access to a network of more than 36,000 like-minded entrepreneurs, coaches, and investors" from all over the world, as well as according to Dutch BiD Network "win tailor-made advisory services worth 5,000 Euros from UnitedSucces, the worldwide network for business women owners,".


Asian women entrepreneurs.

      The final event for the 2010-2011 Women in Business Challenge will be held on June 9 at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. For the second year in a row a Filipina has made it to the Netherlands competition, set up for women entrepreneurs who have made a difference in combining profit and helping reduce poverty in the world's developing nations.
      Previously, costume jewelry designer Marianne Olano of Baycrafts based in Naga, Camarines Sur won the special BiD Women in Retail Business Challenge plus 10,000 Euros from Dutch financial group ING for her designs made from such indigenous and synthetic materials as pearls, wood, fiber, seeds, crystals, and glass.
      Also in the last BiD international awarding at The Hague in the Netherlands, the partnership of Filipina entrepreneurs Maria Lourdes Molina from Loot Fairy Toys in Manila and Maria Mina Lacson of Cebu became was a finalist in the BiD Women in Business Challenge.
      Specializing in eco-friendly and non-toxic toys for children called Ecobloks, their entry helped idle woodworkers and found use for wood scrap from makers of wooden slippers and furniture by transforming these materials into wooden toy building blocks made from scrap mahogany and pine wood -- unpainted and lead-free.


Latin American women entrepreneurs.

      Their competitors at the Fokker Terminal of The Hague on June 2 last year included the Women on Wheels safe transport solutions project based in New Delhi, and another Indian entry called Aqua Beauty Salon specializing in the use of domestic wastewater treatment solutions.
      The Latin American entry last year, Micro Tapas, was a unique Colombian product called a micro-cover that protects a woman's areola and nipple areas from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun, while allowing the tanning of the other areas of the breast.
      In the 2008-2009 BiD Challenge international marketplace, the Philippine winner and the country's main entry to the international BiD competition in the Netherlands eventually won the grand prize.
      Rags2Riches, the grand prize winner of the 2008-2009 BiD international award, specialized in transforming scrap fabric into bags from the designs of renowned Filipino designers Rajo Laurel and Amina Aranaz, benefitting women weavers from the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City as producers of these bags.


Middle East women entrepreneurs.

      The new winner of the BiD Women in Business Challenge from Bukidnon represents the Sustainable Growth for Rural Venture Inc. (SUGRUVI), which consolidates and processes the cassava farmers' dry chips into granules before delivery as animal feeds to San Miguel Foods Inc.
      During the People-Powered Markets trade fair at Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig on February 25, exhibitors revealed that farmers from Bukidnon had benefitted as part of the San Miguel value chain systems, with their cassava supplies as the principal tapioca (sago) ingredient of San Miguel Pure Foods. The company had also assisted farmers of sweet potato, corn, and sorghum from Cauayan, Isabela in Northeastern Luzon to Surallah, South Cotabato and the Zamboanga Peninsula in Southern and Northwestern Mindanao.
      Through an "agro-industrial integrated cycle" for its cassava and other food crop value chain system, San Miguel had helped extract tapioca from the crops of cassava farmers to be made into chips and pellets for animal feeds and for alcohol ingredients as an alternate to molasses. Tapioca starch is the main food ingredient in pearl shakes, instant noodles, liquid seasoning, and monosodium glutamate, and as an alternate sweetener in fruit jams, canned fruits, and beverage drinks.
                                                                                - by Amy Malaluan (Photos courtesy of Philippine Business for Social Progress.)

Ecobloks, last year's Philippine finalist. Find out more about the international Women in Business Challenge.
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