Coca-Cola, TESDA, NWTF Collaboration to Empower Women Micro-entrepreneurs in Visayas

Recognizing the significant role of women micro-entrepreneurs in driving economic growth and community development, Coca-Cola Philippines, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and a civil society organization recently inked a three-way partnership to implement a training and economic empowerment program for women sari-sari store owners and operators in Visayas.

Under the agreement, the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) in Cebu would be empowered to conduct the modules of the Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources (STAR) Program in areas where they operate. The agreement also directs NWTF to nominate and develop ‘trainer teams’ that will undergo training and certification by TESDA.

TESDA, the agency which took care of the implementation of the modules that were co-authored with Coca-Cola, intends to transfer knowledge and skills to its civil society partners so that they can, in turn, do the same for their network of microentrepreneurs. The partnership will run from 2015 to 2020 to ensure the sustainability and continuity of the STAR Program, even after Coca-Cola Philippines completes its target of empowering 200,000 women microentrepreneurs by 2020.

“STAR continues to hone women beneficiaries and their TESDA trainers, as well as implementers in the three years that we have been running the program. It has helped redefine the roles they and we have played as contributors to microeconomies, as agents of social good. The alliance with the NGOs is a step to create a sustainable, replicable, and scalable small business support model for women sari-sari storeowners and operators. This allows us to reach more women faster and to grow out network of entrepreneurs exponentially,” says Sec. Joel Villanueva, Director General of TESDA.

“STAR Program’s success is largely because of the great leadership of Sec. Villanueva. We are grateful to him for believing in the program and its potential impact to women microentrepreneurs, as well as for all the support he gave since its infancy stage. Through him, we were able to put together a good implementation design. Coca-Cola has always believed that in order to create a meaningful difference in the communities where we operate, we need to collaborate with civil society partners and the government. Without TESDA, we would not achieve this scale and deliver as much impact,” adds Atty. Adel Tamano, VP for Public Affairs and Communications of Coca-Cola Philippines.

Program continuity

Four years ago, The Coca-Cola Company made a commitment to economically empower 5-million women entrepreneurs across the company’s global value chain by 2020. The program called 5by20 tries to address the most common barriers women face to succeed in the marketplace.

Locally, the realization of this commitment is happening through the STAR Program, which targets to train and empower 200,000 women sari-sari storeowners in the Philippines by 2020—with 50,000 women coming from Visayas, 50,000 coming from Mindanao, and the balance from the National Capital Region and Luzon.

As of August 2015, STAR has helped about 36,000 Filipino women in more than 40 cities nationwide to grow their businesses by providing them with basic entrepreneurship training, access to resources, and peer mentoring. The programstrengthens the women’s economic capacity by aptly training them, organizing them into a cohesive business network, and linking them to enterprise opportunities.

Onboarding civil society partners

NWTF is one the most established microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Visayas providing financing and developmental services to over 200,000 individuals and clients, with 31,000 concentrated in Cebu. As of 2013, it has 71 branches and a portfolio of 900million++ pesos.

“These organizations like NWTF share our vision of helping women achieve self-sufficiency and self-reliance, and do so by providing them access to micro-credit and some non-cash support. They are the people who ensure that what was taught in the 12-week training course would not be put to waste, but actually built on,” adds Sec. Villanueva.

In Mindanao, Coca-Cola works with First Community Cooperative (FICCO), and Alalay sa Kaularan, Inc. (ASKI) and ASA Philippies Foundation in Luzon to expedite small business loans.

After TESDA conducts the 12-week basic entrepreneurship and gender sensitivity training course, Coca-Cola Philippines would then connect them to its sales distributors and microfinance institutions to help boost financial capital.

“By working with our partners, we are able to create real and lasting benefits for women micro. This is the vision we share with TESDA and our MFIs, and we will continue to work towards it up to and even beyond 2020,” concludes Tamano.