MCCI’s The Search for W.I.N.N.E.Rs Proclaims Selection of Top 10 ACC’s Choice

2013 marks the third season of Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (MCCI) Search for W.I.N.N.E.Rs (Women In Need, Now Entrepreneurs and Rolemodels). With this season’s theme “Engaging Change”, this year’s line-up of women entrepreneurs have been meticulously chosen to represent hope and empowerment amidst the struggle against poverty. Chaired by MCCI’s Vice President Carmel de Pio-Salvador and co-chaired by Marylou Ngo-Ang and Alice Uy, The yearly quest for the micro-entrepreneurs is in celebration of the Mandaue Buisness Month held every August.

From the 44 micro-entrepreneurs hailing from the 27 barangays of Mandaue City, the top 20 candidates were revealed last July 20. With MCCI’s partnership with the Asian Carriers Conference (ACC), this year’s search introduced a sub-category sponsored by the ACC which challenged the candidates to come up with a business idea that would best incorporate telecommunications and information technology into their respective business ventures. The panel of judges were composed of representatives from Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and the academe. Together, they chose the top 10 choices in the ACC’s category.

Despite the demanding nature of consigning native snacks such as maja blanca, masi and ice candy to school and office canteens, ACC’s top scorer 35 year-old Hazel del Castillo still experiences the joy of spending time with her children while managing her small business venture. Her resourcefulness and time management is one of the inspiring stories shared. The top 10 candidates to be featured on ACC’s official website. They will each receive cellular phones to start an e-loading business and through online voting as well, the top 3 candidates will be determined where each get her own Cyberya kiosks. The grand prize winner on the other hand will be receiving a year-long broadband subscription as well as P15,000 worth of PLDT and Sun Cellular products and an additional business capitalization worth P10,000. All winners will be formally awarded this coming September 4, 2013 during the ACC.

It was good news when representative of the ACC Perl Jacalan said that the other candidates who didn’t make it to the category’s top 10 were still winners because they aside from the gift packs given to the contestants and to their partners from the Barangay Developtment Coordinator (BDC),  Melanie Manuel, who spearheads PLDT Smart Foundation’s “Gabay Guro” scholarship program was also glad to announce that they will be granting scholarships to any of the Top 20 candidates or to any of their immediate benefactors who wish to finish an education degree.

Event chairman Salvador also clarified that those who were not chosen as ACC’s top 10 will still qualify to be this season’s champion of W.I.N.N.E.Rs;  the top 10 shall be determined by another group of judges and the lucky contestant to win the grand prize will get P50,000, the second and third-placers will receive P30,000 and P20,000, respectively during the grand finals on August 20, to be held at the Mandaue Sports Complex.

(L-R) Dr. Mary Gretchen Chavez (UP Cebu Professor of Business Administration or Chair, Management Division, UP Cebu), Nilo Bantilan (Assistant Vice-President & Business Head in Visayas and Mindanao, PLDT), Benex Katigbak (Senior Manager for PLDT Network Assurance and Surveillance) and Melanie Manuel (Assistant Vice-President in Carrier Settlements and Business Information Management, PLDT) (Photo by MetroCebu News)