NETHERLANDS - For the second time, a Filipina took home the grand prize in the BiD Network Women in Business Challenge, a yearly competition for women entrepreneurs from around the world held here.
Hailing from Bukidnon, Philippines, Nathalie Arsonillo bested 140 businesswomen from Asia, Africa and South America with her organization Sustainable Growth for Rural Venture Inc. (SUGRUVI), which aims to better the lives and income of cassava farmers in her home province, particularly the Matinsalog-Manobo tribe.
Her goal to bring mobile cassava processing units to remote mountains in Bukidnon, in order to minimize spoilage and increase farmers' profits, earned the nod of judges from Dutch Bank ING, and business organizations United Success and iCCO.
“I’m very happy but this is just icing on the cake. My coming here and their efforts to connect me to future investors, I would not get it if I’m alone or if I’m just staying in the Philippines. I made a lot of contacts, I met a lot of people so the future looks great, not only for me but also for all the cassava farmers in the Philippines,” said Arsonillo in Tagalog.
The overwhelmed Arsonillo received 5,000 euros worth of business coaching from and membership to United Success, a women-only business network helping women entrepreneurs all over the world. She would also receive assistance in finding possible investors.
Advancing the lives of cassava farmers
A banker for 11 years, Arsonillo left her job at an international bank in the Philippines in 2008 to start SUGRUVI. Whenever she comes home to Bukidnon, she frequently sees cassava being grown in small patches in the province. She learned that cassava is not only for human consumption but for other productions as well. She thought of uniting cassava farmers into a community making cassava produce.
“Aside from being food on the table, cassava is also being made into noodles, one of the main components of glue, made into chalk, textile and many others. It has a lot of uses and now, one of the big markets for it is the production of ethanol. It’s like corn but only cheaper,” explained Arsonillo.
They partnered with a rural bank and sought other financing schemes to buy the good variety of cassava and distribute it to the farmers for free. She approached San Miguel Corporation to sell cassava chips but the company did not respond very early. For two years, the cassava farmers booked high costs, but no income. Because cassava rots in 48 to 72 hours, the farmers had little time to make them into something useful, thus lowering their income considerably.
“What we want is to make a transport unit that will go from the center to the mountains so the processing will take place there. This will avoid spoilage, lower transportation and labor costs and increase the productivity of the farmers and the organization,” she continued.
Fortunately, after two years of waiting, San Miguel started ordering from SUGRUVI. This inspired Arsonillo even more, as well as the farmers in her organization. She is proud of her kababayans' solidarity as they produce the amount of order that their clients demand.
SUGRUVI now has 278 members, 48% of whom are women and 23% are from the Matinsalog, Manobo tribe.
Social and environmental impact
The BiD Women in Business Challenge, now on its second year, was established to focus on women who are already in business but want to expand. According to Thierry Sanders, director and founder of BiD Network, 27% of all the business pitches they are receiving each year come from women entrepreneurs. Since there wasn't any international competition for these women, to help them assist in the expansion of their businesses, BiD Network pioneered one for them.
“There’s a lot of women entrepreneurs out there and they just need to put their business plans together, find a coach and get financed. They have great business ideas,” said Sanders.
Last year, it was Marianne Olano from Naga City who won the grand prize for her business Baycrafts Jewerly.
“The most important thing we are looking for is an entrepreneur who has growth ambitions. They must have social impact and we are looking for environmental businesses as well. So if you can have that combination of 20% of income growth, social impact and environmental impact you're in the right spot and you're looking for finance because we can help you look for finance,” continued Sanders.
According to Sanders, they do not entertain businesses which have lower that 20% predicted growth income in one year because these will not generate jobs that are needed in the community. He cited the statistics in the United States where 90% of jobs generated in the last 20 years were from companies which had start-up of $250,000 and more than 20% yearly growth.
All the five finalists, including four from Peru and Uganda, got business coaching from BiD and ING especially in areas like finance and investor match-making, marketing, women leadership, overcoming cultural barriers and finding export partners.
They were also advised to find business partners or investors who have solid background to build trust and track records, in addition to having perseverance.
Going International
SUGRUVI is currently only producing for domestic distribution but Arsonillo said that their end goal would be to go international. A few Dutch companies have already expressed interest in looking at their products and using tapioca starch instead of corn starch.
“The cassava chips are still on the starting level but starch is the end of the line. When the selling prices are high, the buying prices are also high so hopefully we can go and reach that goal (of going international),” said Arsonillo.
There is also a possibility of acquiring mobile units and other kinds of technology for their cassava processing. Some investors are also willing to buy SUGRUVI shares, prompting Arsonillo to turn the organization into a corporation.
“We waited for a long time but we didn’t think expect that it will this worth it,” she ended.
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