Thursday, November 06, 2008 SGV urges Davao bizmen to support EOY program By Joy Romares-Sevilla
THE SGV (Sycip, Gorez, Velayo) Foundation, the founder of the Entrepreneur of The Year (EOY) Program in the Philippines, is encouraging qualified entrepreneurs in Mindanao, particularly in Davao City, to get nominated for the most prestigious award for entrepreneurs not only in the country, but in the world.
Maria Balmaceda, program manager of the Entrepreneur of the Year and head of communications and marketing of the SGV Foundation, said during Wednesday's edition of the Club 888 press forum that only a few entrepreneurs from Mindanao were nominated for the past six years that the foundation has initiated such program.
"We are here in this part of the country to encourage more entrepreneurs to get nominated. Majority of our nominees came from Luzon and from Cebu and we only get two or three nominations from Mindanao every year," Balmaceda said.
She further said that the total nominations they are getting each year are an average of 50 nominations.
"There is no money prize involved in this search, but it will give prestige to the winner because he or she will be recognized around the world. Also, our winners in the past were able to have networking access in different places," Balmaceda said.
"The main objective of this program is to inspire and encourage young people to consider entrepreneurship as a profession," she added.
She also asserted that the winner of the Entrepreneurship of The Year Award will represent the country in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 in Monte Carlo next year wherein 135 cities will participate, spanning 47 countries and six continents.
"This year's theme is Dare To Dream because our past finalists and winners have this common idea, saying that they just started to dream," Balmaceda said.
She revealed that in the past years, an entrepreneur from Mindanao, specifically from General Santos City, Rodolfo Rivera of the RD Group of Companies, has won the national Entrepreneurship of the Year Award.
She said most of the finalists and winners of the national award for the past years, who came from Mindanao, are mostly from General Santos City.
The Entrepreneurship of the Year Award has five basic categories, namely: master entrepreneur, who has maintained management of excellence over a sustained period of time for at least five years; the small business entrepreneur, whose total assets inclusive of those arising from loans, is not more than P100 million; the industry specific entrepreneur, who is associated with manufacturing; the woman entrepreneur, who has shown exemplary management over a sustained period of time; and the social entrepreneur, who has applied a practical innovative and market-oriented approach to his/her business.
"The social entrepreneur should also have created production and services that address the challenges faced by communities," Balmaceda said.
Balmaceda added that the nominations have started on September 2008. The judging of the nominees will be on January 2009, while on February will be the announcement of finalists.
"The tentative date for the awards banquet is on March 19, 2009 while the World Entrepreneur of the Year will be held in May in Monte Carlo," Balmaceda concluded.
