SGV Foundation launched its Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines last February, and stopped over in Davao last March 26 for the local launching of the program.
The Entrepreneur of the Year program, launched by Ernst & Young in 1986, is now on its 13th year in the country since being launched here by SGV in 2003.
Ms. Marlu L. Balmaceda, Entrepreneur of the Year Program Manager, spoke during the launching to discuss the developments in entrepreneurship over the years.
First, she discussed the rise of opportunity-driven entrepreneurs, where “entrepreneurs in developing countries will start moving to opportunity from necessity.” An example of this, as Balmaceda shared, is the rise of “frugal innovation,” where consumers begin to patronize unbranded products by smaller entrepreneurs more than name-brand products.
She also shared how the roles of young people and women in entrepreneurship have been bolstered in the past few years. Younger people have to allot less for capital and have a larger market nowadays, she said. Her presentation also showed that around 126 million women are launching new businesses in various economies in the world.
Lastly, Balmaceda mentioned how the rise of alternative funding has changed the face of entrepreneurship as well, allowing more access to capital. She shared that microfinance is one of the sources of alternative funding, and that the World Bank is projecting crowdfunding in developing markets to rise to $95 billion in 2025.
This year, there are four award categories, namely; Master Entrepreneur, Small Business Entrepreneur, Woman Entrepreneur and Young Entrepreneur. Of the four winners to be announced in October, one will be selected to be the Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines 2015 and will go on to represent the nation in the 2016 World Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Monte Carlo, Monaco in June of next year.
Only Filipino business owners or founders who are still active in a business operating for at least two years are eligible. To be nominated, a nomination form and an audited financial statement among other documents must be submitted for judging. To request a copy of a nomination form and further details, e-mail the Entrepreneur of the Year secretariat at eoy.info@ph.ey.com. Nominations will be accepted until May 31.