Entrepreneurs’
Organization – Philippine chapter partners with Gawad Kalinga
The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) recently extended a
helping hand in an effort to not only pursue best business practices in the
country, but to also have a hand in caring for our communities. The members of
the EO Philippines chapter members, along with their family and staff, engaged
in corporate social responsibility initiatives through the assistance of Gawad
Kalinga Community Development Foundation. EO is a dynamic global network of
8,000 business owners in over 40 countries that invites learning and
professional growth through an assembly of highly-experienced entrepreneurs.
Through this partnership with Gawad Kalinga, EO was able to employ true
entrepreneurial spirit by extending their strengths to assist the less
fortunate.
Along with their nearest and dearest, EO members applied
themselves in construction under the hot sun at the marginalized community of
Manggahan-Kawayan in Marcelo Green Village, Parañaque. Extending themselves out
of their air-conditioned offices and away from the cloak of wifi signals. the
entrepreneurs showed true backbone and helped push the country forward –
figuratively and literally.
By engaging in a social responsibility initiative, EO
brought to the community’s residents a touch of their own entrepreneurial
spirit. Says Manny Ayala, EO Philippine chapter president, the EO objective is
to encourage the residents to build the houses themselves. “The residents will
contribute their sweat equity; that way, they will learn to value their homes
even more,” he states. “This objective is further realized by our partnership
with Gawad Kalinga.”
EO has committed to deliver fifty houses to the Gawad Kalinga
community. Thanks to their recent hard work, forty houses have been completed;
construction is currently under way for eight more houses, with the remaining
balance to be delivered by the end of the month.
This endeavor is a continuous process, one that encourages
the members of the organization to extend their hands through corporate social
responsibility – a business trend that is quickly becoming the norm in
conscientious companies and organizations around the world. EO hosts a build
every three months. Ironically enough, raising funds has not been difficult –
as would be expected from a business-related entrepreneurial group of people –
but building houses has posed a major challenge. “Constructing homes is no
joke,” chuckles Ayala. “We actually had to demolish old homes and build new
ones in their place.” EO members and forum groups went back to the basics and
willingly escaped their comfort zones by mixing cement, shoveling, carrying
hollow blocks, bending steel, cementing walls and floors and even painting the
finished products.
On this, their 16th year as an organization in
the country, EO feels that their partnership with Gawad Kalinga is so much more
momentous. “We’re not just building the physical houses,” expresses Ayala.
“We’re building a better community and a brighter future for all involved.”
Aside from helping the needful, EO came together as a group and experienced
growth as a business community itself. It appears that more than just houses
were cemented in this mutually beneficial partnership.
No comments:
Post a Comment