Plastic Smart Cities bootcamp Sprints kick off after selecting participating impact enterprises
Asia Society Philippines Fellows support entrepreneurs innovating on solutions to the plastic waste problem
WWF Philippines, The Incubation Network, xchange, and make sense have partnered to support entrepreneurs innovating on solutions to the plastic waste problem as part of the WWF Plastic Smart Cities initiative through bootcamp, an incubation program designed by xchange. Over five months, from April to August this year, the entrepreneurs will learn from experts in innovation and systems thinking, strategic planning, marketing and branding, behavioral science, gender, inclusivity, and diversity, and the circular economy. The entrepreneurs will go through a rigorous process including classes, learning by doing workshops, interactions with ecosystem leaders in a safe space that will allow them to gain knowledge and skills, reflect, and build relationships with other stakeholders to help them establish their business and prepare them for investment readiness.
Lead program designer and convener Love Gregorie M. Perez is a Director at xchange and a Fellow Class of 2008. Greg will also conduct workshops on gender, inclusivity, and diversity, as well as basic financial analysis. Aside from Greg, Cecile Dominguez-Yujuico, CEO and Founder of Evident and a Fellow Class of 2009 is also part of the incubation program. Cecile delivered a masterclass on Marketing and Branding strategies, and delivered a workshop on Brand key and customer persona development and marketing goal setting.
METRO MANILA 9 June 2021 – After undergoing a 60-day challenge to achieve milestones, five enterprises presented their accomplishments, challenges, learnings, and next steps to a selection panel last May 31. Panelists from xchange, Villgro Philippines, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines, The Incubation Network, and makesense assessed the entrepreneurs’ progress, learning agility, entrepreneurial mindset, and commitment to determine which of the entrepreneurs would go through to the Sprints stage of bootcamp.
We are proud to announce that all five enterprises Ato Ani Biopack, AUDEO, Cloop, Nanolabs, and Salin PH will continue on for the next three months until August 2021. Ato Ani Biopack is developing packaging made from agricultural waste to replace single-use plastic packaging. AUDEO is creating a trading ecosystem for sustainable community projects, anchored on an ecobrick that is earth-friendly and budget-friendly. Cloop transforms and upcycles plastic waste into high value home and garden items. Nanolabs is a nanotechnology enterprise that is developing various nanotechnology applications with the use of plastic waste. Salin PH aims to reduce packaging waste by offering accessible and fair-priced refills for everyday products and providing SMEs with an easy to adopt system to transition to sustainable packaging materials. The founders and entrepreneurs that will go through the Sprints stage of bootcamp are Maria Wilvenna Anora of Ato Ani Biopack, Danielle Ralleca and Michael Garcia of AUDEO, Ric Alendayu and Alexis Glenn Espina of Cloop. Ryan Corpuz of Nanolabs, and Krishia Ellis, Donna Formalejo, and JM Dumdum of Salin PH.
According to Danielle Ralleca about the 60 Day Challenge, “Being a part of the xchange bootcamp has been a game changer for us. In the past 60 days we laid out a set plan with them, which has allowed us to rethink our business model and identify key factors we were unable to see before.” And from Ric Alindayu about the Sprints phase “We at Cloop are very honored to be part of the Sprint stage of the bootcamp. It has been a very meaningful 60 days and we can’t wait to achieve more in the next 90 days.”
The Sprints consist of 9 modules on innovation, systems thinking, the entrepreneurial mindset, strategy, marketing and communications, stakeholder management, behavioral change, the circular economy, gender, diversity, and inclusivity, the basics of doing business in the Philippines, finance and accounting, and designing a pilot. In addition to the masterclasses and workshops, each Sprint will have an ecosystem event. The first one was held on 8 June 2021. It was a webinar on An Ecosystem Approach to Solving for Plastic Waste - Perspectives from government, NGO, funding, and corporate sectors. The webinar brought different stakeholders together to start a conversation on what it will take to end plastic pollution. The speakers highlighted the different levers to address the plastic waste problem to spark ideas, questions, and actions around collaborating with other sectors.
About Plastic Smart Cities
Plastic Smart Cities is a WWF initiative working with cities worldwide to keep plastic out of nature. Since 2018, the initiative supports cities and coastal centres that are taking bold action to stop plastic pollution. WWF is working with 25 pilot cities to achieve a 30% reduction in plastic leakage by 2025, through better waste management and advancing circular economy. Together, we aim to achieve 1000 plastic-smart cities globally to join this movement by 2030. For more information, visit plasticsmartcities.org
About the Partners
WWF-Philippines
WWF-Philippines has been working as a national organization of the WWF network since 1997. As the 26th national organization in the network, WWF-PH has successfully been implementing various conservation projects to help protect some of the most biologically-significant ecosystems in Asia. WWF-Philippines works to improve Filipino lives by crafting solutions to climate change, providing sustainable livelihood programs, and conserving the country's richest marine and land habitats. To know more about WWF-Philippines and the ‘No Plastics in Nature’ Initiative, visit https://wwf.org.ph/what-we-do/plastics/
The Incubation Network
The Incubation Network is an impact-driven initiative that sources, supports and scales holistic innovative solutions to combat plastic pollution through strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems with a diverse network of key partners. Part of a highly collaborative community of investors, innovators, partners and programs, The Incubation Network works together with industry players to tackle key barriers to address plastic leakage and advance a circular economy. This includes sourcing and supporting, to scaling early stage or pre-investment solutions, and connecting compatible ecosystem players to reinforce the value chain in waste management and recycling. Established in 2019, The Incubation Network is a partnership between non-profit organization, The Circulate Initiative and impact innovation company, SecondMuse. The Incubation Network is open to interested collaborators, corporations, and mentors, looking to address plastic leakage and advance a circular economy in South & Southeast Asia. For more information, visit: www.incubationnetwork.com
About make sense
makesense is a global, people-powered community that supports engaged citizens, passionate entrepreneurs and forward-looking organizations to collectively tackle social issues. For more information, visit http://philippines.makesense.org/
About xchange
xchange is an impact-first, active investor in early-stage impact enterprises in the Philippines, providing risk capital and intensive incubation support to organizations whose core mission is the creation of value for marginalized communities in the Philippines. Their mission is to assist in the emergence of an entrepreneurial impact ecosystem in the Philippines. Their goal is to multiply the change that impact enterprises achieve, by helping them reach sustainability and scale in the shortest possible time. For more information, visit https://xchange.ph/