Learning, Growth, and Opportunities: The SFS Year 3 Experience
2022 marks the third year of partnership between Mano Amiga Philippines and Unilever Philippines and Shopee to provide local entrepreneurs with business skills training and financial support to grow and scale up their businesses.
Through a hybrid setup, the program was able to onboard 20 entrepreneurs representing 17 businesses from different cities and provinces all over the Philippines. With online sessions being more flexible in terms of capacity and schedule, some participants were able to maximize it by participating along with their business partners. While the onsite workshops provided the participants with a richer understanding of the topics and an opportunity to network with fellow entrepreneurs.
The SFS Year 3 Cohort ranges from food to unique handicrafts, each having its own advocacy from creating an art space for coffee lovers, creating recycled products and livelihood for their community, to innovating farm produce through technology.
Two business skills topics - cash flow management and branding and customer insight - were tackled through training and mentorship sessions from October to December 2022. The participants shared how the sessions helped them revisit and evaluate their financial processes and branding strategy. We look forward to the remaining sessions in the coming months with inspiring people in the field.
There have been a lot of ups and downs for our business since joining. I think our learnings have definitely helped planning or business in a deeper way, compared to when we started. We also have grown especially in terms of financial literacy and management of the company. Since joining we've been more aware and also more discerning about the opportunities that come our way, which I think has helped us a lot and will help in the future. - Dayoung Ko, The Postcardmakers
“The past Ber months have been exciting and busy for us, more than the past years. Especially with the funding, it has helped us be able to cope more with our inventory needs. ”
