Shore Buddies CEO teaches Social Entrepreneurship in the Philippines
In a collaboration project with the US State Department, the American Councils; Cris Abiva Roxas, the founder and CEO of Brave Story and Malte Niebelschuetz, the Founder and CEO of Shore Buddies created Stitching Stories. Stitching Stories is a 2 day workshop that went down in Manila, Philippines to teach students and local entrepreneurs the 101 of Social Entrepreneurship.
Stitching Stories is a capacity-building program that is designed to empower young entrepreneurs to build, grow, and run a successful and scalable sustainable creative enterprise.
Throughout these 2 day workshops, the participants learned from distinguished mentors in the fields of business, social entrepreneurship, and sustainability. Through collaborative conversations with their peers, they cultivated innovative and impactful ideas.
In this cross-cultural project, the participants gained knowledge from American and Philippine perspectives, giving them the tools to confidently pursue entrepreneurship as they integrate purpose, passion with profit first approach.
Stitching Stories were held in two separate workshop sessions. One was catered towards college students (at least 18 years of age) and directly impacted these students which are taking courses in the creative industry to aspire to become entrepreneurs.
The second cohort was catered towards entrepreneurs from the great Manila area and impacted these young entrepreneurs in the ideation/initial stages of their business, empowering them to build and grow their entrepreneurial endeavors while socially benefiting their communities.
Integrating Purpose, Passion and Profit with Inspiration and Creativity through Social Entrepreneurship
The initial Stitching Stories project took place in Manila, Philippines from June 17-21, 2024 and was a huge success! The project had over 25 participants and encompassed the priority areas of gender equality, social inclusion, trade and economy, and climate change. It contributes to trade and economy by creating livelihood opportunities for the participants, thereby leading to increased economic growth. Stitching Stories contributes to climate change because the workshops will teach the participants to develop innovative solutions with an environmental first approach.
Most of all, it brings significant impact for gender, equality, disability, and social inclusion by empowering marginalized sectors to believe that they too, are capable of making a positive difference in the world.
Check out the highlight video of the project below (4 mins).
A huge thanks to all of our Sponsors which without them, this program would not have been possible. Special thanks to the US Department of State, the American Councils and YSEALI program for the financial sponsorship. Also, a big thanks to the Rotary Satellite Club of Fort Bonifacio for the prize money sponsorship for our pitch competitors and the Rotaract Club of Makati for their leg work and hands on support during the workshops!
