by Jenecca Lois D. Medina and JP P. Achacoso
Mr. Constantino A. Brasileño and Ms. June Pearl P. Achacoso, both fourth year students from the Department of Marketing, were hailed as one of the top 5 winners of the BPI Sinag U Challenge held on November 29, 2016. Together with their mentor, Prof. Pamela F. Resurreccion, they represented MSU-IIT in the final pitch that took place at the BPI Head Office. The winners will receive a seed fund of Php 100,000 and mentoring sessions from the Ateneo Center for Social Entrepreneurship (ACSEnt). Along with MSU-IIT, the other winners were from AdMU, UP Diliman, UP Visayas, and Saint Louis University.
The BPI Sinag Challenge aims to discover, capacitate, recognize, and support young social entrepreneurs who can help uplift communities. Their support includes grants, mentoring, and access to finance. This year, they widened the reach and deepened the impact through two categories: The BPI Sinag U targeted at student entrepreneurs, and BPI Sinag Accelerate targeted social entrepreneurs of up to 45 years old, whose enterprises are ready to scale-up and expand, while deepening their impact in community development.
Other competitors in the challenge included Ateneo de Manila University, Ateneo de Naga University, Ateneo de Davao University, Saint Louis University, St. Paul University Manila, St. Paul University Dumaguete, University of St. Lasalle, University of San Carlos, University of the Philippines Diliman, University of the Philippines Visayas, and University of Southeastern Philippines.
When asked for a statement on winning the BPI Sinag U Challenge, Mr. Brasileno and Ms. Achacoso said that the sleepless nights during the bootcamps to improve their business model had paid off as they feel immensely blessed and overwhelmed with the victory. Both expressed their happiness over the opportunity to represent MSU-IIT and the Department of Marketing. They hope that someday Knapp, their business’ name, will be introduced to the market and improve consumers’ lives.