Hapinoy takes two international awards in a month 329.0

Hapinoy, the supply chain innovator for Nanay-owned sari-sari stores, led by Mark Ruiz and Bam Aquino brought new honors home. They took two awards in the space of one month – the first for women’s empowerment and the second for social entrepreneurship. Congratulations!

The first award to Hapinoy on August 24 was given by Project Inspire: Five minutes to change the world comes with a grant of US$25,000. Project Inspire is jointly sponsored by UN Women (Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) and MasterCard.

Hapinoy received the second prize on September 12 at the World Economic Forum Summer Davos in Dalian, China as one of five Asian “Social Entrepreneurs for the year 2011.” This second award is sponsored by the Schwab Foundation.

The Hapinoy Way

When SYNTHESiSt first blogged about Hapinoy way back on June 2010, the tagline on their website was “Ang Tindahan ng Haping Pinoy.

Then, I wrote,

Mark Ruiz and the Hapinoy/MicroVentures (MVI) team, all social entrepreneurs, are mining a rich vein for social enterprise in the inefficient supply chain for consumer goods in the Philippines [by designing a new business model to support mom-and-pop sari-sari store in the Philippines].

Their current website has a new tagline, “Sari-saring possibilities” that reflects new directions beyond supply chain improvements to tech-enabled products.

SYNTHESiST and Hapinoy

SYNTHESiST is happy to have blogged about Hapinoy, a “for profit” social enterprise early on with the following posts:

• Hapinoy – Mark Ruiz Retails Sari Sari Happiness to Filipinos on June 28, 2010
• Hapinoy Prototypes Open Innovation in the Philippines on September 16, 2010

Then, SYNTHESiST recognized the path breaking concept, its opportunities and challenges and the creative social entrepreneurs who innovated it from the ground up as a “for profit” enterprise with a social purpose.

Hapinoy and women’s empowerment

Hapinoy received the award from Project Inspire: Five minutes to change the world for women’s empowerment from its successful track record of helping Nanays, Filipino mothers, improve the livelihood by making a dedicated supply chain that make’s their sari-sari stores more viable.

The choice of women as the lead for livelihood enterprise is well documented especially in the field of microfinance to be more productive and less risky.

One of the leading microfinance social enterprises in the Philippines, CARD-MRI, is a Hapinoy partner.

Hapinoy as leading Asian social entrepreneur

A quote from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship awarding Hapinoy as one of five notable Asian “Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2011:”

Hapinoy is improving the viability and efficiency of the more than 10,000 small “mom-and-pop” stores in the Philippines. It provides business coaching, leadership training, and store branding to women small store owners in remote areas. By aggregating demand and delivering supplies directly, Hapinoy benefits store owners with a 5-15% cost savings plus access to a greater variety of goods, including over-the-counter medicines, mosquito nets and pre-paid phone minutes.

The Hapinoy way affirmed

With triple bottom lines of social enterprises – profit, equity, and sustainability – that they chose for themselves, Mark, Bam and their team certainly set a high bar for themselves.

Awards like these re-affirm the path chosen by “for profit with a social purpose” designed and innovated on by the team. Go, Hapinoy! Go!