PBSP accepts entries to online business plan tilt

PBSP accepts entries to online business plan tilt
Cebu Daily News
October 16, 2010

The Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) invites individuals with innovative business ideas to submit their proposals for the Business in Development (BiD) Challenge Philippines for 2010.

The winners of the competition will be exposed to an international network of investors, experts and business partners; receive professional feedback and assistance from business coaches; and win prize money that they can use as capital for their business ideas.

The BiD Challenge is an annual international online business plan competition with participants from Africa to Latin America promoting poverty reduction through enterprise development. It aims to stimulate and support business ideas that combine profit with the improvement of living standards in the country and boost private sector development in the country by creating a platform where entrepreneurs and investors meet and interact with business executives and corporate professionals.

Participants of the BiD Challenge can receive assistance in developing solid, bankable and complete business plans as well as get exposure to a network of local and international financiers, investors and other business contacts.

Investors, on the other hand, get exclusive access to quality small and medium-sized business plans in need of financing, while companies and non-government organizations get the opportunity to share their competence and expertise with local entrepreneurs.

Interested participants should have business financing needs equivalent to between US $10,000 and $1 million to qualify in the competition. Their respective businesses should also be profitable within the next three years, with growth potential in employees and sales of more than 30 percent per annum.

Ten of the winners will receive a start-up capital, while the top two contenders will be sent overseas to join the International BiD competition.

The Dutch Nationale Commissie voor Internationale Samenwerking en Duurzame Ontwikkeling or the National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development initiated the BiD Challenge in 2005. The Philippines is the only country in Asia actively participating in the BiD Challenge, with the PBSP as the local organizer of the competition since 2007.

Last year, the competition attracted more than 80 entries nationwide with winning entries including Rags2Riches, which specialized in transforming scrap fabric into bags from the designs of renowned Filipino designers Rajo Laurel and Amina Aranaz.

Participants may submit their business plans until Oct. 30 through the BiD website at www.bidnetwork.org.

For more inquiries, please e-mail at donnapcarino@yahoo.com.