PBSP calls for entries to BID contest

PBSP calls for entries to BID contest
News Today Online
October 4, 2010

The Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) is calling on individuals who have new and innovative ideas on how to achieve poverty reduction while gaining profit to join its annual competition.

Dubbed Business in Development (BiD) Challenge Philippines, the competition aims to generate business plans that are geared toward hitting poverty reduction and reaping profit at the same time.

Donna Cariño, BiD Challenge Philippines program officer, said the project is an enterprising concept that seeks to harmonize profit with development.

It is a poverty reduction program which encourages the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as a means to spur economic activities in marginalized communities of developing countries. This concept took root in The Netherlands as a means to promote its commitment to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“Viable ideas are matched with potential investors,” she said.

First launched in Manila in September 2006 through the PBSP, BiD Challenge Philippines was the first to host its own BiD Network with the support and participation of local partners. It has produced international winners over the years and has extended P20 million worth of financing in the form of loans and grants to local BiD entrepreneurs.