Phinma Properties recognized at UN Forum

MANILA, Philippines - As part of the UN General Assembly activities and UNDP programs during the latest UN Week, Philippine companies led by Willie J. Uy, president and CEO of PHINMA Property Holdings Corp. (PPHC), Rapa Lopa, executive director of Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), and Mark Ruiz, president and co-founder of Hapinoy, joined major multinational companies Panasonic Japan, BASF India, Mexican cement manufacturing giant Cemex and Spanish telecom Telefonica in reaffirming its commitments to UNDP’s Business Call to Action (BCtA) Inclusive Business initiatives.

These companies have joined the Business Call to Action leadership platform and have taken concrete steps towards including low-income households in their core business operations as consumers, producers and entrepreneurs. Launched over six years ago at the United Nations, the Business Call to Action (BCtA) challenges companies to develop innovative business models aimed at achieving both commercial success and social development outcomes.

Recognizing that public-private partnerships at the country level play a pivotal role in creating an enabling inclusive business environment, the 2014 BCtA 5th Annual Forum invited leading Philippine private companies to see how building inclusive growth strategies can strengthen progress for low income communities and make meaningful, sustainable impact-building real markets and providing benefits that go beyond job creation to lasting social change.

In his speech at the UNDP’s BCtA Forum Uy, described their socialized housing project, Bistekville II’s success: “Socialized housing in itself is an enticing venture; because it is a PPP (public-private partnership), there is little market risk, it reflects the developer’s social responsibility, requires minimal marketing, and the target market, the ISFs (informal settler families) are provided with not only decent housing but livelihood options as well, making them a stronger market base and a more productive community.”

Ruiz likewise described how he has helped the unemployed, mostly impoverished women of rural and ISF communities which he calls Nanays, start their businesses in an effort to help augment their family’s financial needs. He also shared that through the Hapinoy Mobile Money Hub project, Qualcomm and Hapinoy hopes to help these dedicated Nanays achieve their goals as entrepreneurs, and ultimately, as empowered mothers who can also provide for their families.

Lopa in his BCtA speech said: “In launching the Inclusive Business imperative campaign, we strive to establish public and private partnerships that can help companies harness the power of their core businesses to address the nagging problem of poverty in our country in a more sustainable way. Today, local and national government agencies work with companies like PHINMA Properties and Hapinoy to develop business models that address the last-mile challenges for products and services to meet the needs of BoP (base of the pyramid) communities.”

The 2014 BCtA Forum at the UN General Assembly activities showcased a cross section of large and small member companies who have demonstrated innovative business approaches to meet the challenges of scaling-up while working with markets at the base of the economic pyramid, including adapting to market conditions and building strategic partnerships. The BCtA initiatives challenges the private sector to transform their core businesses to impact the poor while providing the knowledge, measurement capabilities and advocacy to other companies so they can better understand the value of inclusive business.

Uy, whose company is one of the leading Philippine proponents of Inclusive Business, reiterated at the Forum that “Now is the time to spread the truth of inclusive growth and initiate more Inclusive Business ventures to uplift the base of the pyramid, the overlooked, the neglected, the poor and the homeless. Life can be better and with initiatives like these, we will make it better!”