Phl entrepreneurs triumph in biz challenge competition

MANILA, Philippines - An entrepreneur from the Southern Philippines has won the 2010 international Business in Development (BiD) Women in Business Challenge in the Netherlands.

Nathalie Arsonillo of Quezon town, Bukidnon province bested two finalists from Uganda and two from Peru for her entry in the global online business plan competition for women entrepreneurs who have made a difference in combining profit and helping reduce poverty in the world’s developing nations.

The Mobile Cassava Processing Unit or “Factory Goes to the Farmer” aims to provide higher income to cassava farmers in Bukidnon by giving them access to better processing facilities right at their doorsteps.

As head of the Bukidnon-based Sustainable Growth for Rural Venture Inc. (SUGRUVI), an assembly of local cassava farmers, Arsonillo has helped consolidate and process their dry cassava chips into granules before being delivered as animal feeds to San Miguel Foods.

After the BiD Women in Business competition last June 9, another Filipina from Mindanao and a young gentleman from Metro Manila will compete in the separate international BiD Challenge in Colombia in September.

With her coconut sugar product called Healthy Sweets, Betty Marfil-More of Panabo City, Davao del Norte will compete in Bogota, Colombia, together with Kevin Paolo Hernandez of Cubao, Quezon City and his cogon grass furniture items branded as Woven Hope.

Annemarie van Mossel, coordinator of advisory services for the Dutch BiD Network, confirmed Arsonillo’s victory, as well as her prize worth €5,000 from UnitedSuccess, the worldwide network for business women owners.

Sanjiv Vohra, Citibank country officer in the Philippines, earlier noted “social innovators who are using communities as laboratories to create novel and sustainable ways in alleviating poverty.” The BiD Challenge participants had used their “creativity and ability to come up with innovative solutions to the many problems” facing the world, Vohra said, adding that the Citi Foundation, as lead underwriter of the BiD competition, viewed enterprise development as a key advocacy for poverty alleviation.