Social Enterprises

There has been a surge in the establishment of social enterprises in recent years, with everyone clamoring to contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. As a group, our first attempt to find a social enterprise did not prosper as the company was not responsive to our request. Nonetheless, we found luck with our second one, who enthusiastically granted us an opportunity to communicate directly with them. 

Twelve Topaz, owned and founded by the very kind Izza Arnaez, creates banig accessories and products in their effort to sustain the banig-weaving industry at Libertad, Antique. We initially found the social enterprise via Lasallian Social Enterprise for Economic Development (LSEED), the flagship social entrepreneurship and social innovation arm of De La Salle University-Manila. Consequently, we contacted the enterprise via email, and they are eager to accommodate our request for an interview. Immediately after, we scheduled a synchronous Zoom interview with her last February 15, 2024, to get her insights for our team’s AIM2FLOURISH project. 

Ms. Izza is superb to communicate with. My general impression of the entire interview is that I could feel her passion for the social enterprise she founded and her care for the people she works with. Considering that Twelve Topaz rides on the service that banig weavers do, I believe these are essential to ensuring that the social enterprise strives for a long time. She also shared with us what prompted her to start the social enterprise in the first place, and she attributes this to wanting to create green products while simultaneously addressing the issues of poverty reduction and different social inequalities.

Given that, I had the opportunity to talk to her directly during our interview. She did not explicitly state it as such, but she emphasized the basic tenets of social entrepreneurship during our exchange–their community is not simply the beneficiary of the social enterprise, but they are considered partners that help the company achieve its goals and run its day-to-day operations. I agree that it is highly crucial that any social enterprise founder/s collaborate with their partner communities as they communicate what both parties need from each other.

Conclusively, I deeply admire and appreciate Ms. Izza’s bravery in beginning a social enterprise. It is a massive leap from the usual profit start-ups established by young people. There is a common connotation that there is not much profit with social enterprise, but I disagree. Sure, it might be more difficult to generate revenues by adding socially impactful goals on top of profitability. Still, social enterprises actually need to be profitable to survive and thrive. I learned that having a social enterprise is quite a tall order as it must balance having to profit and ensuring a lasting, sustainable social impact in the long run. Furthermore, I believe that it is important that social enterprises be differentiated from the corporate social responsibility undertaken by large corporations. I hope that during one of my academic internships as an Applied Corporate Management student, I get to have an opportunity to work with a social enterprise that aligns with values of my own while also honing my skills with them. 

#GoingGreen #ACMSUST

Sophia Isabel S. Cauilan

Posted February 23, 2024