Photo courtesy of PRESENT Coalition
FSSI joined the National Social Entrepreneurship Conference 2025, held on April 29 to 30, 2025, at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, and themed “Scaling Change: Advances of Social Enterprises in Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development.” This conference brought together social enterprises, support institutions, advocates, and partners to explore how social impact could be scaled and collaboration strengthened.
The conference provided a valuable space for meaningful dialogue, exchange of ideas, and sharing of best practices among social enterprises, government officials, sector enablers, industry leaders, and community advocates.
Photo courtesy of Oxfam Pilipinas
One of the plenary sessions centered on the launching of the Social Enterprise Profiling Report, an important step in understanding where the social enterprise sector stands.
The report was based on a profiling survey conducted with the participation of 204 social enterprises (SEs), including MSMEs, cooperatives, and NGOs that aligned with the defined criteria for SEs, providing valuable insights into the state of social enterprises. FSSI’s partners were among those who contributed to the survey. FSSI, as a member of the Policy Advocacy Working Group of the PRESENT Coalition, contributed to overseeing the development of the report, which was intended to serve as a foundational tool for advancing the sector’s growth and policy advocacy.
Dr. Lisa Dacanay, President of The Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA) and Convenor of the Poverty Reduction Through Social Entrepreneurship Coalition, Ms. Melanie Cabotaje of the UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries, and Mr. Sixto Donato Macasaet, Executive Director of FSSI, spoke during the launch.
Mr. Macasaet talked about the state of enterprises in the country, noting that out of the 1.25 million registered with the DTI, the great majority (90%) are micro and about 9% are small. He pointed out that, in contrast, the SE profile showed that only 34% of social enterprises are micro, and 30% of them are small, 16% medium, and 19% large enterprises. He said that this seems to show that SEs are generally “in a better position in terms of financial sustainability and growth,” which is encouraging.
However, he also emphasized that “we recognize the challenges they face,” particularly in terms of leadership and management. Drawing from FSSI’s experience, he shared that, “Among the enterprises who struggled to pay back their loans, we found that the top reason was problems with leadership and management”. To address this, he stressed the importance of strengthening internal governance and investing in leadership development, key steps that can help enterprises become more resilient and sustainable in the long run.
Throughout the sessions, it was demonstrated that cross-sector collaboration was essential to scaling impact and accelerating progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The conversations echoed FSSI’s experience that social enterprises thrive when the ecosystems around them are strong, inclusive, and enabling.
The morning plenary on Day 1 explored how social enterprises are scaling up their work while staying rooted in the communities they serve. Engr. Sylvia Paraguya, CEO of the NATCCO Network, shared the stories of two social enterprises, including the Lourdes Multipurpose Cooperative in Oriental Mindoro, a social enterprise partner of FSSI through the Investing in Women (IW) co-investment project with NATCCO. Her presentation emphasized how values-based partnerships enable social enterprises to remain community-centered while expanding their reach.
In one of the afternoon breakout sessions focused on measuring social impact and fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships, Mr. Guillermo Bacsa, General Manager of Kilusang Lima para sa Lahat Multi-Purpose Cooperative (K5 COOP), another FSSI social enterprise partner, shared how their cooperative uses impact measurement tools to strengthen accountability, improve services, and assess the quality of life improvements among their members. He emphasized that this approach is deeply tied to their cooperative’s values and commitment to sustainable development.
The afternoon panel on Day 2 delved into the realities of growing a social enterprise, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities in scaling impact-driven organizations. Dr. Virginia Juan, CEO of APPEND Inc. and a panelist in the session, reflected on the importance of staying grounded in values amidst adversity. “There are many challenges, but our values are what keep us going,” she shared. APPEND is a member organization of FSSI, further exemplifying how mission-aligned networks contribute to the resilience and growth of the social enterprise sector.
Congratulations to the NSEC 2025 organizers: the Ateneo Center for Social Entrepreneurship, the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA), and the UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries and Poverty Reduction Through Social Entrepreneurship Coalition.
