Due to popular demand, continued and warm acceptance of the L.E.D. contest, the “search” is being extended until March 15, 2010.

Filipinos have more time to take advantage of the one-of-a-kind contest that can give you up to P100, 000 worth of cash and Brother Printer.

The contest began on December 1, 2009 and was originally scheduled to end last Monday, February 22, 2010.

If you think you have what it takes, put on your thinking hat and discover the unique business idea that may change your life.  Simply register by logging to www.brother.com.ph and email completed forms to uniquebiz@groovecom.ph or brotherph@yahoo.com.  The contest is open to individuals or teams with up to four (4) members.   An email confirming receipt of application and entry will be sent to all participants.

Participants are required to submit a written business brief in general terms, with a description of the business idea, its market, the competition and competitive advantages. Specific market and financial forecasts are not required, although participants should have a basic idea of the level of financing they would need to start their business.

The winner for the L.E.D. Search for Unique Business Concept will be announced on March 22, 2010, Monday through www.brother.com.ph.

I AM A CHANGEMAKER

Social Enterprise business plan competition

Got a groundbreaking idea to improve lives in your community?
Win 100K to implement it.

The British Council is looking for young Filipino social entrepreneurs who have brilliant ideas and innovative solutions to address social problems in the community.

If you are 16 to 28 years old, you can submit your idea and get a chance to win Php 100,000 seed capital to turn that idea into a reality.

Four winners would be awarded Php100K each for the best social enterprise idea that best meets our criteria.

To join, you need to submit an application form and a social enterprise venture proposal. Forms and other important documents can be downloaded from the British Council website.

Visit www.britishcouncil.org.ph for more details or e-mail changemaker@britishcouncil.org.ph for inquiries.

Deadline for submission of applications is on April 15, 2010 at 5:00 PM.

Announcement of finalists is on April 30, 2010.

Culture of Personal Excellence

by Francis J. Kong

March 3, 2010 at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia Complex

What separates you from who you are and the best that you can be? Excellence.

Many have an idea of what it is while others know of people who seem to have it. Very few however actually live and breathe it.
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Life Enriching Discoveries

Life Enriching Discoveries (L.E.D) is an entrepreneurship contest by Brother International Philippines Corp that aims to encourage Filipinos to come up with their unique business ideas or concepts.

Pitch your business idea or concepts and get a chance to win one hundred thousand pesos (PhP 100,000) worth of cash and Brother printer as your start-up capital, courtesy  of Brother Philippines.

Who may join?

In order to join the contest, participants must be Filipinos aged 18 and above, are residents of Metro Manila.  The contest is open to individual or teams with up to four (4) members.

Entry Requirements

Simply download the registration form at www.brother.com.ph and email completed forms at uniquebiz@groovecom.ph or brotherph@yahoo.com. An email confirming receipt of registration will be sent to all those who joined.

Submission Requirements

The contest requires a written business brief in general terms and should outline the business idea, the market, the competition, and competitive advantages.  Specific market and financial forecasts are not required, although participants should have a basic idea of the level of financing they would need to start their business.  Concepts are evaluated on their viability and feasibility in the current marketplace.

Download the business plan template at www.brother.com.ph.

Participating entries must be submitted to GrooveCom via uniquebiz@groovecom.ph or  brotherph@yahoo.com. An email confirming receipt of entry will be sent to all participants.

Submission of entries will be from December 1, 2009 to February 22, 2009.

Announcement of L.E.D. Unique Business Idea/Concept winner will be on March 9, 2010.

Searching for talented teenagers
Do you know a talented student aged 16 to 19 years old, keen on natural sciences, mathematics and technology? Would she or he be interested to participate in an international science camp arranged in Finland in June 2010? If the answer is yes, it is time to send an application to the Millennium Youth Camp.

Nokia is one of the corporate partners of the camp arranged by Technology Academy, the national LUMA centre, the Centre for School Clubs, and the Finnish Ministry of Education. “Nokia thinks it is important that Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST) are put into focus at schools and this high level camp is an excellent way for Finland to profile itself as a MST friendly nation”, says Ida Andersson from Nokia Corporate Relations & Responsibility.
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PSI Success Leadership Seminars

The first step in building your own business is “Self Mastery”.  Make that move to mastering your self with the PSI Success Leadership Seminars. 

PSI stands for Purposeful Stewardship Institute Inc.  PSI has been awakening leaders since 1986 by facilitating breakthroughs in peoples lives that lead to abundance.  Manifest that dream business by mastering the manifestor in you! 

Call PSI at 897 09 00 or 896 09 38 or visit www.psileadership.org.

Schedule of PSI Basic Seminars are:

Batch 234 — Jan 7-10
Batch 235 — Feb 11-14
Batch 236 — Mar 10-14
Batch 237 — Apr 22-25
Batch 238 — May 27-30
Batch 239 — Jul 1-4
Batch 240 — Aug 5-8
Batch 241 — Sep 9-12
Batch 242 — Oct 14-17
Batch 243 — Nov 18-21

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Philippines Takes Center Stage Hosting International Mobile Money Transfer Conference

The Philippines has the “most acclaimed and mature” mobile money programs in the world; thus, there could be no better place in the world to hold a conference of international mobile money technology (MMT) leaders. This was according to the organizers of the Asia Pacific Mobile Money Transfer Conference to be held in Manila this December.

The world’s pioneer in mobile phone banking, the Philippines has one of the most organized, sophisticated and successful mobile money systems in the world. With over PhP 13 Billion worth of mobile money transactions each month, the Philippines exhibits outstanding performance in terms of effective use of mobile phones, mobile money and mobile phone banking services.

Through the years, MMT has been revolutionizing the flow and management of money worldwide, giving new definitions to bills payment, management of payrolls, and person-to-person mobile money transfers. Experts forecast that by 2013, mobile money will be worth about $ 202 billion, of which 60% will be from the Asia-Pacific and Far East regions.

In the Philippines, mobile money technology has allowed the unbanked sector to have convenient and affordable access to banks’ financial services. Industry leaders estimate that about 364 million more people in the developing world without access to financial services will be using mobile money and mobile phone banking services by 2012. With the high cost of transportation and traditional money-sending, mobile money provides an excellent alternative to the Philippines’ money-sending (and receiving) population.

The Philippines, through telecommunication giant Smart Communications and its Smart Money platform, has been using mobile money for over ten years—one of the longest running in the world.  This was followed in 2004 by Globe Telecom’s GCASH platform.

From its inception, the country’s mobile money industry continues to enjoy extensive growth in the number of users and mobile money transactions, thanks in part to the rural banking industry. Initiated by the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program supported by USAID/Philippines, the work on mobile phone banking services for rural banks and their customers began in the Philippines by utilizing the GCASH platform back in 2004. Through this technology, rural bank clients have been able to convert cash into mobile money and conduct transactions like deposits, withdrawals, remittances, bill payments, loan payments, and salary administration simply through SMS (short message service) or text messaging. Accredited rural banks are already serving over 100,000 mobile phone banking clients using GCASH and are currently pilot testing the use of Smart Money Services.

Based on the Philippines’ success as a pioneer and leader in the mobile money industry, the first ever MMT Conference and Expo for Asia and the Pacific will be held in Manila on December 8 and 9 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. The MMT Asia Pacific Conference will gather some of the most important mobile money industry leaders from various countries, along with banks, mobile network operators, and regulators.  The MMT Asia-Pacific (MMT) Conference and Expo follows a tradition of MMT conferences, including the first MMT Summit held in Dubai in 2008, which hosted over 270 delegates from 44 countries around the world. MMT Africa was another such event, which gathered more than 250 project leaders, as well as the 2nd MMT Summit held in Dubai on October 26 and 27, 2009 which hosted more than 270 senior-level delegates.

The MMT Asia Pacific conference will feature presentations from leaders in mobile money, mobile technology and finance institutions, including Abhishek Sinha, CEO and co-founder of Indian financial service provider, EKO; Gregg Marshall, senior vice president of Singapore-based mobile wallet developer, Utiba; Bin Zhang, general manager of China Mobile and China UnionPay joint venture, Union Mobile Pay; Naushad Contractor, Marketing Mobile Commerce Head of Indian cellular operator, Vodafone Essay; and Reyhan, Head of Commerce at Indonesian cellular telecommunications company, Telkomsel. One of the key presenters would be Carol Realini, CEO of Obopay–world leader in global mobile payments and financial services based in the United States.

The conference will also host other leaders in the MMT industry, including the M-Pesa Head Pauline Vaughan, Citi Head of e-business Melissa Henson, Smart Communications President and CEO Napoleon Nazareno, Globe Telecom President Ernest Cu, President and CEO of Globe Telecom, Group Head, Financial Services, Smart Communications, Jojo Malolos, and G-Xchange Inc. President Rizza Maniego-Eala among others.

For more on the upcoming conference, visit http://www.mobile-money-transfer.com/apac or contact Sonum Puri (event organizer) at Sonum.Puri@clarionevents.com.

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Enhancing Education with Gender Equality and Development

April 27 - May 1, 2009
Miriam College, Katipunan Road, Diliman, Quezon City

PhP 6,000 (inclusive of kit, meals of 1 lunch and 2 snacks per day)

The Women and Gender Institute (WAGI) of Miriam College is a specialized center for advocacy that promotes women’s human rights and gender equality in education, research and development. WAGI conducts regular summer courses on Internaitonal Women’s Human Rights, Gender Fair Education, Summer Institute on Migration, and Feminist Economics.

This year, WAGI will hold its 4th Summer Training for Gender Fair Education which primarily aims to equip our educators — teachers, GAD focal persons, gender advocates, and professional staff — with the knowledge and skills needed to implement the government’s Framework Plan for Women. Moreover, it is aligned with our country’s commitment to attain the Millennium Development Goals, specifically  universal primary education and gender equality and empowerment of women.

This year’s Summer Training focuses on:

* International Instruments and Gender Fair Educaiton
* Gender Mainstreaming in Education
* Gender in the Teaching-Learning Process
* Gender Socializtion in Educational System
* Eliminating Gender Stereotypes in Instructional Materials
* Curriculum Integration of Gender Fair Education

For inquiries, please contact:
Ms. Ellen Guanzon
Women and Gender Institute (WAGI)
Miriam College
(02) 435-9229 / 5805400 loc 3590

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What is the challenge?

ASEANpreneurs Alpha Challenge
is a scenario-based competition whereby participants are expected to harness the power of media to spread the stories of successful entrepreneurs in ASEAN amongst the region. We believe that these stories, in turn, will inspire the participants and the audience to emulate the success of these ASEANpreneurs.

Basically the competition will consist of two parts either to answer,

A. Is there an Entrepreneur in ASEAN whose story has inspired you?
(prize 1000 singapore dollars)

B. Imagine yourself as the CEO of a start-up in ASEAN that has been established for more than 5 years. Where will you take the company 5 years from now? In this case, they must choose from the start-up companies given in the website.
(prize 2000 singapore dollars)

Teams must consist of four (4) members.

Format would be in digital media like a video (not more than 6 mins) or digital images or comics.

Every team needs to submit their story in digital media form via the online portal (by uploading it in the website) from 1st February to 8th March 2009.

About the Organizers
The ASEANpreneurs Youth Leaders Network (AYLN) is a student organization dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship in the ASEAN region. It serves as a platform for budding student entrepreneurs from ASEAN countries to network, share ideas and knowledge, and to collaborate and learn from each other. Some of the network’s activities include organizing the flagship Leaders Exchange and the upcoming Conference, dissemination of entrepreneurship information, news and initiatives in the form of quarterly newsletters.
 

For more information, visit http://aseanpreneurs.org/program.html

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