By Leila Rispens-Noel
While I was still in the Netherlands, I joined a group of diaspora leaders from all over the world in exploring how diasporas could help alleviate poverty in their countries of origin. We all agreed that creating local jobs is one way of doing it. We have the answer but how to make it happen?
After living for almost 35 years abroad, I spend most of my time now in my own hometown in Bansalan where I am actively promoting social entrepreneurship. This is my story of Xabukid, the social enterprise I set up last year practically from scratch with fervent hope that I could help local people especially unemployed women to engage in meaningful productive activity.
The meeting last April 2017 was by chance or perhaps, a destiny. I went to LBC to deliver a package when I saw rolls of colorful abaca woven cloth lying in a corner. I was told by the LBC manager that those were Bagobo woven cloth. I know. I heard a lot about the woven abaca cloth of the Bagobos but I did not know that they also weave colorful ones and that they are actually woven in our hometown.
The owner of the colorful weaves was momentarily not around. I waited for another 30 minutes and then she came rushing inside the shop. Vivencia Mamites, 53, is a Bagobo-Tagabawa from barangay Bitaug, Bansalan. She told me that she wanted to ship inabal weaves to Manila, but she did not have enough money to pay for the shipping fee, so she needed to borrow money. I could see in her eyes her pride and passion for her products. At that time, I was already looking for additional locally- made products in Bansalan to include in my product line. I was already actively helping the production and marketing of natural soap made by Jellie Dasmariñas and wild raw honey supplied by small honey gatherers but I like to add more products.
I told Vivencia that I am interested to visit her community and meet the other weavers. We shook hands and bade goodbye and when I reached home I cracked my brain figuring out how I can support the weavers. I am aware I only have the passion but lacking in resources to initiate any projects that require funds. I posted on my Facebook timeline about this meeting. Little that I know that the short message opened the doors wider for me to work with the Bagobo-Tagabawa weavers.
On May 24, I received a message from Jennifer Ayok Fernandez, a Bagobo-Tagabawa herself who is working with the cultural office in the Municipality of Bansalan. Jen read my Facebook post and happy to know that someone is interested helping her community. She invited me to attend the tribal meeting to be held the following morning at the Sangguniang Bayan office. She said she will introduce me to their tribal chieftain. I grabbed this opportunity to meet the members of the Tribal Council of Elders to inform them about my intention to explore possibilities to help the Bagobo-Tagabawa weavers in Bitaug. Armed with just enthusiasm and the strong belief that social enterprise is one approach towards economic empowerment of the poor, I met the elders hoping to get their approval.
There were many questions raised during the meeting. What am I planning to do? What specific thing can I offer? How will I do it? I answered that for now I really don’t know since I need to meet the weavers first. I need to talk to the weavers and find out what their needs are and then I can size up what I can do and if I could. WIMLER Philippines, the NGO I set up in 2006 has no funding hence, it is obvious I cannot offer funds. I told them this clearly, so they know what not to expect from me. I promised to tell them what I know after I learned more from the community.
I need to gather more information to be able to identify appropriate areas of intervention. Jen and I agreed that we will hold a meeting with the weavers to hear the weaver’s needs and aspirations. I need to assess their strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities. Armed with the information I could gather, we can proceed with the planning on what we need to do and what we need to achieve our goals considering our limit and possibilities.
Jennifer and I went to Bitaug, one of the barangays of the municipality of Bansalan, the following day to visit the School of Living Tradition Center where weavers do their work. Here I met a couple of weavers who learned weaving from the late Bae Salinta Monon including her own two daughters. This center is more for private use of Monon’s descendants. There are about five regular weavers in this center all of them are related to Monon. Jennifer told me further that she is so worried that their tradition will just eventually disappear for lack of interest of young people to continue weaving.
The reason why Bagobo weaving is not so popular among the young Bagobo women is the lack of regular market. There was a time that it was on the verge of extinction. We reached the home of Bae Salinta Monon, a legend herself. Monon and her sister were the only two living Bagobo weavers in their area. For this reason, Monon was dubbed as “The Last Bagobo Weaver”. She was a 1998 Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan awardee.
Thanks to the intervention of Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), a project was launched in 2012 before Monon died to save the art of Bagobo inabal weaving. Monon trained five Bagobo women. To PWC’s credit, more women became interested in inabal weaving. Vivencia was one of Monon’s five students who developed to become master weaver herself.
In fact, I found out that inabal is very popular in Manila and demands high prices. Manila buyers usually make new products out of inabal like bags and other accessories and sold them at premium prices abroad. And yet, the demand for inabal is not that much yet to guarantee regular income for the weavers. Much later, I also found out that we have excellent Bagobo-Tagabawa bead workers in Bansalan not as well-known perhaps as Bae Arlyne Salazar who is considered as the master Bagobo-Tagabawa bead worker. Their buyers are known fashion designers in Manila. I was sad to note that little are known about the local bead workers in Bansalan whose products are making waves in ethnic-inspired fashion world.
Despite these interesting orders, the economic condition of the Bagobo-Tagabawa weavers and bead workers in Bansalan has not improved much. I figured out that the orders are not adequate and reguvlar enough, so they have long lean months.
I went back to Bitaug again, this time determined to talk to Vivencia. In this visit I learned about the Tribal Women Weavers Association (TWWA) where Vivencia takes an active role. She is the master weaver in Bitaug and coordinates the production and marketing of their products.
TWWA has around 25 members of which 15 are active weavers. The others perform support work like dyeing and connecting fibers. Their problem indeed is lack of regular buyers and they do the weaving mostly at home, so it is difficult for Vivenica to conduct quality control. Also, they do not have enough capital to buy abaca fibers and they are unable to create a revolving fund. She said, they need a weaving center. They need to have adequate supply of abaca fibers, so they can start weaving right away as soon as the orders arrive. Hence, the issues they confront are lack of capital to buy raw materials, marketing of products and a weaving center for TWWA members. These are the three areas which I thought I can try to help.
I took pictures of their artisan weaves and the first thing I did is to post them on my Facebook. I received favorable responses from friends and resulted to firmed orders. I was shipping inabal to as far as Turkey, Hong Kong and USA. I was so happy to ship my first order but also realized the market for this product is not mainly in the Philippines and they are not regular either. I need to sustain the interest of prospective buyers. For this, I use social media a lot. I also realized that there is a need to register a business, so I can issue receipts and most of all conduct business legally. This was the time I decided to register Xabukid Trading with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and secured a business permit from the municipal office.
From this first attempt to help the women, I tried to find ways to help them more. To build a weaving center was a big challenge for me. Even a simple hut that would accommodate at least 10 weavers would cost considerable amount of money.
And then on June 11, 2017, so unexpectedly and just barely a month I first visited Bitaug, I received a very encouraging message from ex-Congresswoman Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman that she would try to help me build the weaving center. A glimmer of hope but I learned to be patient and realistic.
But deep inside I thought I should not just sit and wait. I must do something while waiting for news about the weaving center. I always believe that in development work not to start any projects without adequate social preparation. The association of the weavers must be strengthened, and they must be very clear with their vision and mission. They must feel owners of what they want to do to achieve their legitimate aspirations. They must be prepared to manage any collective project or activity, big or small to ensure its success. Hence, I decided to focus on their capacity building. I found a very supportive partner from Department of Trade and Industry to do this which sponsored a two-day organizational training followed by training on inabal weaving to teach more weavers.
During the organizational training, the weavers assessed their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Based on this info, they defined their vision and mission and the activities they want to undertake. The output is their association’s brochure which outlined their hopes, ideals and what they like to achieve.
I continued promoting inabal in any way I can and at the same time continued with the capacity building aspect of the association. There is a need to make prototypes of some finished products, but I do not have enough funds to do it. “Do your best and let God do the rest!” and again this aphorism applied to me.
Robert Meins, a long-time Dutch friend informed me that he would try to help me with my projects through the Rotary Club in Washington, D.C. where he is a member. He encouraged me to submit a project proposal which I readily did. To make the story short, I received financial support which I used in buying materials to produce inabal and advance the cost of labor of the weavers. I just hope that I can sell the weaves, so I will be able to provide them capital again and pay their cost of labor.
I also network with like-minded people like Wilson Limon of NinoFranco, a fashion-designer based in Davao City who has a heart for indigenous people. I partnered with Potri Lanka Manis of Kinding Sindaw Foundation which is based in New York since it is needed by Rotary D.C. to have a US-based partner. Potri is a long-time friend since Martial Law time. I needed to collaborate with the local Rotary Digos City chapter. Hence, to achieve our goals, I need to establish collaboration with like-minded individuals and organizations both local and international.
Six months have passed after Mam Turabin-Hataman contacted me, I received an excited call from Vivencia. She told me that a team from Department of Public Works and Highway conducted a site inspection. There were looking for the area where the weaving center will be constructed. So, I contacted Mam Turabin-Hataman and inquired if this is the project which she was telling me. I was overjoyed when she confirmed it is!
Five months later, on September 26, 2018 to be exact, the representatives from TWWA received from DPWH the key of the weaving center. The month before, Prime Credit of Hong Kong confirmed its order of 20,000 ID holders made of inabal weaves. What a timely order just after the completion of the construction of the center. When it rains, it pours so to speak. Blessings keep on coming.
With the support from Rotary D.C. I can now make some prototypes of various bags and T-shirts, this time in partnership with Sorita Bags and Garments also based in Bansalan. I also work with two ex-OFW professional sewers who have worked several years in Brunei. In addition to our product line, I also started promoting tangkulo scarves which is warmly received by many people who appreciate exquisite artisan works.
TWWA, the Council of Elders and the local LGU decided to hold the formal opening of the weaving center on November 23, 2018 in conjunction with the Tribal Day in Bitaug. We hope that individuals and agencies who have helped in the construction of the building as well as provided support to the weavers are present to witness this momentous event.
We laid the first cornerstone to boost the local economy in Bansalan using as much as possible locally made materials and local people. We are a step further now in achieving our dream to perform the whole value chain, one of the biggest challenges in cross-enterprise collaboration specially in the local area. To optimize a value chain, the linkages with individuals, suppliers, agencies, organizations, and market must be well coordinated. In doing so, we can help more people and contribute to a vibrant local economy in Bansalan.
Social entrepreneurship is used by start-up companies and other entrepreneurs like Xabukid to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. My fervent hope is that I continue to receive God’s blessings and support from many people who share Xabukid’s vision and mission.
I expect many challenges along the way. We still have miles to go to achieve sustainability.
While I was still in the Netherlands, I joined a group of diaspora leaders from all over the world in exploring how diasporas could help alleviate poverty in their countries of origin. We all agreed that creating local jobs is one way of doing it. We have the answer but how to make it happen?
After living for almost 35 years abroad, I spend most of my time now in my own hometown in Bansalan where I am actively promoting social entrepreneurship. This is my story of Xabukid, the social enterprise I set up last year practically from scratch with fervent hope that I could help local people especially unemployed women to engage in meaningful productive activity.
The meeting last April 2017 was by chance or perhaps, a destiny. I went to LBC to deliver a package when I saw rolls of colorful abaca woven cloth lying in a corner. I was told by the LBC manager that those were Bagobo woven cloth. I know. I heard a lot about the woven abaca cloth of the Bagobos but I did not know that they also weave colorful ones and that they are actually woven in our hometown.
The owner of the colorful weaves was momentarily not around. I waited for another 30 minutes and then she came rushing inside the shop. Vivencia Mamites, 53, is a Bagobo-Tagabawa from barangay Bitaug, Bansalan. She told me that she wanted to ship inabal weaves to Manila, but she did not have enough money to pay for the shipping fee, so she needed to borrow money. I could see in her eyes her pride and passion for her products. At that time, I was already looking for additional locally- made products in Bansalan to include in my product line. I was already actively helping the production and marketing of natural soap made by Jellie Dasmariñas and wild raw honey supplied by small honey gatherers but I like to add more products.
I told Vivencia that I am interested to visit her community and meet the other weavers. We shook hands and bade goodbye and when I reached home I cracked my brain figuring out how I can support the weavers. I am aware I only have the passion but lacking in resources to initiate any projects that require funds. I posted on my Facebook timeline about this meeting. Little that I know that the short message opened the doors wider for me to work with the Bagobo-Tagabawa weavers.
On May 24, I received a message from Jennifer Ayok Fernandez, a Bagobo-Tagabawa herself who is working with the cultural office in the Municipality of Bansalan. Jen read my Facebook post and happy to know that someone is interested helping her community. She invited me to attend the tribal meeting to be held the following morning at the Sangguniang Bayan office. She said she will introduce me to their tribal chieftain. I grabbed this opportunity to meet the members of the Tribal Council of Elders to inform them about my intention to explore possibilities to help the Bagobo-Tagabawa weavers in Bitaug. Armed with just enthusiasm and the strong belief that social enterprise is one approach towards economic empowerment of the poor, I met the elders hoping to get their approval.
There were many questions raised during the meeting. What am I planning to do? What specific thing can I offer? How will I do it? I answered that for now I really don’t know since I need to meet the weavers first. I need to talk to the weavers and find out what their needs are and then I can size up what I can do and if I could. WIMLER Philippines, the NGO I set up in 2006 has no funding hence, it is obvious I cannot offer funds. I told them this clearly, so they know what not to expect from me. I promised to tell them what I know after I learned more from the community.
I need to gather more information to be able to identify appropriate areas of intervention. Jen and I agreed that we will hold a meeting with the weavers to hear the weaver’s needs and aspirations. I need to assess their strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities. Armed with the information I could gather, we can proceed with the planning on what we need to do and what we need to achieve our goals considering our limit and possibilities.
Jennifer and I went to Bitaug, one of the barangays of the municipality of Bansalan, the following day to visit the School of Living Tradition Center where weavers do their work. Here I met a couple of weavers who learned weaving from the late Bae Salinta Monon including her own two daughters. This center is more for private use of Monon’s descendants. There are about five regular weavers in this center all of them are related to Monon. Jennifer told me further that she is so worried that their tradition will just eventually disappear for lack of interest of young people to continue weaving.
The reason why Bagobo weaving is not so popular among the young Bagobo women is the lack of regular market. There was a time that it was on the verge of extinction. We reached the home of Bae Salinta Monon, a legend herself. Monon and her sister were the only two living Bagobo weavers in their area. For this reason, Monon was dubbed as “The Last Bagobo Weaver”. She was a 1998 Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan awardee.
Thanks to the intervention of Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), a project was launched in 2012 before Monon died to save the art of Bagobo inabal weaving. Monon trained five Bagobo women. To PWC’s credit, more women became interested in inabal weaving. Vivencia was one of Monon’s five students who developed to become master weaver herself.
In fact, I found out that inabal is very popular in Manila and demands high prices. Manila buyers usually make new products out of inabal like bags and other accessories and sold them at premium prices abroad. And yet, the demand for inabal is not that much yet to guarantee regular income for the weavers. Much later, I also found out that we have excellent Bagobo-Tagabawa bead workers in Bansalan not as well-known perhaps as Bae Arlyne Salazar who is considered as the master Bagobo-Tagabawa bead worker. Their buyers are known fashion designers in Manila. I was sad to note that little are known about the local bead workers in Bansalan whose products are making waves in ethnic-inspired fashion world.
Despite these interesting orders, the economic condition of the Bagobo-Tagabawa weavers and bead workers in Bansalan has not improved much. I figured out that the orders are not adequate and reguvlar enough, so they have long lean months.
I went back to Bitaug again, this time determined to talk to Vivencia. In this visit I learned about the Tribal Women Weavers Association (TWWA) where Vivencia takes an active role. She is the master weaver in Bitaug and coordinates the production and marketing of their products.
TWWA has around 25 members of which 15 are active weavers. The others perform support work like dyeing and connecting fibers. Their problem indeed is lack of regular buyers and they do the weaving mostly at home, so it is difficult for Vivenica to conduct quality control. Also, they do not have enough capital to buy abaca fibers and they are unable to create a revolving fund. She said, they need a weaving center. They need to have adequate supply of abaca fibers, so they can start weaving right away as soon as the orders arrive. Hence, the issues they confront are lack of capital to buy raw materials, marketing of products and a weaving center for TWWA members. These are the three areas which I thought I can try to help.
I took pictures of their artisan weaves and the first thing I did is to post them on my Facebook. I received favorable responses from friends and resulted to firmed orders. I was shipping inabal to as far as Turkey, Hong Kong and USA. I was so happy to ship my first order but also realized the market for this product is not mainly in the Philippines and they are not regular either. I need to sustain the interest of prospective buyers. For this, I use social media a lot. I also realized that there is a need to register a business, so I can issue receipts and most of all conduct business legally. This was the time I decided to register Xabukid Trading with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and secured a business permit from the municipal office.
From this first attempt to help the women, I tried to find ways to help them more. To build a weaving center was a big challenge for me. Even a simple hut that would accommodate at least 10 weavers would cost considerable amount of money.
And then on June 11, 2017, so unexpectedly and just barely a month I first visited Bitaug, I received a very encouraging message from ex-Congresswoman Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman that she would try to help me build the weaving center. A glimmer of hope but I learned to be patient and realistic.
But deep inside I thought I should not just sit and wait. I must do something while waiting for news about the weaving center. I always believe that in development work not to start any projects without adequate social preparation. The association of the weavers must be strengthened, and they must be very clear with their vision and mission. They must feel owners of what they want to do to achieve their legitimate aspirations. They must be prepared to manage any collective project or activity, big or small to ensure its success. Hence, I decided to focus on their capacity building. I found a very supportive partner from Department of Trade and Industry to do this which sponsored a two-day organizational training followed by training on inabal weaving to teach more weavers.
During the organizational training, the weavers assessed their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Based on this info, they defined their vision and mission and the activities they want to undertake. The output is their association’s brochure which outlined their hopes, ideals and what they like to achieve.
I continued promoting inabal in any way I can and at the same time continued with the capacity building aspect of the association. There is a need to make prototypes of some finished products, but I do not have enough funds to do it. “Do your best and let God do the rest!” and again this aphorism applied to me.
Robert Meins, a long-time Dutch friend informed me that he would try to help me with my projects through the Rotary Club in Washington, D.C. where he is a member. He encouraged me to submit a project proposal which I readily did. To make the story short, I received financial support which I used in buying materials to produce inabal and advance the cost of labor of the weavers. I just hope that I can sell the weaves, so I will be able to provide them capital again and pay their cost of labor.
I also network with like-minded people like Wilson Limon of NinoFranco, a fashion-designer based in Davao City who has a heart for indigenous people. I partnered with Potri Lanka Manis of Kinding Sindaw Foundation which is based in New York since it is needed by Rotary D.C. to have a US-based partner. Potri is a long-time friend since Martial Law time. I needed to collaborate with the local Rotary Digos City chapter. Hence, to achieve our goals, I need to establish collaboration with like-minded individuals and organizations both local and international.
Six months have passed after Mam Turabin-Hataman contacted me, I received an excited call from Vivencia. She told me that a team from Department of Public Works and Highway conducted a site inspection. There were looking for the area where the weaving center will be constructed. So, I contacted Mam Turabin-Hataman and inquired if this is the project which she was telling me. I was overjoyed when she confirmed it is!
Five months later, on September 26, 2018 to be exact, the representatives from TWWA received from DPWH the key of the weaving center. The month before, Prime Credit of Hong Kong confirmed its order of 20,000 ID holders made of inabal weaves. What a timely order just after the completion of the construction of the center. When it rains, it pours so to speak. Blessings keep on coming.
With the support from Rotary D.C. I can now make some prototypes of various bags and T-shirts, this time in partnership with Sorita Bags and Garments also based in Bansalan. I also work with two ex-OFW professional sewers who have worked several years in Brunei. In addition to our product line, I also started promoting tangkulo scarves which is warmly received by many people who appreciate exquisite artisan works.
TWWA, the Council of Elders and the local LGU decided to hold the formal opening of the weaving center on November 23, 2018 in conjunction with the Tribal Day in Bitaug. We hope that individuals and agencies who have helped in the construction of the building as well as provided support to the weavers are present to witness this momentous event.
We laid the first cornerstone to boost the local economy in Bansalan using as much as possible locally made materials and local people. We are a step further now in achieving our dream to perform the whole value chain, one of the biggest challenges in cross-enterprise collaboration specially in the local area. To optimize a value chain, the linkages with individuals, suppliers, agencies, organizations, and market must be well coordinated. In doing so, we can help more people and contribute to a vibrant local economy in Bansalan.
Social entrepreneurship is used by start-up companies and other entrepreneurs like Xabukid to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. My fervent hope is that I continue to receive God’s blessings and support from many people who share Xabukid’s vision and mission.
I expect many challenges along the way. We still have miles to go to achieve sustainability.
