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New graduates of Ateneo’s social entrepreneurship program in the UAE

Photo caption L-R: Sherryl Sujian, Cheryl Cuevas, Arlene Dela Cruz and Shyla Mae Pinca of Bounty Goat Farm

For the third consecutive year two batches completed the Ateneo School of Government’s (ASoG) Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (LSE) Program. The participants celebrated their accomplishment in a graduation ceremony held last October 12 in Dubai with Dr. Roberto Conrado Guevara, Associate Professor of Theology at Ateneo de Manila University and Associate Dean for Student Formation of the Loyola Schools, as the Commencement Speaker.

The Ateneo LSE Program is a 12- session certificate course composed of three modules on Leadership, Financial Literacy, and Social Entrepreneurship. The first batch –ALSE14 – started in late 2012 in Dubai and ended during the second quarter of 2013.

The program educates overseas Filipinos to become social entrepreneurs and eventual contributors towards a progressive Philippines. The latest batches, ALSE62 Dubai with 55 individuals and ALSE63 Abu Dhabi with 53 individuals, saw participants coming up with business plans applicable in the Philippine setting and following any of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The outstanding plans were Green House, Balik Disenyo, Pick & Ship and Bounty Goat Farm of Dubai, and Lapis, Enteng Kabute, Spotpro, Dekapod and Recre8 of Abu Dhabi. They were chosen in four categories, namely comprehensiveness, social relevance, viability, and presentation. Bounty Goat Farm (in photo) and Recre8 were given the Innovation Fund or I-Fund amounting to 50,000 Philippine pesos as seed money provided by I-Fund founder and Ateneo Alumni Association LSE UAE Council Chairman and socio-civic leader JR Papel.

The special guests that evening were Deputy Consul General Renato Duenas, Jr. of the Philippine Consulate in Dubai, Consul Von Ryan Pangwi of the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi, Labor Attache for Dubai and Northern Emirates Atty. Felicitas Bay, Commercial Attache for the Middle East and Africa Charmaine Mignon Yalong, Chair of the Philippine Business Council-Abu Dhabi Deborah Gay Aragon Dayrit, and Director of Education Committee of the Philippine Business Council-Dubai and Northern Emirates Marlene Murphy.

A total of nine batches comprising more than 400 participants in the UAE have been certified by the ASoG as having completed the ALSE Program. Globally, the program has been introduced in 20 cities outside the Philippines and in 11 countries with over 2,500 graduates. The program was introduced in Abu Dhabi in 2017. This year’s ALSE63 is the second batch from the capital city.

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