Fashion
Life was not easy for Charier Valcarcel Rosita of Tagum City, Davao del Norte. She had to give up her job in a school canteen to take care of her child and do household chores.
Rosita thought that was all life had to offer until she became aware of her full potential as an entrepreneur.
Her chance to do business came when she joined the first batch of the Coca-Cola 5by20 Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources (STAR) program in Tagum City in 2014.
Rosita is one of the more than 80,000 women who have benefited from the STAR program since Coca-Cola Philippines launched it in 2011. Under the program, they learned the rudiments of business, including managing capital expenditures against daily sales and other tips on how to run a sari-sari store.
The 80,000 women whom the STAR program helped are just part of the Coca-Cola Company’s target to economically empower five million women by 2020 as part of its “5by20 global initiative.”
“The STAR program has helped a lot. We were able to establish high-volume distribution of Coca-Cola in our community. It prods us to move on despite the hardships,” Rosita said in the local dialect.
Last Friday, Rosita joined the gathering of 5,000 women micro-entrepreneurs at the University of Southern Philippines in Davao City.
The gathering was organized by Coca-Cola Philippines in coordination with the local government of Davao City, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
With the theme “We Make Change Work for Women Micro-Retailers,” Friday’s gathering highlighted the impact of the initiatives of Coca-Cola Company in helping women achieve business success.
“Coca-Cola is helping create an enabling environment for the business success of women micro-retailers by setting up these partnerships, particularly with government agencies and micro-finance institutions that would help women overcome barriers and challenges they face in achieving economic success,” said Gilda Maquilan, sustainability manager of Coca-Cola Philippines
“This event is an avenue to promote STAR program’s inclusivity across all Filipino women interested in micro-retail businesses such as sari-sari stores and carinderias,” she added.
On the same day, Coca-Cola Philippines also forged a memorandum of agreement with the Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc. headed by Emily Alvarez, wife of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, for a partnership in recruiting the spouses of military and police personnel for the STAR program.
“As an organization, we will continue to help empower women both inside and outside our company,” said Diego Granizo, president and general manager of Coca-Cola Philippines.
“I am here together with my colleagues from the Coca-Cola System to demonstrate our continued commitment as your partner to grow your sari-sari store and carinderia business. We believe that if you are able to grow your business, it will enable you to help your families, and together we help in the nation building,” he added.
