BY: Dhealyn M. Estolas

July 1, 2010, that was the day when I received the good news from Rev. Fr. Xavier C. Alpasa S.J., LCC President that our submitted business proposal was chosen as one of the finalists in the British Council Business Competition. Isla Culion Souvenirs was a concept of a social enterprise woven last summer. My partner, Jubelle Cabatingan and I, together with our coach, Sir Jun Tolosa Tibi, Jr worked on this proposal. I was so excited to hear from Fr. Javy that we would represent LCC and the rest of Isla Culion as well and would compete in Ateneo de Manila.

We left Culion on July 25, 2010 bringing with us the spirit of Culion. It was a mixed emotion for me and Jubelle. I felt proud to be a chosen representative for Culion. It was a great opportunity but it was also a big responsibility as well. Everyone’s expecting us to win, but what if we failed them? What if we failed the LCC community and the whole island?

July 26, 2010- that was our first day of seminar. Among the 18 finalists nationwide, 5 teams will compete for Luzon, Visayas and NCR region and 3 teams for Mindanao. From Luzon, three of our competitors were all from Ateneo de Naga. The other group was graduates of Ateneo de Manila. Again, I felt hesitant. With all these backgrounds and confidence that I saw in them, all I wanted was to turn my back and went home. But I realized, I was already at this point- there’s no way of turning back. Thanks for all the supports and messages from the LCC community, I decided to continue the battle.

We had attended the seminar conducted by SEDPI from July 26-28. It was a very fruitful three-day session. It helped us to prepare for the semi-finals and for the final competition. As we were preparing for the day of the competition, we also tried to mingle and make friends. As days passed by, we started to get to know the rest of the social enterprises. Suddenly, I had this urge of winning this competition because when I thought of Culion, I always remembered my dream, our dream shared by everyone for the island of Culion.

July 29(Thursday), the battle began. That was now the semi-final competition day. I felt the tension and nervousness of everybody. Teams from NCR would be the first presentors, followed by Visayas, Mindanao, and the last was Luzon. As expected, we will present at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. For the semi-finals, we were allowed to watch the presentation of all the teams. At last, it was now our turn. First, our group was introduced and a brief description of our social enterprise was read. Second, we showed a three-minute video-pitch of our presentation followed by a seven-minute business proposal presentation, and the last was a ten-minute question and answer. After the presentations, the judges went to a separate room for deliberation. At 5 o’clock, the result was announced. We made it to the top 3! For the next day, we would compete against the team of Ateneo de Naga and another team from the graduates of Ateneo de Manila.

The “big day” arrived. Friday was the final competition. Among the top three competing teams, only one team would win and would be granted a seed capital of P100, 100 for their social enterprise. Unlike the semi-finals, the rest of the teams except the scheduled presentor were given an order to stay in a holding room as they were waiting for their turn. Again, Luzon teams were the last presentors. We did only a little revising of a few slides in the final competition but the content of the whole presentation was just the same as in during the semi-finals. When we were asked to come down at the Leong Hall Auditorium, I knew that this would mark as the beginning of a dream come true. Unlike yesterday, I felt different during the final competition. I felt confident as I answered the questions from the judges. Two of them were foreigners. Standing in front of these people, I suddenly felt determined to win as I talked with pride and honor about the island of Culion. After we had presented, I remembered Fr. Javy saying, “No matter what the result will be, you are already winners yourselves.” Again we waited for the deliberation. As we were anticipating the result, we had a chance to talk to a foreign investor, to a journalist and we were asked to be interviewed by one of the staffs of the British Council Organization.

There was a short talk and acknowledgement by the Ateneo de Manila President, Fr. Nebres S.J., and there was a short program. Finally, it was now the announcement of winners. The Starbucks Planet Shared Award was given to Go for Gasa sa Guso Team. They also won the first prize in Visayas. Good Food won in NCR, Hinabi won for Mindanao and the last but not the least, Isla Culion Souvenirs won in Luzon. After all those efforts, stressful days and everything, I can proudly say that “I am a changemaker.”