141 women from all over Bicol attended the Connected Women Launch and #SheMeansBusiness Workshop last September 7, 2018. Here are the event highlights.

“True empowerment is only possible when women are financially independent.” This was the message by Vice President of the Philippines Leni Robredo in her special address to Bicolanas at the Connected Women #SheMeansBusiness event last September 7, 2018.

Connected Women, in partnership with Facebook’s #SheMeansBusiness, aims to develop skills for women entrepreneurs in the Philippines, using Facebook and Instagram tools to improve their business. For this event, many came from Naga, as well as from Albay, Sorsogon, and other parts of Bicol. Some even came to Naga all the way from Metro Manila.

A Fiery Welcome
The day’s festivities began with a primer on Connected Women and the #SheMeansBusiness Program to Bicolanas by Connected Women Co-Founder and CEO, Gina Romero.

Gina welcomed the attendees and gave a quick overview of what Connected Women was about, which is to increase the economic participation of women in the Philippines through entrepreneurship and the adoption of technology for business success.

This was followed by a quick introduction to the #SheMeansBusiness program by Facebook representatives.

Women As The New Face of Economic Power
Connected Women Co-Founder and COO Ruth Yu-Owen then introduced the event’s special guest, Vice President of the Philippines Leni Robredo, who proudly hails from Naga.

All 141 attendees listened to the inspiring and thought-provoking stories of VP Robredo, who believes that financial independence is key to economic growth. In her keynote address, VP Robredo also encouraged the women in attendance to continue helping one another to lift each other up, and to continue raising women’s profiles as equal partners in achieving transformative and inclusive change.

“We were honored to welcome Vice President Leni Robredo to our Naga launch event. During her speech, she talked about the importance of economic empowerment of women, and how technology skills development is essential for creating opportunities for Filipino women.

This is a mission that Connected Women and our partners are committed to advancing through our various programs. We are grateful to have the support of government agencies such as the Department of ICT to reach as many women as possible,” said Connected Women Co-Founder and CEO Gina Romero.

A Crash Course On Online Marketing
Technology has changed the way people do business, and the #SheMeansBusiness initiative helps women become better entrepreneurs with the use of technology. In the workshop, the attendees learned the basics of online marketing—navigating online business pages, using tools to maximize a business’ online presence, and the basic rules in creating posts, to name a few.

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Luzon Cluster 3 Assistant Director Bassanio Torio concluded the program, after which, the attendees were given the chance to build new personal and business contacts in the after-program socials.

We’re headed to Bacolod next, share the news with your friends!
connectedwomen.co/bacolod

Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Helping businesses connect with the people they care about is part of that mission and, to that end, the Facebook #SheMeansBusiness initiative is committed to helping female small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Department of Information and Communications Technology – Luzon Cluster 3
The Department of Information & Communications Technology is the lead implementing agency of the government in all ICT-related efforts.

Editors Note: As a community that advocates for women’s empowerment, we don’t have any political alignment. But we will always seek the support of the government to change policy for the advancement of women’s rights.