100+ women joined us in Davao for our Connected Women Launch and #SheMeansBusiness training workshop. Next stop Cebu!

Connected Women’s programme objective is to increase the economic participation of women in the Philippines through entrepreneurship and the adoption of technology for business success.

The event was filled with firsts. The first of TEN Connected Women Philippines launch events. The first official Connected Women training workshop in partnership with #SheMeansBusiness. The first time our remote team met in person after several years of working together!

The CW Davao City Launch And #SheMeansBusiness Training Workshop

More than 100 women showed up for our first #ConnectedWomen Philippines launch event.

Women of all kinds, from various backgrounds and with different levels of business experience joined us. Two Facebook representatives were there to deliver the training modules.

Chris Kuzhuppilly, PH Policy Programs Manager, opened up with some pretty powerful facts about the Philippines as the social media capital of the world. That alone was enough for the attendees to realise that they would be missing out if their business wasn’t visible online.

There were snack breaks, selfie breaks, a scrumptious lunch and lots of photo ops, and freebies.

The Training Modules

Professor Aries Patawaran, Facebook’s Lead Trainer in the Philippines delivered the training content. He tackled three main topics:

Online Marketing

• The difference between marketing vs branding vs advertising,
• Why a relevant business needs online marketing,
• Key questions to ask yourself before you dive into online marketing, and
• What the main difference is between organic and paid marketing.

Facebook Pages and Admin Tools

• Creating/Refreshing a Facebook Business Page
• How to use the Page Admin tools
• How to monitor Page Insights (analytics)
• How to add a ‘Call To Action’ button, and
• The basics of creating a Post

Content Rules

• The importance of determining your audience
• Basic rules of text
• Basics for great visuals
• How to use video and other creative tools
• How Instagram and Facebook vary

Gina shared #SheMeansBusiness: Top Ten Tips For Women Starting A Small Business. A privilege to learn some of her very own anecdotes about her journey as an entrepreneur – from running a farm as a teenager to an IT business to the plethora of roles she currently juggles!

#SheMeansBusiness Selfie Prize Winners

Throughout the day the ladies were encouraged to take selfies and practice their hashtags. These photos also served as entries to win some of our tech prizes!

Each winner received a beautiful boxlight along with one tech tool: a 32GB USB, a powerbank, and a portable speaker. Prizes were awarded to the 3 best selfies with a Davao theme.

First Prize

Second Prize

Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao City

Davao City has so much to offer and we loved the atmosphere of Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao City. Not only did the Kalaw function room bring a special charm to the Davao Launch, but the outside environment was breathtaking.

The breeze carried the smell of the sea every time we opened the doors. The staff were diligent, the food was scrumptious!

It was a full day of invaluable learning for the women. New friendships were forged, and the ladies left fired up and ready to tackle their Facebook Business Pages and Instagram accounts.

We’re headed to Cebu City next, so share the news with your friends!

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.

Here’s the full post-event report.