Over 100 women from the City of Smiles, Bacolod, gave a warm welcome to Connected Women and Facebook last October for the #SheMeansBusiness event. Next up, Puerto Princesa, Palawan!

The O Hotel in Bacolod City was filled with warm smiles and eager participants who were ready to take their businesses to the next level at the Connected Women #SheMeansBusiness event last October 19. The event was sponsored by the DICT Western Visayas Regional Office.

Connected Women, in partnership with Facebook’s #SheMeansBusiness, aims to develop skills for women entrepreneurs in the Philippines, using Facebook and Instagram to improve their business. Women from Bacolod City and other parts of Negros Occidental came to attend the event; some even traveled by boat from Iloilo. One even flew to Bacolod from Manila, just to be able to attend the workshop!

A Special Reason To Smile
The launch of Connected Women and Facebook’s #SheMeansBusiness in Bacolod City was made even more special as the workshop took place during Bacolod City’s charter day, and the month when the annual Masskara Festival was held.

Connected Women co-founder and CEO Gina Romero officially opened the event and shared her personal journey with the participants, as well as the mission behind Connected Women—which is to improve the economic participation of Filipinas through entrepreneurship and use of technology. This was followed by a quick overview of the #SheMeansBusiness program by Facebook representatives.

Harnessing Technology For Business Success
Technology has made it easier for startups to grow and flourish by helping business owners build better relationships with their customers. The #SheMeansBusiness program and Connected Women help women become better entrepreneurs by harnessing the power of technology.

The attendees were all ears as Facebook representatives delivered the #SheMeansBusiness modules on the basics of online marketing, Facebook for Business, content rules, and women in business.

The workshop participants also heard from the experiences of their fellow women entrepreneurs who have participated in previous #SheMeansBusiness workshops, as well as business owners who have overcome various struggles and have found more business success after taking their ventures online.

Fun And Friendly Competition
In between the learning sessions, participants brought out their A-game to claim the title of having the Best Selfies and Best We-fies and other prices! Anticipation was high as the ladies waited for the announcement of the winners. Here are they are:

Early Bird

Winner of Third Prize Selfie

Winner of Second Prize Selfie

Winner of First Prize Selfie

Winner of Boomerang We-fie

A special prize was also awarded to Gemma Chua who came to Bacolod from Manila just to attend the event.

The #SheMeansBusiness workshop is the second to the last event of Connected Women for 2018.
The final stop for this year will be held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan on December 12.

See you there and share the news with your friends!
connectedwomen.co/palawan

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.