Over 130 women from all over Cagayan de Oro attended our Connected Women Launch and #SheMeansBusiness workshop! Next stop, Pampanga!

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.

May 7 marked the fourth Connected Women #SheMeansBusiness event and a first for the ladies of Cagayan de Oro. 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. Attendees came from various parts of Mindanao for the event. They came from Iligan, Bukidnon, Camiguin, some parts of Lanao, majority from CDO, and also one from Davao.

“It was a pleasure to hold our third event in Mindanao at Cagayan de Oro, the Golden City of Friendship,” says Gina Romero, Connected Women co-founder. “We’ve run five #SheMeansBusiness events across the Philippines to date and have trained over 500 women in digital marketing skills. Leveraging technology for location-independent work is a game-changer for women, and we are committed to driving this movement forward with the support of our partners.”

Meet The Modern Nanays Of Mindanao

“I learned about the Connected Women event in CDO through a Facebook ad in my newsfeed,” explains Joan Sullano-Sheng. She is a member and volunteer of Modern Nanays of Mindanao, a group promoting advocacies and social responsibility. They also aim to promote Cagayan de Oro. A former employee in an office job, Joan has been a full-time stay-at-home mom for the last two years and is a freelance IT admin and consultant. “I got interested in the CW program not only because it’s intended for women but also because of its objective of helping a community through connections and collaboration of women in business and the freelance industry,” she says. “I belong to a community of mothers aiming to have a prosperous small business without compromising quality time with families. I use Facebook and Instagram for sharing the Modern Nanays of Mindanao advocacies, social responsibility, and promoting the goodness of the city, Cagayan de Oro.”

Joan says that during the event, she learned about the business tools that can be used in making Facebook pages for business. “[I learned] how important it is to keep a monitoring tool and the importance of every feature of the business page is. Also that it’s important to know the primary target market for your business, not just to raise profit from it but help the community build a better living,” she says.

Meanwhile, another participant, Maan Plasabas-Bernido, has long wanted to be a part of a community of women. “I’m one with the mission of Connected Women, and that is to inspire every woman to become the best versions of themselves no matter what they’ve been through,” she narrates. “I want to show and to prove to the world how amazing and empowering every woman can be.” Having long been immersed in the online world, Maan is internal VP of the CDO Bloggers, Member of the CDO Freelancers United, and has also worked in real estate being a real estate broker, appraiser, and manager for Alveo Land Corporation of Ayala Company.

Maan has used Facebook and Instagram for work by connecting to clients, and for personal relations by connecting with loved ones. She adds that she is inspired by Connected Women Founder, Gina Romero, which is why she loves being part of the Connected Women community.

A Welcome By CW’s Inspiring Co-Founders

The program at Cagayan de Oro kicked off with a welcome by Connected Women’s co-founder, Ruth Yu-Owen who asked how the attendees were that early morning. After confirming their excitement, Ruth briefly shared what the women can expect from the workshop. She then introduced her fellow co-founder, Gina who talked about how she started Connected Women, and the inspiration behind it.

Learning How To Use Social Media Better

Facebook’s representative talked to the women about the goals of the #SheMeansBusiness initiative by their organization. The enjoyable snack breaks, selfie breaks, scrumptious lunch, photo ops, and freebies were of course present throughout the day. Those who attended learned how to use Facebook and Instagram better to market their businesses and met like-minded entrepreneurs and freelancers like themselves.

Prof Aries, a member of Facebook’s training community, delivered the training content where he discussed online marketing, content strategy, and Facebook’s tools. More specifically, the following were the topics discussed by Prof Aries:

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

As a literal breather, Ruth also led breathing exercises to the attendees to serve as a break after the talks. Attendees were also given a 10 minute break to do more selfies and Boomerangs.

Gina then talked more about #SheMeansBusiness, and how the initiative helps women be better as entrepreneurs through technology.

An event survey was then conducted while waiting for winner results. DICT Director Evamay Dela Rosa gave the closing remarks by sharing the recent projects and developments of her department for Region 10. “We are happy that Connected Women has collaborated with DICT to bring technology-training for women to Cagayan de Oro,” says Director Evamay. “Our department has a similar project called Rural Impact Sourcing where we train scholars in the countryside and expose them to online freelancing. Strategic digital marketing can be beneficial to any business, and I’m glad that the #SheMeansBusiness event has been especially empowering for women entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs.”

One of the most awaited segments of the event was then held with the announcement of winners. Here is the list:

The third place for selfie:

Meanwhile, second place for selfie. This lady made us believe with her fighting spirit to attend despite not feeling her best:

First placer in selfie, together with her prize. She won because she included in the caption the old, popular jingle from Cagayan Park View Hotel. It’s popular in Mindanao and people there grew up hearing it over radio ads.

Early bird who won prizes like a DICT mug and #SheMeansBusiness pouch (she arrived at 7:30AM!):

Wefie with Best Caption(won a DICT mug and #SheMeansBusiness pouch each). They came all the way from Iligan City:

Third place for Boomerang:

Second place for Boomerang:

First place for Boomerang (points for combining hashtags!):

Fulfilling Prizes, Beautiful Setting

Winners received awesome prizes they loved, such as framed motivational quotes that they can display at home or the office, and gives much encouragement. Attendees then networked, got to know each other, and rubbed elbows with like-minded people, and those they can work with in the future. Cagayan de Oro’s Pearlmont Hotel also served as the perfect setting for the event, providing elegance and the complete set of facilities to those who attended.

After all these insightful stories, tech lessons learned, and creativity shown, Connected Women’s event in Cagayan de Oro was truly something to remember!

We’re headed to Pampanga next, 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.

Department of Information and Communications Technology – Mindanao Region 10

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