Almost 150 women from all over Iloilo attended our Connected Women Launch and #SheMeansBusiness workshop! Next stop, Naga!

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.

Connected Women made a stop in Visayas last July 27 at the “Heart of the Philippines” and “Asia’s City of Love,” Iloilo City! It was the sixth Connected Women #SheMeansBusiness event, which just keeps getting bigger, this time with 152 attendees—the BIGGEST turnout so far.

Noreen Bautista, Connected Women’s Events Manager who is a proud Ilongga herself, talks about what it’s like to hold the #SheMeansBusiness event in her home province. “Well I loved the fact that it’s just in my home city of course,” she shares. “Things also came full circle when the event was held. Oh, and there were so many diverse ladies! There’s an impression in Iloilo that because it’s relatively small, you would meet the same faces in these kinds of events. But last Friday, there were many faces I didn’t meet until then, so it’s good that we reached a diverse group.”

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, there were also those who braved the distance and came from areas such as Capiz, which is a two-hour ride away from Iloilo. Below are some insights shared from the diverse set of ladies who attended:

Crossing Borders To Learn

Eliza Pajarito, Marketing and Scaling Officer of social enterprise Advancement for Rural Kids, explains why she felt compelled to travel all the way from Capiz for the #SheMeansBusiness event. She says her friend referred her to it. “Initially, what got my interest was the opportunity to learn more about digital marketing and leveraging Facebook for our ARK’s social media impact,” she says. “Memorable learnings from the event for me were branding makes your business standout, it will give you freedom; to sustain a business, you need to have a good story plus good substance. Aside from the learnings, I got to meet amazing women who I’m looking forward to learn from and share my own skills as well. Meeting them reignited my desire to have my own business. Seeing that most of them are mothers and still pursuing their passion truly inspired me. The travel was totally worth it!”

Age Is Just A Number

For others, the #SheMeansBusiness event was a way to keep on learning whatever one’s age is. Pam Reyes, painter, shares her realizations. “I used to be a fashion accessories designer supplying different local brands,” she says. “The influx of international brands put a halt to my business. I opened a restaurant in Iloilo with a friend, Create Bistro, but our location is not ideal for the concept. I’m really grateful that I got reintroduced to painting end of August last year and haven’t stopped since. I’m now 53 years old and never been happier with what I currently do.” Pam also admits that she’s not tech-oriented.  “I hate to admit it but I am not very techy. I learned a lot from Sir Aries Patawaran [the instructor at #SheMeansBusiness]. It really timely because my collectors have been asking for a site to view my pieces. I hope that middle- aged women like me never lose the passion and just be open to learning.”

Be A Mentor To Someone

Felinor Naira, who used to work with 51 Talk but is now with an NGO in Iloilo, was also a host of two Connected Women meet-ups previously in Iloilo. For this #SheMeansBusiness event, she says she values the message of how one can be a mentor to others. “The message of Ms. Gina Romero, Connected Women co-founder, that we can be a mentor to someone [is memorable for me],” she says. “Connected Women is about empowering women who work online by being able to network with various women from all walks of life who also do online jobs. I started my first online job when I got inspired to apply as an online English teacher for 51 Talk, then I went back to being a humanitarian development worker when I worked for a non government organization, CHILDInitiative. Ms Gina said that we should keep connecting because connections count and we can make a massive difference in someone else’s life. The most important thing is to love what you do. That message was what lingered in me and had an impact because as Ms Gina said, everybody in this room is here for a reason.”

Welcoming And Inspiring The Attendees

The program at Iloilo began with a warm welcome by co-founder Ruth Yu-Owen, where a little icebreaker was held. She asked those who attended to get to know one another by asking their names and what they do. Ruth then encouraged a few ladies to name their group mates and what they do one by one.

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

Learning How To Use Social Media Better

Facebook’s representative then spoke to the women about the goals of the #SheMeansBusiness initiative by their organization. There were delicious snacks, selfie breaks, appetizing lunch, photo ops, and freebies present throughout the day. Empowering tracks for women from artists like Gwen Stefani and Kelly Clarkson, was the soundtrack playing on the speakers. To refresh the ladies after lunch, Ruth led them in doing breathing exercises.

Those who attended were given a comprehensive and informative crash course on how to use Facebook and Instagram better to market their businesses. They also connected with like-minded entrepreneurs and freelancers like themselves.

Prof Aries, a member of Facebook’s training community, again 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
Selfie and Boomerang breaks were given to attendees. The participants were competitive and motivated to do their best, since there are prizes for the best and most notable ones. An event survey was then conducted while waiting for winner results. The most-awaited segment of the event, the winners of the selfie and Boomerang contest, were then announced. Here are the results:

Winners Of #SheMeansBusinessIloilo

Winner of Third Prize Selfie

Winner of Second Prize Selfie

Winner of First Prize Selfie

Boomerang Second Place

Boomerang First Place

As a partner for the #SheMeansBusiness series, the Department of Communications and Technology (DICT) in Visayas also played a huge role in this event. This was actually their first after the change of leaders in their office. Towards the end of the program, outgoing Director of DICT Visayas Cluster 1, Frederick DC Amores introduced the incoming director, Antonio Edward E. Padre -OIC Director, DICT Visayas Cluster 1. Padre then talked about programs of DICT Visayas that helped out women such as the Rural Impact Sourcing Program, which is also done with female penitentiaries. DICT will also be establishing a Tech4Ed center in Iloilo City, for the establishment of the technology for education, to gain employment, and train entrepreneurs towards economic development.

A Setting Full Of History And Charm

The Mansion in Iloilo was the setting for the #SheMeansBusiness event. Full of history and a known landmark in Iloilo, the Mansion has one-of-a-kind Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese architecture. The participants were comfortable and were treated to beautiful Ilonggo architecture and history at the hotel.

#SheMeansBusiness wrapped up with attendees networking, exchanging calling cards, and getting to know each other.

Again, after a productive and inspiring day, the ladies learned many stories from each other, tech lessons, as well as the belief that women can make it at any age and anytime! Connected Women’s event in Iloilo was truly a milestone!

We’re headed to Naga 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–Visayas Cluster 1

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