Over 100 women from all over Zamboanga City attended our Connected Women Launch and #SheMeansBusiness workshop! Next stop, Cagayan De Oro!

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.

March 23rd marked the third Connected Women #SheMeansBusiness event and a first for the ladies of Zamboanga City. 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.

The participants braved far-flung distances and came all the way from Pagadian and Dipolog—four to five hours away from Zamboanga City—as well as from Lamitan, Basilan, to be present.

Memorable Stories From Zamboanga City

One of the stories that stood out during the event was that of Daisy Cababasay’s. Daisy is the owner of Takuri Café, an Asian fusion restaurant in Iloilo. This persevering lady rode many forms of transportation from Iloilo to Zamboanga City just to be present at the event! “She rode a boat to Cebu [from Iloilo], another boat from Cebu to Dumaguete, then another boat from Dumaguete to Dapitan [near Dipolog], and had a bus ride to Zamboanga City,” says Precy Tripoli, Content and Social Media Manager of Connected Women.  Noreen Bautista, Events and Community Growth Manager of Connected Women, said that during the workshop, Daisy never realized she was already doing some of the best practices that was mentioned during the talk.

“Her food is yummy!” says Noreen of Daisy’s fare. Noreen also hails from Iloilo. “I’ve been to her restaurant before. It’s a small space, but I can attest to her food quality. She garnered thousands of likes with zero marketing spend.” According to Daisy, this was made possible by the guests, friends, friends of friends,  and food bloggers who came and dined with them. They were able to help obtain more likes and good reviews. “They also posted pictures of all the good food they love eating at the cafe,” she explains. “Perhaps the homey experience they enjoyed while dining with us and of course their recommendations and invitations to their friends to come and visit our place [were able to help].”

Daisy encourages entrepreneurs have a Facebook page to connect with clients. “Most of them view our Facebook page first, read the reviews, and view the photos of foods, events and everyday happenings,” she says. Daisy adds hiring professionals for posts isn’t necessary. “I take photos by myself in raw form. As a photographer I do all the photo shoots for my freshly baked cakes and pastries which I later post to our FB page.” Word of mouth has helped in the increase Facebook page likes, as well as customers.

She also makes sure customers get the best welcome and service when they dine in her cafe.  “Perhaps they come back because they feel at home,” Daisy adds. “I always make it a point to be available and listen to their suggestions which they feel would make us grow. We make them feel that they’re very important to us because we always feel honored having them at the cafe.” She says they make sure to welcome customers with as much sincerity so they feel like they’re visiting friends.

Another notable attendee at Zamboanga City’s #SheMeansBusiness is Marie Angelique Go, co-owner of Chinito’s Asian Kitchen, Zamboanga City’s first Asian Rice-In-A-Box and fast food concept which was started in 1997. Her daughter, Alexis, explains how they have achieved success through social media. “We use Facebook for promoting new items and events, posting the pictures of our catering events, and answering any inquiries about reservations and catering menu,” she explains. “Because of the Connected Women seminar, I learned how to activate the auto reply for our Facebook page and about what the best content to post for our page was. The auto reply was very useful as we placed the link to our menu and contact person there because that was what our costumers commonly ask.”

Zamboanga City mayor Beng Climaco was also present at the event and delivered an inspiring opening address. Entrepreneurship is something close to the mayor’s heart, which is why she supported the event. “My Mom was an optometrist and an entrepreneur,” she explains. “She pioneered the curtain and flower business in Zamboanga City. With Connected Women, women’s potential goes beyond their homes. In the heart of a woman is a special strength that gives us the capacity to be multi-tasking. You can do anything. So take the challenge to rise up and fight for your rights.”

Learning How To Use Social Media Better

A Facebook representative spoke first about how the Philippines is the social media capital of the world. That alone was enough for the attendees to realize that being present on social media is essential for their profession. There were then snack breaks, selfie breaks, a delicious lunch, photo ops, and freebies throughout the day.

Prof Aries, a member of Facebook’s training community, delivered the training content where he discussed three main topics. Those who attended learned how to use Facebook and Instagram better to market their businesses and met like-minded entrepreneurs and freelancers like themselves. There was also a Facebook live session where participants shared their stories. 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

Connected Women’s co-founder and CEO, Gina Romero, shared how being a daughter of a Filipina overseas worker inspired her to help women leverage technology. “Connected Women aims to create more opportunities for women to work from home, as entrepreneurs, freelancers or online professionals. Location independent work unlocks a world of opportunity for women, and technology is the key,” she says.

Boomerangs sure were winners during the event:

Prize Winners:

“Titas of Zamboanga” These ladies displayed the rich and colorful culture of Zamboanga with intricately patterned fabrics and their hijabs.

These two women entrepreneurs reunited again after 10 years, thanks to Connected Women’s event!

Winners of #WeFie

3^rd place for selfie

2^nd place for selfie

1st place for selfie—She made us believe with her empowering caption!

Fulfilling Prizes, Beautiful Setting

Winners received awesome prizes they loved, such as motivational books like Angela Duckworth’s “Grit.” Zamboanga City’s Garden Orchid Hotel also served as the perfect backdrop for the event, combining class and comfort for the ladies.

After all those amazing stories of perseverance, tech lessons learned, renewed and new friendships, Connected Women’s event in Zamboanga City was truly something to remember!

We’re headed to Cagayan de Oro 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 Cluster 1

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