Transformational Leadership Blog

MightyRasing.com seeks to discover Filipino social entrepreneurs who are already doing something to help fellow Filipinos escape the bonds of poverty and any other issue that limit their potentials and make their lives more difficult.

If you’ve been to Payatas, which is on the boundary of Quezon City and Rizal Province in the Philippines, you will smell garbage kilometers away! Payatas is the largest dumpsite in the Philippines, consisting of a 22.3-hectare tract of land! Interestingly, because of the difficult life in Manila, 60,000 people (around 12,000 families) live around the area trying to get anything of value to sell, reuse or eat from the refuse of Manila.

Don’t just feel bad about the misfortune of others. Do something good!

One visit to the Payatas dumpsite would be enough to pinch your heart and make you want to help the poor who are living off the garbage of Metro Manila. Most of us are moved with the plight of the people we consider to be less fortunate than us. But then, if we do not take action right away, our good intentions will simply be that—good intentions no actions!

Therese Clarence Fernandez, together with her associates and friends, recognized the importance of taking action. That is why, together with ten partners, she founded the Rags2Riches, an organization that capitalizes on fashion and accessories while at the same time empowering the lives of women in the Payatas area!

Compassion is learned from home.

Social entrepreneurs usually derive their inspirations from the people they encounter, from the problems of the world they want to change. They can also learn it from their parents and their observations in their own communities.

Ms. Fernandez grew up as the child of a single-mother, who was also a missionary worker. As such, she learned the difficult plight of so many people around her. More than that, she played and interacted regularly with street kids and different kinds of people in the Quiapo area in the Philippines. That is why she learned to care for others and she wanted to help them out!

From the article about her at the Paragon100.asia website, she said:

“I have a hunger for revolutionary ideas that would bring the world to the next level and eventually help the world become more sustainable and ethical. This has made me an entrepreneur and leader who takes risk and actions that take into account, not only the profit, but also the people and planet that are inevitably affected by my decisions. I believe that we can all make the world a better place and live good and abundant lives at the same time if only we design our lifestyles eco-effectively and ethically from the onset.”

Don’t just give food, clothes or any other goods, EMPOWER the poor!

If you have money, the easiest way to help the poor is to give them food, shelter, clothes and even money! Or is it? You feed them for a day but what happens after that?

Rags2riches is built on the principle of empowering the women in the Payatas communities by helping them market the products sewed by these women. In poor communities in Payatas, women tend to bear a lot of economic and social burdens in their families. By empowering women, Rags2Riches is also empowering the rest of their families!

Encourage others to help empower the poor!

Rags2riches does not have all the money or resources in the world. But they have connections and partnerships with runway models, fashion designers, marketers and other entrepreneurs to empower these poor communities.

By establishing such partnerships, the efforts of this social entrepreneurship project is maximized and improved!

It’s not really all that difficult to help change the world. All you need are good intentions and a willingness to develop an idea that could empower others!

About Rags2Riches:

“Rags2Riches Inc. is a social business enterprise creating high-end designer fashion masterpieces and home accessories that are ethical and eco-friendly. Rags2Riches empowers women of poor communities, and recycles scrap cloths discarded by garments factories around the Philippines. Rags2Riches is committed to establish a pattern-changing, scalable, and sustainable business that values and invests on.”

You can read more about Rags2Riches from the Rags2Riches official website:
Be a Facebook Fan. You can also follow them through Twitter.

Related posts:

1. Alexander Reyes and RuralLight
2. Tony Meloto and Gawad Kalinga: No More Slums!
3. Social Entrepreneurship Business Ideas
4. Carmina Mancenon: Changing the World through Fashion!