In 2010, we celebrated two milestones! Chiqui Escareal-Go and I wrote a book called “The WE Entrepreneur” which became a National Book Store bestseller and we also co-founded Day 8 Business Academy as the social enterprise subsidiary of Mansmith and Fielders Inc. to benefit small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).
We coined “The WE Entrepreneur” to pertain to that whose approach to entrepreneurship is “whole” by observing its two sides — 5 tasks and 5 treasures. While those focusing mostly on tasks can be considered ME entrepreneurs.
The 5 tasks are value proposition, profit, cash flow, execution, and vision, on one side with 5 treasures on the other — family, health, meaningful self, network, and relationship with God. These 10 are not multiple choice options but must-haves for entrepreneurs.
This was a personal realization as I was a ME Entrepreneur in my first decade of entrepreneurship and left family to the care of my wife, forgetting also to take care of my health. It was a good thing Chiqui dragged me to church and put up with my presence and absence alike. I even got more motivated when Chiqui gave in to my request to co-author “The WE Entrepreneur” book when I got stuck at one point. She strongly asserted that the mastery of the 5 tasks alone do not make a good entrepreneur and went on to write the five treasures. This led us to our first book collaboration together. (Trivia: Initially, the 5 tasks were called 5 treasures until Chiqui stepped in to reflect more on treasures.)
Fast forward to 2019, towards the end of our first decade of the book, and after mentoring tens of thousands of SME entrepreneurs in Day 8 Business Academy, we decided to put a face on the WE Entrepreneurs, so Day 8 launched The WE Awards for Purposeful Entrepreneurship. Recipients must be role models balancing both 5 tasks and 5 treasures, in other words, they must be successful people with business and family while leading or helping communities to thrive, instead of entrepreneurs running after the traditional metrics of power, fame and fortune for business success.
We shared the idea of WE Awards to DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez and Presidential Adviser Joey Concepcion for being our inspirations to the award. They were excited that they not only expressed their support but officially endorsed it as well for DTI and Go Negosyo, respectively. We are also grateful for their presence during the awarding. And for championing entrepreneurship in the Philippines, we awarded them special WE Entrepreneur citation as well.
I fell in love with the WE logo the moment I saw it, it was created by an Australian design firm. The W, with a wing-like structure suggests an image of a hand extending help and freedom to others, while the Greek symbol E signifies summation, as in having business, family and purpose. It is truly symbolic. Chiqui, the anthropologist, gave her final approval as CEO of Mansmith and Fielders Group.
The first batch of awardees of The WE Entrepreneurs, given last November 17, 2019 are:
- Zarah Juan of the fashion brand under her own name, for creating a sustainable business that cared for the environment and marginalized women.
- Dean Pax Lapid of SPAC Information Technology for unselfishly sharing his entrepreneurship knowledge via seminars and books and mentoring entrepreneurs and students alike to succeed.
- Dr. Anton Mari Lim of Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation. A veterinarian by profession, he led the organization from a simple project to an inspiring national movement that has built over 4,600 boats in 202 communities across the Philippines.
- Jorge Wieneke of Tokyo Tempura, for organizing the annual Kalye Negosyo, a free 6-month entrepreneurship mentoring to those in the bottom of pyramid.
(Photo from L-R are: WE Awards co-founder Josiah Go, Dean Pax Lapid of SPAC Information Technology, Jorge Wieneke of Tokyo Tempura, Presidential Adviser Joey Concepcion, Zarah Juan of Zarah Juan brand, Anton Lim of Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, and WE Awards co-founder Chiqui Escareal-Go)
(Photo from L-R are: WE Awards co-founder Josiah Go, summit moderator RJ Ledesma, DTI Sec. Ramon Lopez, Zarah Juan of Zarah Juan brand, Anton Mari Lim of Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, and WE Awards co-founder Chiqui Escareal-Go)
I enjoin you to visit www.day8.org to know the recipients more. They are included in the 10th anniversary version of the book “The WE Entrepreneur”.
Let me end by just sharing my pride that Chiqui directed the change of Mansmith and Fielders, Inc. (the mother company of Day 8) to be a purpose-based training and consultancy firm in the Philippines. Fifteen years after, Harvard’s HBR (Sept – Oct 2019) validated her change of direction and that purpose should not be an add-on but a core of a company. Since then, Mansmith not just offers the widest range of over 70 courses in marketing, sales, strategy and innovation, it is also the initiator not just of The WE Awards but is behind several awards like the Mansmith Young Market Masters Awards (YMMA), Mansmith Market Masters Awards (MMA) for senior mentors, and the Mansmith Innovation Awards. For information on its purpose-driven initiatives and high-impact programs, visit www.mansmith.net.
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The 2nd WE Awards for Purposeful Entrepreneurship will be in 2021. Please email me josiah@mansmith.net if you have role models in mind.
