Women's entrepreneurship plays a very important role in the advancement of a country’s socioeconomic status. However, women entrepreneurs who desire and aspire to secure a successful entrepreneurial path in this digital era are still faced with gender gap issues and concerns. Addressing gender issues in innovation and business, the Department of Science and Technology- Philippine Council for Indus
try, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development launched Women-Helping-Women: Innovating Social Enterprises, a program that brings together government agencies and private organizations to seek out and prepare women-led social enterprises for growth, scalability, and subsequent Venture Capitalist funding. The program provides a suite of services, including early-stage funding, training, skills development, mentorship, and business incubation. More importantly, it will provide access to technology to enable even women from rural communities to be part of the global economy. The program’s main agency is Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) with Jinky B. It is co-implemented by Miriam College (MC) and University of the Philippines - Mindanao (UP-Min). The program runs virtually through the activities facilitated and designed by iDEYA: Center for Innovation and Technopreneurship (MSU-IIT) in Iligan City; UP Growing and Developing Enterprises (UPGRADE, UP-Min) in Davao City; and MC - Technology Business Incubator (MC-TBI) in Metro Manila. Villgro Philippines, Social Enterprise Academy (UK) and Bayan Academy are the three cooperating agencies assigned to further realize the objectives of the program by providing consultations and learning sessions.
