Earning from business with social concern
Few business enterprise do have that same concern as the food chain called "Binalot." Most food outlet uses styropor, plastic, non-biodegradeable packaging. Although they are re-cycleable but there's a big problem in segrating them and some found their way on canals, esteros and other waterways, clogging the waterways and causing flooding.
This what call my attention with the Binalot style of packaging, using dahon ng saging.
Their business (food-chain) has made another business for our townfolks (first in Nagcarlan) a supplier of dahon to Binalot and other food outlet using the same in packaging and preparation of food (bibingka).
This is what "Binalot" say...
Corporate Social Responsibility
Doing well,
while doing good, is the mantra of the growing number of companies who espouse
Corporate Social Responsibility (C.S.R.).
We in
Binalot, however, believe that for C.S.R. to make even better sense, it should
promote the “win-win” approach. While setting aside funds to help communities
is a noble undertaking, it would be better if both the corporation and the
community benefit from the C.S.R.
program. This ensures that the project can be sustained over a long
term, and not become just a one-shot deal.
Our DAHON
(Dangal At Hanapbuhay para sa Nayon) Program, we are proud to say, does
just that – an example of how both the community and the company can benefit
from the same program.
Initiated
at the start of 2007, DAHON helps farmers from Nagcarlan, Laguna, a quaint town
nestled at the foothills of mystic Mt.
Banahaw, about 100 kms.
South of Manila,
earn more from selling banana leaves. And as the farmers plant and sell more
banana leaves, Binalot benefits because we are ensured a steady supply of
quality banana leaves at a low price. Binalot is heavily dependent on
banana
leaves because our meals are served wrapped in a banana leaf, which locks in
the food’s flavor (Binalot is a Filipino word which means wrapped). Having that
dedicated community that not only supplies the leaves, but also cuts and
sanitizes them to Binalot’s specifications, eliminates added costs.
The DAHON
program’s benefits have also gone beyond just the economic. DAHON, for
instance, has empowered the women of the community as they now earn about 200 pesos
a day from cutting the leaves. It has also given the elderly a sense of purpose
because they’ve been given a chance to remain productive by helping cut and
prepare the leaves.
The
environment has also benefited from the program as leaf trimmings, which used
to be thrown away by Binalot’s commissary (and therefore find their way to the
city’s mounting trash heaps), are now used as compost material at the community
level. Even the community chapel cum day care center has also benefited from
the DAHON program, acquiring a much needed renovation and re-painting, with
labor and materials provided by Binalot.
And the
benefits just keep on coming.
Plans are
afoot to set up backyard fishponds and vegetable gardens (particularly tomatoes
and onions, which are among Binalot’s staple ingredients), which will further
augment the farmers’ incomes and ensure a steady supply of ingredients to
Binalot.
Binalot is
also looking into the possibility of duplicating this successful model to other
communities in other parts of the country that can be developed to supply other
goods that Binalot needs to expand.
With
the DAHON program, Binalot has shown that you don’t have to be big to make a
difference. You just need to have an idea and the commitment to turn it into reality.
Binalot is truly committed to advocating for
rural development by persistently empowering the communities.
