Mike has had extensive groundwork in social entrepreneurship, impact assessment and community development in urban and rural settings in the Philippines for over 12 years. His approach entails observing challenges and opportunities from the stakeholder’s point of view before designing interventions based on absorptive capacities, appropriate technologies, and market-based solutions.

He currently engages in biodiversity and gender empowerment projects to expand the influence of social entrepreneurship principles.

Shanon is a Filipino Social Innovator. He believes that enterprise can create positive, meaningful and lasting social change. In 2010 he co-founded the GK Enchanted Farm in Angat, Bulacan. The Enchanted Farm is a countryside platform for Social Enterprises and Agribusiness to help end poverty. In 2012 he co-founded a Social Enterprise called Bayani Brew which produces healthy beverages using locally-sourced ingredients to help increase incomes of Farmers. Shanon has 11-years of experience in mentoring and training Social Entrepreneurs to be more impactful.

A decade long presence in the development sector, Joni has pursued her advocacy in the poverty-alleviation sector starting a few initiatives including building a social enterprise incubator platform, creating a school for social enterprise for the young bright poor, and developing start-up social enterprises with the poorest of the poor communities in the rural areas.

Joni continues to advocate for innovative development and social welfare initiatives in different capacities. She is currently involved in development media communication, research and start-up development. She also sits as Board Director at the GK Enchanted Farm.

Billy has held various roles in development initiatives and educational institutions over the last 11 years. He has played key roles in development of programs for youth in areas of leadership, social entrepreneurship, and community development. He has also brought his experiences in leadership and development towards the area of management consulting and is helping others create meaningful impact within and outside of their own organizations.

He is currently an Program Officer of YouthLed with particular focus on the Youth Leadership Development

Karl is building a portfolio of initiatives on inclusive finance, civic engagement, and food security. He previously served as Director at the Office of Senator Bam Aquino at the Senate of the Philippines where he co-designed policies including the Philippine Startup Law. He also co-founded a social enterprise incubator, and an urban innovation pre-accelerator. He graduated with an MA in International Development and Policy from the University of Chicago as an Obama Scholar.

Joco works as the Programme Lead for Tandemic, an impact consultancy firm with its headquarters in Malaysia. He also works as a consultant for makesense, an international organization committed to supporting social innovations, and xchange, an investment firm and incubator based in the Philippines. Finally, he recently joined the board of advisors of People Beyond Borders, a non-profit organization based in India that is committed to empowering Afghan women refugees through its livelihood programs. Over the years, he has mentored social enterprises across Asia, worked with large organizations such as Coca-Cola, Sanofi, Decathlon, and UNDP, and managed volunteer programs for citizens across the Philippines.

Tal de Guzman is the founder and designer of Risqué Designs, a footwear brand and manufacturing company that focuses on using Filipino materials, skills and inspirations. She works with weavers from Buhi Camsur and Valladolid Negros Occidental to complement her shoe designs that are handmade by her team of shoemakers in Marikina. She is also the co-founder of Stride Collective, a community of more than 20 Shoepreneurs that have their shoe brands manufactured by Risque, and aims to “collaborate rather than compete.”

Tal is an advocate of local crafts and promotes ethical manufacturing and sourcing practices. She also conducts regular trainings with artisan communities and teaches in various schools and studios, including at the Dela Salle College of Saint Benilde. She’s just recently finished her Master in Entrepreneurship - Social Enterprise Development track, with two commendations, at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business.

Leah D. Rasay is a creativity professional and advocate who engages the use of artistic talents for social change, effective visual and service design for good governance, and events and communications initiatives for grassroots policy feedback and experience. She is a Global Social Impact House Fellow and is currently establishing Husay.co, a web platform that upskills artists and connects them to jobs in creative industries.

Claire has 14 years of marketing and partnerships experience in both for-profit and development sectors. She enjoys pinning down clear and effective strategies, leading teams through execution and landing win-win partnerships. She is most passionate about using her skills, time and energy for causes she believes in. This passion has guided her career choices to date. Recently, Claire has made a shift into more creative work: interior design. As she cultivated this interest over the last 3 years, she has come to deeply appreciate the power of well-designed spaces to affect people’s lives. She is currently working on decorating and small-scale home renovation projects while she completes her diploma course in Interior Design & Decoration in Sydney Design School (via Interior Design Online).

On a more personal note, she is a lifelong learner, a fan of music, nature and good coffee, and a yoga teacher twice a week.

Angie is marketing and business strategy by profession, early childhood learning advocate by choice. She is co-founder at Bebu, an early childhood education startup.

Charles is a degree holder in Industrial Design. He’s also adept at transforming his designs into prototypes and fabricating products manually or digitally. He is extensively involved in establishing Fablabs all throughout the country and supports the Philippine Fablab Community. As the Philippine Innovation Lead for Field Ready, he is exploring the opportunities in mobilizing makerspaces and fablab’s capabilities for Humanitarian Aid and Community Development. A model that Field Ready has been doing in many countries including Fiji, where Charles was involved last year. Prior to joining Field Ready, he was with the Department of Trade and Industry when the first Fablab in the Philippines opened in Bohol as the Lab Coordinator, and continued the initiative together with Fablab - University of the Philippines, Cebu as a Senior Business Counsellor. He also designed and assisted in marketing upcycled plastic products for Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), whose goal is to create entrepreneurial opportunities for women in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, from reinventing plastic bags into plastic sheets.

Raf is an social entrepreneur who dreams of a world that is poverty free and sustainable. He is focused on farmers, forest, indigenous people and sustainability. He was selected as a Young Southeast Asian Leader by the US Embassy and New Zealand. He has also won the SIPAG awards of Senator Villar, TAYO awards of Senator Aquino and the Good Design award in Japan. The 3 time TEDx speaker, starts with the Philippines, by creating harmony between the environment and the economy. Regenerating and unlocking the environment and economic value of the forest ecosystem is one way to create climate resilience while building profitable industries that can lower our carbon footprint. He is currently co founder of Make A Difference Travel, which since the pandemic has become MAD Courses, an online education program teaching social entrepreneurship, and MAD Market, an online marketplace that supports farmers, small businesses and social enterprises. He is also co founder of The Circle hostel, The Plastic Solution and is head of Global Building Materials, a green construction company. He is currently working with Aeta and Dumagat tribes in Luzon, engaging them as business partners and helping them grow over 3,000 hectares of agro forest and building sustainable businesses for their families.

Carlos Hechanova is the Executive Director at Makesense, a non-profit collaborating with citizens, social entrepreneurs, and organizations in creating positive social impact through collective action.

Through the Makesense Academy, an incubator for early-stage social startups, Carlos has supported and mentored social entrepreneurs across Asia in tackling different causes such as health, climate, education, and urban sustainability.

Drawing his insight from a background in architectural design and business development, Carlos is passionate about using the power of business, creativity, innovation, and radical collaboration for social change and a more just and inclusive society.