Rags2riches

Rags2Riches (www.rags2riches.ph) is a social enterprise that sells world-class fashion bags designed by top fashion icon Rajo Laurel (www.rajolaurel.com) and high-end rugs woven by Payatas women from scraps of cloth which used to add to the trash of a 22 hectare dumpsite.

Beyond the latest craze bags and rugs that enjoyed tri-media coverage both here and abroad, R2R is in the business of promoting the new business philosophy of 4Ps - Planet, People, Profit and Positive influence.

Rags2Riches protects the earth by recycling (Planet), empower marginalized women abused by middle men (People), establish a sustainable/scalable business (Profit) and set a good example (Positive Influence).

With the help of the country’s top fashion designers currently led by Rajo Laurel, Rags2Riches honed the home-grown rug-making skills and creativity of the Payatas women to transform scrap foot rugs to environment-friendly fashionable rugs, and now from highly attractive rugs to elegant and classy bags still made from scrap materials.

Weaving is done at home respecting the natural roles/responsibilities of Mothers while assembly is done in a place near their houses utilizing free times.

We initially joined upscale bazaars held in 5-star hotels. Then we earned media attention that allowed us to expand our reach allowing us to be featured by choice outlets fit for our products. We are currently screening more potential upscale stores especially for areas outside Manila.

We will also have the first export by next month (in less than a year of operation) to be followed by more international sales. All of these on top of exclusive parties similar to Tupperware sales gatherings by invitation to maintain the elite image.

The AB is our primary target market which is practically untapped as far as our product is concerned. The richest 1.7 million Filipinos who earned 36% of the total 2006 Family income of just over P36 Trillion is the primary target then.

The 40 Richest Filipinos alone have $16 billion total net worth. We are ambitiously tapping into the country’s elite and we hope to capture even a fraction of this market, realistically churning P1 Million in the first year and geometrically increasing to at least P10 Million by the 5th year.

We already “enjoy” the reputation of having been imitated. However, competitor did not sell because they could not get endorsements especially of known Fashion Designers who already expressed exclusive support for our team.

The other consideration is the indirect competition from bags being promoted to be environment-friendly like recycled and reusable bags. All of these, however, pale in comparison to our designer collection.

The competitive advantages include: difficult to duplicate endorsement by prominent fashion designers who already expressed exclusive support for us, prominent team that has several connections, and the stories behind each product.

Rags2Riches is a social investment, not only in a community, but also in a systemic and scalable way to realize the value of the marginalized and transform recycling to a way of life. The company revolutionizes social marketing, value creation, fashion, recycling, and business through strategic partnerships, community-centered and community-based community building, and effective market approach.

Our dream is to write the much needed rule book for social entrepreneurship which to-date is inexistent.

We believe that R2R will be sustainable if we will be faithful to our 4Ps. By practicing Profit with honor, we boost our sales by practicing world-class marketing with principled ethics. People will be treated as the most valuable asset thereby resulting to optimal productivity. Protection of Planet will be a premium that will win global support. All of these will be a positive influence growing our network of supporters.

The President Xavier Alpasa, SJ has more than 10 years of corporate training serving Company Presidents and another 10 years of working with the poor through the Jesuit ministries.

The Board Members are composed of prominent personalities including Paolo Benigno Aquino who is the nephew of the country’s modern day hero Benigno Aquino. Marketing guru from Unilever now Hapinoy founder Mark Ruiz, Loyola University Chicago MBA graduate Maan Lim and Deutsche Bank’s Angeline Benavides complete the board of directors.

Social entrepreneurship requires the unique combination of professional business and community organizing skills, social orientation and corporate vision and the intense profit and people orientation.

All of these are successfully accomplished because the board members are especially gifted with the same unique combinations from solid experiences both from the corporate and poor communities.

I spend half of my week for the business as major business activities are attended to by the two Vice Presidents (Internal and External) supported by specialists in community organizing, production, administration and other human resources.

Rags2Riches has already generated more than 1,000,000 sales revenues for around 300 families in Payatas. Moreover, Rags2Riches also offers free modules such as values formation and financial literacy to build individual competencies as well as build the community.

The company has already saved at least 50 tons of cloth scraps and counting. The company has partnered with several factories that agreed to channel their scraps to Rags2Riches instead of dumping them on the already-saturated dumpsite or selling them to middlemen.