How a beverage company empowers women to become eco stars

NEW YORK CITY —  Marife Hilario is a humble sari-sari store owner from Nueva Ecija, and yet I heard her inspiring success story half a world away at the 68th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW68), themed “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective,” held at UN Headquarters in New York City.

The Philippines had the honor of chairing the UN CSW68 this year, and a Philippine delegation composed of CSW chair (Asia and Pacific States Group) Antonio Lagdameo, 45 government officials, and partners from Coca-Cola Philippines flew to NYC to attend the conference, which was held from March 11 to 24.

There, at a side event called “Women in TVET (Technical Vocational Education and Training): Unlocking Digital Empowerment” moderated by UN Women Goodwill Ambassador from the Philippines Karen Davila, TESDA deputy director general for partnerships and special concerns Vidal Villanueva III said that while the Philippines rose to 16th place out of 146 countries in 2023’s Global Gender Gap Report and was the second highest gender-equal country in East Asia and the Pacific after New Zealand in 2023, women’s participation in the Philippine labor force remains lower than men, according to the World Economic Forum.

“Based on a 2023 article from the UN Development Program, women are significantly underrepresented in ICP, prevailing a gender gap of 12.5% in terms of internet usage globally,” he noted. “As a response, we need to address the low access and unavailability of ICP tools, especially for women and girls.”

Ivanna Dela Torre, senior director of Coca-Cola East Region in the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam, declared, “We cannot overstate the role that women play in the care and upbringing of our youth and families.  As reported by UN Women, women disproportionately bear the responsibility of childcare and household management, dedicating an average 2.6 times more hours to unpaid care and domestic work than men. We do stand at a critical time where women empowerment isn’t merely a moral call but an economic imperative.”

Dela Torre said the call to action from this year’s meetings has been very consistent: invest in women. “The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres himself acknowledges that this is not only for gender equality, but also for poverty alleviation. So let me add one word to this: invest in women together. It’s within this backdrop that we highlight the pivotal role of public-private partnerships in driving women economic empowerment.”

Globally, the Coca-Cola Company and its partners enabled the economic empowerment of over 6 million women entrepreneurs from 2010 to 2020. “We’ve been able to achieve this through collaborations and partnerships across 100 markets around the world,” noted Dela Torre. “The Coca-Cola Foundation has partnered with Kiva, an online micro-lending platform, establishing a revolving loan fund that will provide capital and support to 45,000 women entrepreneurs in low-income countries, including the Philippines.”

For over a decade now, Coca-Cola Philippines has been investing in women together with TESDA. Their online program iSTAR (Sari-sari Store Training and Access to Resources) provides women entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in the competitive world of micro retailing.

“In the Philippines we call them sari-sari stores or karinderia,” Dela Torre related. “Similar to an online MBA, the program covers key business concepts: marketing, finance, operations, but even better than an MBA, it also provides access to finances, business coaching and mentoring. It focuses on the realities and challenges that these women micro retailers face on the ground. Through this very tailored approach, our aim is for iSTAR graduates to gain a comprehensive understanding of how to grow their businesses, adapt to digital trends, have access to business resources, build networks and most importantly, increase their income for their families.”

Graduates from iSTAR surpassed Coca-Cola’s original target of 100,000 women entrepreneurs in over five years.  Another secret ingredient in Coke’s formula is digital innovation, which allowed them to scale iSTAR even during the pandemic, enabling women retailers to have online access to micro financing at zero-percent interest during the pandemic.

Going even further, as part of Coke’s global sustainability commitment to collect and recycle 100% of the PET bottles they produce by 2030, their Tindahan Extra Mile (TEM) program transforms their female entrepreneurs’ stores into collection-for-recycling hubs.

“This not only contributes to circularity and packaging, but also provides economic benefits for micro retailers,” Dela Torre notes. Through a mobile platform, they can earn environmental points they can convert to buy more inventory, or incentives that can further grow their business. “Our iSTARs have now become Eco Stars,” Dela Torre says. “By aligning their business operations with sustainability goals, they are setting themselves apart as forward-thinking and responsible retailers.”

Joy Munsayac-Cacal, Coca-Cola Philippines’ senior manager of Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability, spoke about iSTAR’s success stories in her talk “Digital Transformation for Women: Economic Empowerment with iSTAR Program  and Reborn Tindahan Extra Mile.”

I heard the inspiring story of Marife Hilario, a sari-sari store and online shop owner from Talavera, Nueva Ecija.  When the pandemic hit, Hilario struggled to keep her small business afloat, until she saw the opportunities in the iSTAR program.

“Pinaka-advantage ng iSTAR, anytime pwede siyang gawin,” said Hilario, who received the digital hardware she needed to take the iSTAR course and starting capital of P10,000. “Malaking naitulong ito sa negosyo ko.”

Through iSTAR’s modules, she learned how to do inventory and budget her earnings, which became her favorite activities. Hilario then decided to expand her business online, and is now earning over P50,000 monthly from her starting fund of P10,000. Now she’s confident enough to say, “Ako si Marife Hilario, ang iSTAR ng Talavera, Nueva Ecija.”

Another iSTAR is Leah Serrano from Porac, Pampanga, who is Coke’s very first Aeta graduate of iSTAR On The Go, the offline version of the program. Porac is a far-flung community with low internet connectivity, so the iStar Program designed an offline version and rolled it out with the support of ASKI (Alalay sa Kaunlaran), an NGO that promotes and develops micro, small and medium enterprises.

“Dahil sa iSTAR program natuto ako mag-inventory, mag-stock ng mga paninda,” Serrano said. “Nakapag-load po ako ng 10k, ginamit ko ’yon sa sari-sari store.”

iSTAR empowered Leah to boost her income, which grew to P24,000. “Yung mga sale ko sa iSTAR sa pagnenegosyo, kahit saan po ako, dala-dala ko yung natutunan ko.”

“Going 14 years of women’s economic empowerment at the Coca-Cola Company in the Philippines, this is a milestone moment as we carry and share the stories representing hundreds of thousands of thriving Filipino micro retailers alongside equally passionate partners from the governments, civil society organizations and private sector like us,” Cacal said.  “The micro retail industry in the Philippines is 86% owned and operated by women. The three components of the program — access to training, access to resources and access to peer mentoring or business coaching — unlock opportunities of micro retailers through the gadgets that they use every day, i.e. their mobile phone.”

Coca-Cola Ph observed that when women are given the opportunity to earn, they invest the majority of their income in the welfare of their family, including basic necessities, nutrition, education and health. “So imagine, if we can empower more women micro retailers and help increase their incomes through digitalization, we just might be able to halt generational cycles of poverty among families at the grassroots level,” Cacal said.

The iSTAR program is free and accessible nationwide — even globally. Implemented in 2021, with the goal of reaching 100,000 micro and small entrepreneurs nationwide by 2025, within three years iSTAR had surpassed its target, reaching over 150,000 by the end of 2023. “While we did not design iSTAR for the recent pandemic, by the time the pandemic hit hard in the Philippines our program was ready for rollout online,” noted Cacal. “Having achieved our target ahead of schedule, together with TESDA we are now beginning to establish sustainability mechanisms through the iSTAR Centers for Entrepreneurship. There will be an initial seven that will be established across key regions in the Philippines to ensure that access to these business opportunities are available and sustained beyond the year 2025.”

The last success story I heard was about a group of 20 iSTAR graduates who were classmates in Batch 2022. After finishing the program, they formed the Pasco Producers Cooperative of Muntinlupa City.

Coca-Cola Ph provided technical assistance and helped them in their cooperative business planning. From a traditional food outlet, they formed an eco-grocer combining all their specialty products and foods and also started a catering business, which allowed them to earn as a cooperative. From an average of P5,000 individually, collectively they made P100,000.

Coca-Cola also gave the Pasco Coop a chance to increase their income by collecting and recycling PET bottles, using environmental points under Tindahan Extra Mile.

“The five months I’ve been a member of TEM, I use points to buy products and convert to capital,” said Pasco member Christina Constantino.

“Women economic empowerment is aligned with our company purpose of refreshing the world and making a difference,” says Cacal. “At Coca-Cola Philippines we believe that investing in women in an inclusive manner is a winning formula towards a more sustainable community and a more vibrant Philippine economy.”

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