Enderun Colleges hosted the first Sustainable Enterprise Summit at its campus on May 17, 2016.
Enderun Colleges is a management school located at McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio. Founded in 2005, it offers undergraduate courses in Entrepreneurship with special focus on Family Enterprise; in Business Administration, major in Financial Management, Operations Management, Marketing Management, Technology Management or Sustainability; in International Hospitality Management with specialization in Hotel Administration or Culinary Arts; and Economics with specialization in Saemaul Undong and International Development Cooperation. The school currently has 1,200 students, and it aims to increase it to 2,000, according to its Co Founder and Director of Admission & Enderun Extension, Mr. Daniel Perez, who is a graduate of Les Roches International School of Hotel Management.
Photo below shows three of the sustainable products at display at the Summit: a solar lighting kit, a bicycle made from bamboo, and a micro wind turbine.
Sustainability is one of the majors that can be selected in the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree offered by Enderun Colleges. It reflects the international perspective of the school’s educational program. Truth be told, if a student opts for a major in sustainabillity, he or she will most likely find employment in a multinational company than a local company, since most companies which embrace sustainability in its company culture are those originated from developed countries overseas.
Why is this so? It is because sustainability deals with big issues that affect us in the long run.  One of the speakers explain sustainability as having the capacity to meet the needs of present generation without compromising the well being of future generations. Examples are our ability to keep air and water pollution in check, and make food production less energy inefficient (e.g. it takes much less energy to produce edible plants than meat with the same calorific value). In developing countries, leaders are often short-sighted, and so are most of their enterprises. While those who push for sustainability talk about Triple Bottom line accounting (an accounting framework with three parts: social, environmental / ecological and financial) for businesses, most local businesses are still only concerned about the financial impact of their practices, initiatives and products or services.
This summit organized by Enderun Colleges allows local enterprises that incorporate sustainable development goals in their products and practices to demonstrate the feasibility of their business, as well as communicate to the public the goal and concept of their endeavors. These local enterprises include:
– Bambike, maker of environmentally friendly bicycles
- Hybrid Social Solutions, Inc.
– Human (Heart) Nature, Inc., manufacturer of environmentally friendly household products
– Ministry of Mushrooms, Inc. a company that grows mushrooms
– edukasyon.ph, a website that helps students find the right school
– AGREA, a farm and advocacy for farmers and sustainable farming methods
Big conglomerates such as SM Supermalls, Philex, and Holcim also sent their representatives to show support.
Photo above shows, from left to right, Mr. Bryan Benitez McClelland of Bambike,  Engr. Edmond P. Maceda of Enderun Colleges, Mr. Jaime I. Ayala of Hybrid Social Solutions, Inc.
Foreign companies like Quorn (a plant-based meat substitute) and Anakata Renewables Incorporated (that makes micro wind turbines for homes) also availed of the opportunity to showcase their products that contribute to environmental protection.
Photo above: from left to right, Mr. Marco Lobregat of Ministry of Mushrooms, Ms. Cherrie Atilano of AGREA, Mr. Henry Motte-Muñoz of edukasyon.ph, and Mr. Bryan Benitez McClelland. Three guys, one woman. Same passion for sustainability.
Mr. John Carden, an energy consultant, had an answer. The higher prices of products made from sustainable materials or processes were caused by low volume of production, Mr. Carden suggested. Once demand grows sufficiently, their cost could be reduced. In the near future, for the ordinary folks, they could benefit from the supply side of this new trend. For example, there is increasing demand from developed countries, both from governments and from the consuming public, for products that are more energy efficient, and for more intelligent energy management solutions. This can be translated to new jobs for trained workforce in lower cost countries.
And it can also be translated into a promising career, if you study a course that has sustainability in its curriculum, since more and more multinational companies will have positions for people with both knowledge of running a business and an understanding of the practice and principles of sustainability, whether it is for meeting regulatory requirements or for incorporating into the company’s practices, processes or products.
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Mr. John Carden shared his thoughts about the event below:
The event was well run, held in ÔÇ£The TentÔÇØ, a large air conditioned space. Delegates were well attended to by students of Enderun Hospitality Management students, who ensured that we always had coffee and water and the food served for lunch was excellent.
The speakers covered all areas of sustainability, including corporate energy management (from SM Supermalls and Ayala Land), sustainability in industry (from Philex Mining and Holcim Lafarge), transport (Viva Manila) and social enterprise (Agrea and Human Nature).
To take just one example of the talks, Jim Ayala of Hybrid Social Solutions spoke about some very viable programs bringing together new technology and need. Many Filipinos are ÔÇ£off gridÔÇØ and rely on Kerosene lamps for lighting. These are both expensive to use and dangerous too.┬á
Solar power (photovoltaics) are now lower in cost and combined with efficient LED lighting, there is a ready-made solution to this problem. Stored in a battery, generated power can be used for mobile phone charging and also refrigeration for storage of medicines.
Another application of photovoltaics which was discussed (by James Buskowitz) was for general large scale electricity generation. Because the Philippines has one of the highest electricity costs in the world but also very high solar irradiation (sunlight) photovoltaics are very cost effective. The payback on the investment is 4-6 years, half of that in Europe, where electricity costs are lower and irradiation less.
This was a well-run event with excellent passionate speakers. It gave an insight into both corporate and social enterprise. The Philippines has a 70% emissions reduction goal for 2030. If it is to achieve this the Philippines government will have to take note of the issues discussed at the Sustainability Summit and both reduce energy use and increase renewable energy generation. 
 John Carden BEng (Energy Engineering), CEng, Chartered Energy Manager, FEI
Director
Economic Energy (UK) Ltd
