To impart its learnings for the past 25 years, hygiene products company Sanitary Care Products Asia (SCPA) picked three Philippine startups that embody people-first philosophy and value human contribution to the growth of businesses.

In partnership with the Asian Institute of Management-Dado Banatao Incubator (AIM-DBI), SCPA launched the social accelerator program called the Human Investment x Impact Grant for Entrepreneurship and Empowerment or the HIIGENE Program, a few months ago.

Equity-free cash grants of up to P500,000 each are waiting for the three startups (Eskwelabs, Mayani, and PayRuler) to help expand and sustain their companies. Starting July until September, the founders will participate in a six-session mentorship program with the SCPA executives. The HIIGENE curriculum features enrichment topics based on real-life experiences such as establishing the business purpose, strategies, operations, finance, sales and marketing, and people management to inspire their organization’s practices.

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Initially, only one startup will receive the grant and mentorship, but the father and son team of Renato Sio, founder and chair of SCPA, and Ven Sio, president and CEO, SCPA, saw the potential of the young founders in empowering people. SCPA decided to provide mentorship even to those who didn’t make the cut, as its way of celebrating its 25th anniversary.

SCPA mentorship

“We believe that the mentorship will give us the opportunity to learn from them, from their battle scars,” said JT Solis, co-Founder and CEO of agriculture startup Mayani. “Getting first-hand learning from SCPA will hopefully lead us to be better founders and entrepreneurs.”

The HIIGENE Program is considered to be the very first collaboration of a local company and a business incubator. It was crafted according to the Sio family’s initiative to support local entrepreneurs with human investment infused in its business gene. Through this, SCPA aspires to help build an industry of people-first enterprises, boost the economy, and improve the lives of many through innovation.

PayRuler is a Cebu-based startup that offers a locally developed HR management system. Initially, it offered payroll services, hence the name. But the founders saw the need for automated HR services and through their experiences in IT, they decided to expand it.

Eskwelabs is a startup that aims to equip people with data skills as data is the new currency.

SCPA executives, members of the academe, and the corporate industry chose from the 11 startups who pitched their innovations and the three emerged as the top choices for the grant and mentorship. Updates on the progress and achievements of the three winners will be monitored by the AIM-DBI milestone monitoring program. These will be presented during the culminating SCPA’s silver anniversary celebration, which will take place in October.