MANILA, Philippines – “Be good at telling stories and committing to the stories you tell.”

If there’s one thing Jourdan Sebastian wants to tell you about creating successful social marketing campaigns, this would be it.

Jourdan is the CEO of Taclob and one of the speakers at our #WhatsNext workshop last November 11.

Taclob has a good story to tell. In 2013, when Tacloban was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda, the city was left in shambles and its people, jobless. Jourdan, and his partner, Justin Capen, a financial and business consultant, saw this as an opportunity to change the narrative of tragedy and loss to one of empowerment and rebuilding: by providing jobs to the survivors.

This gave birth to Compassion and Courage, eco-friendly backpacks manufactured by Taclobanons right in the middle of a disaster zone. These were sold in pairs, Compassion as a lifestyle backpack and Courage, which doubles as a flotation device, as a backpack that could save a child’s life.

Three years since Taclob started, Jourdan’s social enterprise continues to thrive – even attracting the support of investors.  

“Social entrepreneurship should be a balance of people, planet, and profit,” said Jourdan.

So, how did he do it? By committing to the stories he told.

As Taclob grew to become a successful enterprise, so did the 17 Taclobanons who pioneered this with him. With 1% of stocks each for the 15 workers and 2% for each of the two supervisors, they will continue to benefit from whatever Jourdan achieves.

But for Jourdan, success can only happen if you know who you are because only then will you be able to identify your passion and your target audience.

“When it comes to business, especially in social marketing, you don’t have to focus on everyone, you just have to focus on people who like what you’re doing,” said Jourdan. “We don’t have to cater to everyone and everything, if you do that, you’ll lose your identity. You’ll lose yourself.”

And that’s what Raf Dionisio, co-founder of The Circle Hostel, also a speaker from our #WhatsNext workshop, did.

After trying different kinds of businesses, Raf knew that what he really wanted was to help the people and the planet. That became the foundation of The Circle Hostel. By letting the locals and tourists mingle, promoting social tourism, The Circle was able to provide livelihood for the residents of Zambales.

“Doing good makes good business sense,” said Raf.

But he knows that he could do so much more. So he’s also helping the Aetas bring back their rainforests and culture devastated by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 by giving them seeds to plant and letting them harvest their own produce. He’s not just doing this for the people but also for the environment.

It wasn’t easy for Raf. He had to sacrifice many things, date nights included, to save enough money to sustain his social enterprise. But for him, it’s all worth it.

“Why am I doing what I do? Because my generation and those after will inherit this world,” shared Raf.

Through Rappler’s #WhatsNext programs, we aim to push aspiring entrepreneurs to know who they are, identify their passion, and help them get their business ideas off the ground.

“If you want to pursue your passion, it has to start with an action step,” said Jenny Chua, Head of Communities, Rappler.

#WhatsNext workshops on business, marketing, and soon on living well, arts, crafts, music provide you the platform to do that.

If you want to pursue your passion for cooking and healthy living, watch out for our upcoming #WhatsNext workshop in partnership with Holy Carabao on December 9.

For more information, visit https://rappler.com/brandrap/whatsnext. – Rappler.com

We would like to thank Starbucks Philippines, Poke Poke, and CDM for being part of this #WhatsNext workshop.