During my stay with Hapinoy, I had a chance to visit the community stores with store doctors to see what their role was within the program, and to hear what the concerns of the community stores were. It really took shadowing the store doctors to see how the program worked, and whom it was that the program was working for. The store doctors are employed by a manpower agency called Asia Pro, which referred them to MicroVentures Inc. Most of the store doctors have backgrounds in business management, and once they were hired underwent further training to better understand the format of the Hapinoy program. One of the store doctors, Jericho Acosta, believed that having store doctors for the Hapinoy program was essential in providing a stronger connection between MicroVentures Inc. and the nanays (mothers/ storeowners). He explained how personal relationships were the strongest value of Hapinoy—that for sari sari stores to succeed, it was important to have positive relationships with their customers, so that Hapinoy stores were a welcoming place where you felt comfortable and connected to the person selling you goods.
Over three days in the field, I visited a total of 7 community stores located throughout South Luzon. Overall, the majority of nanays were pleased with the Hapinoy program. Most of the nanays expressed that after joining Hapinoy there was an increase in profits and customers, a larger supply of goods, and that from attending the community store meetings they had learned new business techniques and leadership skills so that they were more open and confident in their business. One of the nanays, Tita Sally explained that being part of Hapinoy, and being a community store owner brought a lot of responsibility. Community stores are the leaders within their community; they receive more capital and more goods, and have more customers to take care of. Tita Sally said that other storeowners in the community wish that they could be community store owners as well because of the benefits, but are scared because of these responsibilities. She was proud to be the lead store in the community, the one store chosen by CARD to hold this position.
The community stores receive delivered goods from distributing companies that are partnered with Hapinoy. This decreases the time spent shopping for store goods each week, and seemed to be what most nanays described as one of the major benefits of the Hapinoy program. During my time visiting the stores, a new computerized Point of sales (POS) system was being implemented. While the computerized POS system was a goal for all Hapinoy stores, storeowners must have a computer system, and they must become familiarized with the program. However, some storeowners some were having trouble seeing the necessity of such a system. From visiting community stores it was also apparent that these forms of accounting for transactions was difficult because goods are being purchased so quickly that it is hard to record each one. While adding the POS system store-wide would make transactions more clear and efficient, this advanced technology seemed a little out of place in communities where there are people struggling for livelihood. Overtime, I think that more technology will be implemented in the Hapinoy stores to create a more efficient environment for sari sari stores.
Hapinoy has really created a new model for businesses in the Philippines. As a social enterprise, Hapinoy addresses social problems, which have yet to be targeted by businesses and implements innovative ways of doing so. Hapinoy changes the way people look at business. It allows people to see that making money and making a difference can exist together—hopefully encouraging more people overtime to do so.
