The most recent report from the Philippines’ National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) (opens in new tab) shows that the poverty level in the country for the past six years has remained stagnant. The first half of 2012 posted a 27.9%-poverty incidence, which is just slightly less than the 28.8% recorded in the first half of 2006. With these alarming results, the Philippine government is calling for various stakeholders to unite and partake in developing new strategies that could help alleviate the lives of the Filipinos below the poverty line.
Enter Philippine-based social enterprise Rags2Riches, whose core mission is to empower the lives of less-privileged artisans, giving them fair access to the market and the formal economy. Additionally, they provide additional skills, financial and health training so their clients can maximize their career potential and take steps towards long-term financial and personal well-being. Rags2Riches' philosophy stands on its four bottom lines: People, Profit, Planet and Positive Influence.
The eco-ethical mission of Rags2Riches is further enhanced by NetSuite, which has been running its core business processes since 2012 through a grant from the NetSuite.org (opens in new tab) corporate citizenship program. NetSuite provides the social enterprise with real-time business management for financials, ecommerce, and inventory management, while enabling anywhere, anytime access to critical business information. Since its implementation, NetSuite has helped Rags2Riches increase revenue, as well its artisan community and full-time staff.
"NetSuite has been a big part of the Rags2Riches effort to help our artisans lift themselves and their families out of poverty. NetSuite is more than just a tool—they are a genuine partner and like family. In one glance, we are able to see the quality of livelihood we are providing our artisans. And the knowledge of this allows us to make decisions that further enhance our cause,” said Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, Rags2Riches founder and CEO and one of the five inaugural Rolex Young Laureates selected by the Rolex Foundation in Switzerland in recognition of her work.
As Rags2Riches continue to grow, so too does its use of NetSuite. Working with Manila-based CloudTech (opens in new tab), a NetSuite partner and recent winner of NetSuite’s APAC Solution Provider of the Year, Rags2Riches plans to go on to a Phase II implementation to link its ecommerce webstore to NetSuite, as well as deploy NetSuite’s Manufacturing module to help track work across the decentralized artisan community and improve final assembly and quality assurance processes at a centralized workshop in Manila for more than 10,000 products made each month.
For more information on Rags2Riches, please visit www.rags2riches.ph
