Happy, happy birthday, Trese! Co-founder Mike Go sits down with us and looks back on the last 6 years filled with family and bayanihan.

Happy, happy birthday, Trese! Co-founder Mike Go sits down with us and looks back on the last 6 years filled with family and bayanihan.

Bagong Payatas Community Ventures Inc., better known as "Trese", is a social enterprise located at Gawad Kalinga Blue Eagle Village in Payatas 13, Quezon City. Trese's battle cry is to prove that business can thrive within GK communities.

As Trese celebrates its sixth year of giving more for others, co-founder Mike Go looks back on how a simple-yet-ambitious community development program bloomed into a social enterprise that continues to make ripples of change.

 

How did Trese come about? Where did it all start for you?

Mike: It started in 2008 when I was still in Gawad Kalinga Ateneo. Back then, social entrepreneurship was mostly about microfinance, thinking that if you give the poor capital they would know how to make it grow. This was rather difficult since most wouldn't consider the poor as entrepreneurial as society considered them merely as labor.

 

Why did you choose to partner with GK Payatas 13?

Mike: A lot of people consider GK's colorful houses as the measurement of transformation but GK Payatas 13 has shown it through its people. Years of constant presence from student volunteers and exposure to other partners helped the community believe that they're not alone in this long journey. 

When we started the livelihood program, it was not a facilitator - beneficiary relationship. It helped a lot that they knew how to talk to people of different backgrounds and we instantly felt like partners. It was the ease of building relationships in the community that helped upgrade the program into a social enterprise. We outgrew chasing income to become a team determined to provide for the greater community. 

 

How has Trese improved the lives of  the people of the community?

Mike: From witnessing individuals making better life decisions to stories of families healing due to the Walang Iwanan relationship cultivated within the enterprise. The permanence of the business within the community has helped them believe that the path to goodness is real. 

I'm blessed to realize this change when I hear my team speak about what we do and who we do it for. They confidently share in front of other people since its affixed in us that this is not just for income nor for survival, this is for fueling our shared dream of uplifting our community and achieving quality of life for all. 

 

What has been the most challenging for you as a Trese family? What has been the most rewarding?

Mike: The most challenging is proving that we're not a charity program but a full-fledged business out to compete for opportunities. There are still a lot of people skeptical about partnering with the poor thinking that investing so much in them or giving higher than minimum wage is crazy or unsustainable. 

The most rewarding would be the unsolicited compliments from visitors and customers. Before we really had to keep talking about the good that we do so people don't forget about us. It's great that it's now spreading via word of mouth.

 

Lastly, this month is all about celebrating heroism in everyone. How do you think Trese has been a hero for others?

Mike: Trese has always been about the community and how other communities in need can do the same. There are no trade secrets as our purpose has always been to work hard to give quality of life to everyone. 


Trese at their Team Building & Family Day

 

Human Nature is a proud supporter of Trese, partnering with them to create pro-Philippines, pro-poor, and pro-environment merchandise. For more information on Trese, check out their Facebook page or contact Mike Go through 09176289990.