what we get is what we give

MBA is a generalist course which means it caters to a wide array of specialization. What I love about it is that you have this opportunity to know different professional people with various specialization. There are engineers, accountants, IT, executives, etc. If you get to know these people, you'll surely get the advantage of having a lot of connections.

In our CSR class this week, the whole class individually presented what their companies do and what community programs and campaign they currently apply. It is exciting to see that there are several programs already which greatly impacts the country in a positive way. Some examples are facilitating charities, helping build houses and schools, educating children, planting trees, and pro bono work. In my case, we have this foundation which caters to its employees who wanted to make a difference. It basically funds the idea or better yet, help the group of employees raise finances by facilitating activities such as fun runs, food selling, etc. In addition to the company background and their current CSR's, each of us presented our own CSR ideas which can be presented to our own organizations. For me, this is a great activity to open our minds to what our companies are capable of doing in terms of helping the community. Also, this develops our leadership on how we can run this idea through our own companies.

From all the presentations, the pro-bono works give me inspiration wherein this is to showcase ones specialization to help the community. For instance, one of my classmates presented that they would help in planning build houses for the squatters living beside the rivers and lakes. There has been a study that these houses are one of the causes of flooding in Metro Manila. In his proposal, they would prepare a plan for an apartment type building for these people and fund it initially. For their profit, they would ask for the people to pay a ridiculously small amount per month for around 20-30 months. This is a great idea since there's an increasing number of informal settlers here in Manila. Also, this concept hits two birds with a stone -- give a suitable home for the unfortunate and develop the flooding system on our roads.

I'm quite disappointed because I could've had the chance to practice engineering for the development of technology here in the Philippines. Because of this activity, I'm actually inspired to work for the government to develop the IT infrastructure of our government offices. Imagine if we can register our licenses in just minutes and not to wait in long lines anymore, wasting a day's time just to process a small piece of plastic. Someday.