The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Unilever Philippines is making waves with its Kabisig Summit, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at supporting sari-sari store owners—an essential part of Filipino communities. With over a million sari-sari stores across the country, these micro-businesses are crucial to the nation’s economy, serving as hubs for daily essentials, social connection, and family livelihood.
The Kabisig Summit offers both online and in-person training sessions specifically designed to enhance the business management skills of sari-sari store operators.
Launched in 2016, the program helps store owners increase sales, protect their businesses, and ultimately improve their livelihoods. Key areas of focus include skills development, business resilience, and access to technology—essential for helping sari-sari store owners embrace digitalization and streamline key processes.
Unilever Philippines Chairman and CEO Fredy Ong emphasized the personal significance of the Kabisig Summit. Reflecting on his family’s entrepreneurial beginnings, Ong remarked, “At Unilever, we believe empowering MSMEs is an equally important segment in our sustainability agenda. The Kabisig Summit is important and personal to me, not only because I concurrently head our sales function, but because I am testament to how a small business can change people’s lives for the better. The success of sari-sari stores is also the Filipino people’s success.”
Ong’s passion for supporting small businesses mirrors Unilever’s core value of *malasakit*, or deep care. The Kabisig Summit was designed with a customer-first mindset, taking into consideration the personal and operational challenges sari-sari store owners face. This led to the program’s hybrid format, which includes both online and local sessions to minimize disruption to daily operations and domestic routines.
One of the key aspects of the Kabisig Summit’s success is its accessibility and community-focused model. Attendees are not only trained by professionals but also learn from fellow business owners, fostering a peer-to-peer mentorship system. This creates a supportive environment where store operators can share their experiences, successes, and challenges, which encourages growth and inspires others.
Since its inception, the Kabisig Summit has positively impacted hundreds of thousands of lives across the Philippines. A 2021 study commissioned by Unilever revealed that 91% of the program’s participants are women, empowering more Filipinas to contribute to household income without leaving home. The survey also found that 76% of attendees saw increased earnings and savings, while 79% reported notable business growth—challenging the stereotype that sari-sari stores struggle to grow or face frequent closure.
The Kabisig Summit aligns with Unilever’s 2024 corporate sustainability agenda, which focuses on climate, nature, plastics, and livelihoods. Unilever’s goal is to support 2.5 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within its global retail value chain. The Kabisig Summit is a critical part of this mission, ensuring that Filipino MSMEs—particularly sari-sari store owners—can thrive in an increasingly digital world.