The Spark Project Radio

The Philippines is a country that grows all four coffee beans: Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, and Excelsa? Yet countries like Brazil and Indonesia have done much better in growing and marketing their coffee. Our guest for this episode is Ros Juan, a multi-hyphenated woman who wakes up for coffee and stays up for social media. We sit down with Ros as she talks about how an internship during her teens and her love for social media has led to the sparking of Commune, a coffee shop that puts a spotlight on Philippine coffee, good conversations, and community. The pandemic has not stopped her from brewing coffee, all while doing good for those in need. Ros shares some mistakes and lessons learned in running Commune, the power of community (online and offline), and her dreams for the Philippine Coffee industry.

Do you remember the video that went viral in 2015 of a marine turtle with a straw in its nostril? This video sparked a global movement to reduce plastic straws. Our guest for today, Poch Espina, rode this wave and traded what could have been a stethoscope for steel straws. He founded Sip PH in 2016, an environmental enterprise that started with the aim to reduce the number of plastic straws we use daily. And since then, he co-founded Loop, a store that sells what they call “better goods,” like reusable food containers, cork yoga mats, and paper-based packaging. In this episode we talk about how it feels like emptying a 20ft container at the port, paying off a multi-million business loan, and dreaming bigger for the environmental and sustainability movement.

Did you know that the Philippines used to be called the rice bowl of the world? Our country has 9.7 million hectares of tillable land but yet our potential to be one of the dominant suppliers of food in the world remains a potential. To tell us more about the state of the agriculture sector and the realities being faced by our farmers in the Philippines, we sat down with Keb Cuevas, the founder and CEO of Tagani.ph an impact-driven, digital agriculture social startup — a community of farmers, entrepreneurs, agriculturists, and advocates collaborating to make a more inclusive and sustainable agriculture sector. Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? You'll be surprised to know Keb's answer to this question in this episode.

What's your earliest memory of Philippine weaves? We sat down and talked with our good friend Anya Lim, co-founder of ANTHILL Fabric Gallery, to tell us more about the weave wearing culture in the Philippines and how it's like running her business. ANTHILL is a social and cultural enterprise working on elevating Filipino culture through contemporary and circular design. It also supports cultural preservation and sustainable livelihood through community enterprise building among its partner artisan communities.

How might we un-mess our mess? Our guest for this episode is Maan Sicam, co-founder of Happy Helpers, a professional home services social enterprise that is dedicated to helping un-mess people’s lives and delivering with happiness. Maan shares how she sparked Happy Helpers and why she has chosen the path of social entrepreneurship. She also updates us with the adjustments they have been doing during the pandemic. 

For this conversation, we have with us Kylie Misa the co-founder of WVN Home Textiles. She’s been a friend of The Spark Project since 2016 and also a Spark Project alumni. We ask her why she sparked WVN Home Textiles and how her journey was like turning this passion project into a business. Kylie shares not only the wins but also the hard challenges of running a conscious enterprise in the Philippines. We also talk about her #SparkBayanihan campaign at The Spark Project and why we should all be conscious consumers, now more than ever.