ANTONIA Hopkinson has spent more years abroad than at home. She left Manila at 21 to work with the United Nations Development Programme in Asia, later building a career in international NGOs and legal research in the UK.
Her story is also one of movement and return. She spent much of her adult life overseas, once married to a Briton and now raising a teenage son who lives in the UK.
Yet for all the miles logged, her compass has always pointed home. Those years abroad shaped her outlook, but coming back to Manila feels to her like closing a loop.
“The Philippines is where this makes the most sense to start. We have so much talent and creativity here. Filipinos deserve to be seen on the world stage,” she said.
That belief is at the core of Hootzpa, the global e-marketplace she founded and proudly, the first Filipino-owned platform for sustainable and ethical products.
Hopkinson coined the word Hootzpa, a name that plays on the word chutzpah, or audacity in Hebrew, and laced it with the playful ring of a “hoot.”
It reflects both her boldness in carving a path across borders and her determination to make noise in the global marketplace through a platform for sustainable sourcing.
Grassroots immersion
Hopkinson traces the roots of the advocacy to her student years, when she spent a month living with a family in Payatas. The experience left an indelible mark.
“It was extreme poverty,” she said. “I realized then that aid and charity, no matter how big, don’t really solve the problem. What people need is opportunity.”
Years later, as an environmentalist shopping online during the pandemic, she confronted another gap: the lack of a single, cohesive space for sustainable goods.
“I’d buy a toothbrush from one site, shampoo from another, cleaning supplies elsewhere. Everything came in different packaging, different couriers. How can that be sustainable?” she asked.
Building a ‘relay economy’
That frustration sparked her breakthrough. In 2023, she set up Hootzpa, conceived as more than just an e-commerce site but a space to connect sustainability with opportunity.
Hopkinson calls it a “relay economy”- a cycle where every purchase passes benefits forward.
Sellers not only gain exposure but also access to small loans, mentoring, and partnerships with NGOs like Go Negosyo and the UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries (ISSI). These NGOs act as both sponsors and quality controllers, ensuring their communities succeed while sharing in the profits.
“We’re creating a system where growth is shared, not hoarded. Hootzpa.com will provide a platform for those who don’t have one, offering a platform for sustainable and ethical products that are currently unavailable elsewhere. The market is so fragmented,” she explained.
Thinking global,
starting local
Although backed by European partnerships and UK funding, Hootzpa is launching first in the Philippines this December, with over 600 Filipino sellers already lined up.
From there, it will branch to Europe and beyond, with invitations already extended by governments in Switzerland, France, Greece, and several African nations.
The idea has drawn international recognition. Hopkinson was invited to speak at the UN and at the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ initiative in Rome.
But she stayed in Manila. Prioritizing the launch was more important to her.
Hopkinson noted that Hootzpa is all about people, as it is about ethical sourcing. More than offering products, it tells the stories of their makers—from cacao farmers in Davao to artisans weaving abaca slippers in Bicol.
“Sustainability isn’t just about materials. It’s about how it’s made and how the people making it are treated. Buyers want to know their purchase has meaning,” she said.
Coming full circle
For Hopkinson, who once felt she had to leave the country to make an impact, Hootzpa is a kind of homecoming.
She carries her British surname, her years abroad, and a son growing up in the UK as part of her story – yet she insists her heart has always remained Filipino.
“We Filipinos have so much to offer the world. We need the right stage. That’s what Hootzpa is – a stage for ethical, sustainable, and proudly Filipino products to shine globally,” she said.
