We hear the term ‘bayanihan’ almost on a daily basis—from news reports, speeches and marketing campaigns, to name a few. It has become a catchphrase in which we can all take refuge, considering the many challenges we continue to experience during COVID-19. For entrepreneurs, bayanihan is a term you would often hear in business communities of all shapes and sizes.
In the Entrepreneurial Resilience (EntREsilience) Project, we study how Filipino entrepreneurs were affected by COVID-19, how they responded, and what they’re looking forward to in an eventually post-pandemic world. The project aims to capture and process the narratives of Filipino entrepreneurs and later contribute to understanding how businesses can achieve post- COVID-19 resilience.
In our interviews, one of the common themes is bayanihan in the face of COVID-19. As we know, there is no single, widely-accepted definition of bayanihan, but allow me to provide some insights we gained from our research project.
We conducted in-depth interviews with a total of 12 entrepreneurs in the country, each with their own unique story to tell. Here’s what we found about how Filipino entrepreneurs contribute to the bayanihan spirit.
Businesses help other people and businesses
One of our respondents, who is currently based in London but is remotely supervising her business in the Philippines, said that the Filipino business culture is quite unique. In London, she noticed how the business culture is really more of a ‘capitalist movement’ and a different story here in the Philippines.
Filipino businesses help other people and businesses because it’s something innate to them. One of the things the business community in the Philippines could be proud of is that there seems to be a natural intersection between altruism and the practice of ‘business-as-usual.’ Filipino businesses are wired to help others because it’s in their psyche and upbringing to do so.
When we asked another of our respondents why they help other businesses, we were asked back, “Tinatanong pa ba yan?” (Do you really have to ask that?)
To put it simply, what makes Filipino businesses unique is their propensity to help others and not expect anything in return. Of course, it has its limits, but this has been one of our project’s most exciting findings to date.
Solidarity among businesses highly evident
You’ve seen it in social media and probably even in person—Filipino businesses are compelled to help each other during difficult times such as COVID-19. In our research, the findings are essentially the same.
From donations coming in the form of monetary and emotional support, among others, down to encouraging each other to buy one another’s products and services, Filipino businesses have evidently supported each other in these trying times. It’s not just with matters related to COVID-19—businesses also came together when typhoons hit the country.
Other businesses took it to the next level and allotted a portion of their monthly sales as donations to charitable initiatives and organizations. Meanwhile, other businesses co-organized campaigns calling consumers to support local businesses and help them survive during COVID-19. There are hundreds of initiatives to highlight, and what I’ve mentioned does not even touch the tip of the iceberg.
Regardless of which business community you come from, the bayanihan spirit ties many different Filipino businesses together. For me, this is something that the wider entrepreneurial community can continue nourishing in the long term.
At this point—if it’s starting to sound too good to be true—here’s where the catch comes in.
Bayanihan noble but be careful
A business could not operate sustainably if it were to respond to altruistic calls all the time. For Filipino businesses, this is one of the many thin lines that need clarity when it comes to the intersection between helping others and operating as a business. In other words, businesses cannot function as charitable organizations because they rely mainly on profits to continue operating.
Businesses can still have a social mission—of course—like what thousands of social enterprises are doing. But it’s important to remember that businesses also have to set a limit for themselves when it comes to helping those in need. Otherwise, they risk closing down or perhaps becoming stuck in a cycle of pivoting that leads to a lack of genuine productivity.
Bayanihan is, indeed, truly noble, but businesses need to be careful when applying it in practice. By doing so, it contributes to the long-term success and balance of businesses and their capacity to help even more people in the long run.
We can also think of it in the following manner. Self-love is all the rage nowadays, and taking care of yourself is equally important before addressing the needs of others. The same can be thought of when it comes to business. For businesses to maximize their positive impact on society, it needs to start from within, from making their operations efficient to identifying a sustainable business model. From there, businesses can confidently become positive drivers of change for society.
The Entrepreneurial Resilience (EntREsilience) project studies the learning and opportunity-seeking activities that entrepreneurs undertake during COVID-19 in five research sites: Wuhan, China; Bangkok, Thailand; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Manila, Philippines; and London, United Kingdom. The project addresses the urgent need to strengthen entrepreneurial resilience and discover the post-crisis ‘new normal.’
Ian Benedict R. Mia is currently affiliated with De La Salle University as a member of the research team for the EntREsilience project. He is a junior consultant working on Environmental, Social and Governance issues, helping organizations kickstart their materiality and supply chain sustainability efforts. He is taking ASEAN Master in Sustainability Management program at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. You can email him via [email protected].
The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.