Davao-based social enterprise Virtualahan was awarded as Global Champion under the Young Innovators category at the World Summit Awards held at the Erste Campus in Vienna, Austria last March 8 to 11.
Virtualahan was hailed the best among 407 solutions from 91 countries and earning a globally recognized quality seal for digital innovation. Among the top five global finalists were Almeta from the Syrian Arab Republic, Forest and Climate from Serbia, Shuttle from Bangladesh, and Liberate: My OCD Fighter from India.
WSA Young Innovators is a special recognition for young social entrepreneurs under 26 years of age who demonstrate how young people from all over the world use ICTs and their entrepreneurial creativity to support the achievement of the UN SDGs.
“The worldwide network of WSA and the Global Champions of 2020 show that action, not fear, leads to avoiding suffering and alleviating need. This results in sustainably positive transformations in our society and a significant advancement towards the UN SDGs,” WSA Chairman Peter A. Bruck states.
Virtualahan is the first Filipino company to win as a Global Champion at World Summit Awards putting Philippines in the spotlight. Among the previous winners who were on the WSA Top 40 were Arko (2014) under the Inclusion & Empowerment category, Rappler (2015)-Media & News, and Universal Structural Health Evaluation and Recording (USHER) System (2018)-Smart Settlements & Urbanization.
Founder and President of Virtualahan Ryan Gersava who delivered the pitch to the international jury says, “It is a huge honor and great validation of our impact formula to be recognized and join the WSA Community as a Global Champion. This is for our community and to everyone who continues to believe and contribute to our mission. I hope that this will also inspire young Filipinos to take an active role in solving social issues in our country and share their impact to the world.”
Inclusive Employment and the Future of Work
Virtualahan was also praised at the World Summit Awards for its courageous and noble move of working with people who are socially excluded in the workplace like Persons with Disabilities, recovering drug addicts, formerly incarcerated, solo parents, and other disadvantaged groups. It ensures that the most excluded populations of society are given equal opportunities for high-level work in the new digital economy using an impact formula that integrates well-being sessions and community-building with digital job skills training. Virtualahan is determined to help build the future of work that is truly inclusive and leaves no one behind.
“It’s only fitting that Virtualahan has become the first organization from the Philippines to be recognized as a Global Champion at the World Summit Awards. Virtualahan has always been on the forefront of promoting inclusive employment, which will be needed more than ever as the world transitions into new ways of working in 2020 and beyond,” said Ezra Ferraz, Managing Partner at Ambidextr, one of the employment partners of Virtualahan.
Social Entrepreneurship and the Filipino Youth
Gersava started Virtualahan when he was only 22 years old without any social and financial capital. He came from a very humble background being born and raised in Sultan Kudarat, one of the poorest provinces in the country in a family of 12 with his parents not even finishing high school.
Just like many other Filipino youth, he did not dream to become a social entrepreneur and had never heard of the term until four months before he launched Virtualahan. What enabled him are social impact incubators and accelerators like Watson Institute, BPI Sinag, Globe Future Makers, and Social Impact Accelerator by PhilDev. His venture was also awarded as one of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organization (TAYO) and Google Business Stories Award back in 2017.
“We believe in the change-making potential of the Filipino youth. To support leadership by young people, we have worked directly with almost 500,000 young people around the world through our Youth Years program and built vital partnerships with aligned and impactful stakeholders to ensure that young people learn to lead young and to recognize their power to be change-makers,” said Terri Jayme Mora, Country Director of Ashoka Philippines that is also supporting Virtualahan. Ashoka is the oldest and largest network of social entrepreneurs in the world.
Gersava has also started a new venture called Activating Rural Changemakers that serves as Launchpad for young people from rural communities by providing them with change-making experience and knowledge on how to start their social enterprises.