The role of the burgis in uplifting the poor

The ‘’burgis’’ of the 70s - referring to the middle, intellectual, and moneyed class -  were then the target of activists who viewed them as detached and indulgent. I am familiar with the sentiments of the time. A popular song of that era, “tamad na burgis na ayaw gumawa, sa pawis ng iba nagpapasasa,” depicted the middle-class intellectual as ‘’lazy’’ and spoiled, living on a pedestal and considering themselves superior to the uneducated and underfed.

In global literature, the ‘burgis’ -derived from the French word ‘bourgeoisie’- refers to the affluent stratum of the middle class, including business owners, doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, scholars, scientists, engineers, and merchants. They are traditionally distinguished from the working class by their wealth, political power, education, and access to and control of cultural, social, and financial capital. This class, with its resources and influence, holds the potential to significantly impact social enterprises and poverty alleviation, empowering us with the hope of a brighter future in the fight against social challenges.

Today, they maintain superiority and dominance in the realm of political and economic power in society. Some of them move on to step into the doorsteps of politics and become powerful politicians—mayors, members of Congress, senators, and bureaucrats—often mired in the web of corruption and greed.

In classical Marxism, the bourgeois class is credited with a heroic role in introducing new ideas, revolutionizing industry, and modernizing society. Their potential for positive change is evident. When they use their resources and influence to uplift the working class, conflicts due to irreconcilable interests can be minimized, inspiring a more harmonious and equitable society.

We are aware of the middle class that lives by the tenets of justice, fairness, and truth to ensure that in the realm of conducting business, for example, their policies and practices contribute to their workers’ well-being. It is about good business and good governance. In Bicol, where most of the population is poor and marginalized, especially in the agriculture and service sectors, these are essential factors that can help move the trajectory of change for impoverished people. In establishing social enterprises as a strategy for poverty alleviation, good business, and good governance are essential in addressing poverty and resilience toward the development and well-being of communities, people, and the environment.

Role of the teachers and business in social enterprises development

Social enterprises are business models that have social character and a social mission.  The poor and marginalized sectors engage in income-generating enterprises that aim to solve social challenges like joblessness and climate change while simultaneously providing goods or services.

The academe and the business sector play a significant role in such a milieu. The schools provide cognitive and intellectual grounding through research, extension services, continuing teaching, and mentoring, which can be developed into meaningful curricula and course programs when systematized. Through assessment, the schools can evolve lifetime lessons into systematic education programs. They can promote the value of a circular economy and use renewable energy as a power source.

In the academe, the teachers from the burgis class are role models in social enterprises. Joking aside, aren’t they the classical images of the teachers selling food or personal items to pupils and co-teachers alike when opportunity allows? But that has long gone and has been replaced by teachers now learning and teaching alternative livelihood skills to students to earn additional income.

With the Mariners-CHEd Social Enterprise Development (SED) project, teachers as project leaders help develop community organizations as they immerse and conduct studies among the members who are poor disaster survivors in people’s organizations who learn to produce from raw materials, pack, and market them. At the same time, they try to understand the dynamics of return on investment and organizational development. The teachers help develop and apply modules as participants continue to learn from practice. They conduct interviews, gather data, and write them down as research papers. Today, more and more schools are interested in social enterprise development, such as the trailblazing SED project for disaster survivors.

The business sector provides practical mentoring and life lessons for running a business in the mainstream market. An example is how a corporate store, JaimEliza Inc. in Canaman, has long supported small enterprises of women, farmers, and the youth by buying their produce, teaching them technical and marketing skills, and providing microfinancing and outlets for their products. It adopted TBM social enterprises as its CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and helped raise social awareness about good causes mutually benefiting each other. It has become an integrator and foster parent to social enterprises set up with the poor members of a community organization producing and selling their produce to the business owners. In trade fairs and exhibits, such as the forthcoming Gainza Trade Fair in Robinson’s Naga City, JaimEliza Inc., and the TBM social enterprises, show how corporate businesses and social enterprises thrive and help each other.