KUDOS: RAGS TO RICHES!

RAGS2RICHES, LITERALLY, METAPHORICALLY, PASSIONATELY

Rags2riches is a chronicle of modern-day miracles witnessing to the adage that we do not just believe in miracles, we rely on them. Here are undeniable proofs:

· ADMU graduate Jeremy Kho donated his entire graduation cash gift of P10,000.00 that served as the seed capital. It may have been because of Theo 141 class or the Jesuit education, regardless, this Atenean desired to become a man for others.

· Volunteer services from prominent personalities like Robbie Carmona who directed the fashion show launch, internationally-renowned photographer Jake Verzosa who rendered professional take on the products, Krista Ranillo who served as the first official model and of course, the country's top designer Rajo Laurel.

· Free Shangri-la venue donated by a couple whose wedding got postponed.

The list goes on and the latest addition is the triumph in the University of San Francisco International Business Plan Competition 2008 winning the Social Enterprise Award.

This is the first time that R2R has joined an international contest submitting the entry online competing with hundreds of entries worldwide. Way ahead of the release of results, the contest director immediately contacted R2R informing the social enterprise organization that it got into the semi-finals round.

22 ivy league universities including Stanford, Yale, Cambridge, MIT, Purdue, Carnegie Mellon, Duke, HKUST and other academic institutions all over the world passed the stringent screening.

USF competition is the biggest gathering of CEOs and Presidents from the Silicon Valley who serve as judges for the 3-day competition.

In the process, R2R was given the option to take the social enterprise track where the major competitor is a national winner from Spain that invented a software for translations benefiting deaf and hard of hearing people. R2R decided to take this offer but sacrificed winning other major awards like the elevator pitch and trade show competitions. During the feedback sessions with the panel of judges composed of Presidents and CEOs, a judge emphasized that R2R should have joined the high growth competition (million dollar round) and several personally expressed their views that R2R should have won the elevator pitch and the trade show.

While R2R was exempted from the other awards, all the other competitors still qualified to vie for the social enterprise award including Spain's entry which was considered to be the toughest competitor for this category.

When the winners were announced, the team composed of a combination of delegation from Purdue, Indiana State University and Fort Wayne was proclaimed as the winner for the Social Enterprise Award. R2R delegate Javier Alpasa, SJ thought Philippines' entry lost the competition but after 3 Hail Marys, R2R was called as the other team that tied for the award.

This is the first time that the country earned this award. Recent years' winners include the London School of Economics, Darthmouth and Fordham University.

The honor is rightfully shared with Ateneo de Manila University, the Society of Jesus and the entire nation.

Upon returning to the Philippines, the newest "miracle" is winning the global competition sponsored by the Body Shop. And the story continues…