Messy Bessy
Messy Bessy
Empowering young adults from at-risk, impoverished backgrounds to become self-reliant and productive members of society through education and employment.
BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Active
SECTOR
Consumer Goods
HEADQUARTERS
Philippines
REGION OF INITIATIVE
Asia & Pacific
SDG CONTRIBUTION
RELATED NEWS
The Impact Goal
Messy Bessy joined Business Call to Action in May 2017 and committed to assist 800 at-risk youth through on-the-job immersion, education assistance and life-skills support by 2020. In collaboration with its non-profit affiliate, the HOUSE Foundation, the company also pledged to engage at least 50 partner organizations in providing additional training and employment opportunities.
In 2021, Messy Bessy renewed its membership with a commitment to assist 700 at-risk youth, providing them a second start in life through on-the-job immersion at Messy Bessy and its partner enterprises as well as education assistance, through the joint Helping Ourselves Program (with HOUSE Foundation) by 2023. By 2024, it aims to have provided full-time jobs and access to college to 500 learners through Messy Bessy and HOUSE Foundation, and to support 12 micro-SMEs through their inclusion in the company’s supply chain.
The Market Gap
Over five million young adults in the Philippines are out of school and without decent work, with no real opportunity to break the cycle of poverty that they are in. One’s employability in the Philippines is only at 17% without a college degree. And the poverty incidence of an entire family who has no college graduate is at 42%. With a college degree, the chances of securing decent work increases to 87%, while the poverty incidence of an entire family drops to only 2% with a single diploma.
With over 90% of available scholarships dependent on high academic grades and financial assistance, and the majority of employers requiring college degrees for regular employees, the chance for our young adults to finish college and be gainfully employed are close to none. This issue is exacerbated by the growing unemployment and dropouts brought about by the pandemic in a country with one of the longest lockdowns resulting in a historical economic downturn.
The Business Solution
With the purpose of enabling marginalized young adults to lift themselves and their families out of extreme poverty permanently, Messy Bessy has developed a replicable, neuroscience-based, holistic working student initiative called Helping Ourselves Program (HOP). Messy Bessy employs at-risk youth (aka learners) who are formerly abused, trafficked, incarcerated, impoverished and out of school youth, on a part-time basis while assisting them in completing their education.
Through HOP, Messy Bessy designed and implemented a structured, metric-driven program that businesses can adopt to employ marginalized youth as part-time students holding functional roles in office administration, technology, sales, finance, customer service, and supply chain. It also forged partnerships that can serve as model contracts between businesses and schools to accommodate indigent working students. The contracts share unique ways for schools and businesses to collaborate in their responsibility to ensure success in both school and work.
Another unique feature of Messy Bessy’s model is its recognition of the psychological setbacks of the marginalized youth. To address this, HOP provides learning modules and interventions on trauma care, self-awareness, wellbeing, and positive psychology.
About Messy Bessy Cleaners, Inc.: Established in 2017, Messy Bessy Cleaners, Inc. is a social enterprise that manufactures and sells natural and biodegradable household and personal care cleaners while providing education, employment, and empowerment to at-risk young adults.