Tête-à-tête with Rafael “Rapa” Lopa of Philippine Business for Social Progress

Rapa Lopa Photograph: Business Call to Action

Lopa checks in with Business Call to Action about his role as executive director of the Philippines’ largest corporate-led social development foundation

Rafael “Rapa” Lopa is the executive director of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the country’s largest corporate-led social development foundation. The foundation unites businesses and works with communities to enhance the impact of the business sector’s contribution to poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. PBSP aligns its strategies along the country’s National Priority Agenda and the Millennium Development Goals.

Rapa oversees PBSP’s operations nationwide and the implementation of the foundation’s programs in health, education, environment, and livelihood and enterprise development. He is also the president of the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation and serves as a consultant to several companies and corporate foundations on philanthropy and inclusive business programs.

What was the impetus behind your BCtA initiative linkage?

The Philippines is recording high growth rates in the past three years. The top rating agencies have already given the country an investment grade rating. But as the country’s economy grows, poverty, unemployment and underemployment continue to be a nagging problem. A big majority of our people remain excluded from the country’s gains.

As President Benigno S. Aquino III called on the business community to work closely with government to pursue more inclusive growth, we launched the Inclusive Business Imperative to encourage local and foreign companies doing business in the Philippines to develop more inclusive business models.

What would you describe as the current state of business and development?

I believe there is still so much room for business to play a positive role in the development of a country and its people. Business leaders need to be reminded that the sustainability of their businesses can only be guaranteed if it is modeled for the development of all its stakeholders and not just its shareholders.

What was your ideal job before your current role?

My current job is really just a scaling up of what I have been doing all my life, which is to engage change agents that will empower those who are less fortunate.

What was the tipping point in getting into your current professional role?

Most of my years in university were during the final years of the Marcos dictatorship. As a student, I was involved in student activism that sought for restoration of democracy. A year after I graduated from university, the 1986 People Power Revolution overthrew President Marcos and installed President Corazon C. Aquino who in turn restored democratic institutions.

Since then, I have found myself involved in development work. In 1993, I was blessed to serve as executive assistant to former President Corazon Aquino after she ended her term. I assisted in her post-presidency political and developmental advocacy work until she passed on in August, 2009. I believe it is my work with her that truly prepared me for the bigger responsibilities and challenges I am facing today.

What is the single most important thing to do in order to be successful?

Nothing like discovering what you are passionate about and working hard each day one is blessed with.

What quality do you most admire in a person?

Humility.

Who would you describe as your international business hero or villain?

Bill Gates. Amazed by how he harnessed his passion when he built Microsoft and how he redirected this same passion to solve the biggest problems of the world today.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery in either business or development?

When wealth creation for a few continues to be the dominant scorecard.

Who is your favorite author?

Henri Nouwen.

What is your personal motto?

What’s in it for the other?

Content on this page is provided by Business Call to Action, and originally appeared on the The Guardian Business and the Sustainable Development Goals Hub