Messy Bessy has successfully grown as a viable business even if half of its workforce is made up of at-risk young adults who are under a working student program. The unique setup where young adults pay for their own schooling (as opposed to the traditional way of granting scholarships) together with holistic and neuroscience-based interventions have resulted in a very low program dropout rate and high success rate. The program is ripe for replication. Messy Bessy has developed clear frameworks and tools that are adaptable to any for-profit entity that is willing to include marginalized members of society.

1. Inclusive Business Replication
Messy Bessy and HOUSE Foundation

2. Contents
2
About Messy Bessy & HOUSE Foundation
Why have we chosen to replicate our model?
The Rationale behind Replication
Who are we?
How do we go about the replication?
The 3-Pronged Approach
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2
3

3. Who We Are
3
Messy Bessy is a line of natural, biodegradable,
non-toxic home and personal care products that is
sustainable for the planet and people, too!
We established Messy Bessy mainly to provide education,
employment, and empowerment to at-risk young adults
ages 18-30 in the Philippines.

4. Most of all, we care!
At the onset of our first college graduate in 2015,
we’ve established the HOUSE Foundation
(Helping Ourselves through Sustainable Enterprises) in an effort to
scale and replicate our social innovation in the form of a
working student program for at-risk young adults ages 18-30.

5. WE ARE RECOGNIZED AS AN
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Our model and social
innovation in poverty alleviation
among at-risk individuals have
been recognized by the
United Nations Development
Programme and Business
Call to Action for addressing 5
UN Sustainable Development
Goals.
Messy Bessy was
recognized as one of two
model social enterprises in
2016 that represented
the Philippines in
British Council’s
‘Active Citizens Program’
Recognition as the
Sustainable Social
Enterprise by Asesan
Inclusive Awards 2017, a
central aspect of the
Asean Business Awards
initiated by the
Department of Trade and
Industry-Board of
Investments (DTI-BOI).

6. Why do we do
what we do?
There are 5 million at-risk youth in the Philippines
and almost 50% of them are unemployed. According to
Philippine Statistics Authority, even with just 1 college
degree holder, the poverty incidence of an entire
family decreases from 42% to 2%.
In the Philippines, it is not (yet!) a norm for mainstream
companies to accommodate working students and
marginalized members of the community.

7. IMPACT OF OUR WORK
7
100
learners currently enrolled
in ourHelping Ourselves
Program as of 2020 and
counting
70
college graduates completed
the program, all of whom are
gainfully employed
2 to 4
hours of weekly
counseling and capacity
building received by
learners
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Partner businesses that
have adapted the
inclusive business
practices of Messy Bessy.
400+
at-risk youth helped in the
span of 13 years of
Messy Bessy

8. Replicating the Inclusive Business Model
Why focus on replicating the inclusive business practices of Messy Bessy?
Messy Bessy has successfully grown as a viable business even if half of its
workforce are made up of at-risk young adults who are under a working
student program.
The unique setup where young adults pay for their own schooling (as opposed
to the traditional way of granting scholarships) together with holistic and
neuroscience-based interventions have resulted in a very low program
dropout rate and high success rate.
The program is ripe for replication. Messy Bessy has developed clear
frameworks and tools that are adaptable to any for-profit entity that is willing to
include marginalized members of society.

9. The Approach
1
2
3
Training Modules & Workshops
Working Student Subsidy Fund
Replication-Focused Team

10. CAPACITY BUILDING FOR BUSINESSES
developing tools and conducting workshops
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Rationale
To successfully replicate the
program, there must be
carefully developed and
executed tools, modules and
workshops that are adaptable
to the different needs of the
potential business partners.
Activities
Tool & Module development
Framework design
Workshop facilitation
Orientation
Evaluation
Impact measurement
1

11. WORKING STUDENT SUBSIDY
Subsidizing expenses for the partner businesses
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2
Potential business partners will
understandably be hesitant to take
in at-risk youth into their
workforce. Apart from carefully
developed tools and workshops, a
financial subsidy to cover the
youth’s initial salaries and tuition
fee advances partially or fully will
help solidify partnerships with
more inclusive businesses.
Rationale Activities
Salary subsidies
Tuition Fee subsidies
(advanced payments in the beginning
of every term, paid back through
salary deductions over 3-4 months)

12. 12
3 REPLICATION TEAM
A team focused on forging partnerships for inclusion
Of course, an initiative
cannot be executed properly
without a competent team
that is focused on its
design, development,
execution and evaluation.
Rationale Activities
Hiring & Onboarding of Team
Planning
Design & Development
Execution
Evaluation
Impact measurement

13. Replicable Social Innovation
ANNEX:
Messy Bessy and HOUSE Foundation’s

14. There’s a science behind what we do!
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We have developed a roadmap to help low-income
individuals focus on long-term goals by measuring
them on different facets of life such as health and
finances.
But, there’s a science behind it!
Science tells us that living in poverty significantly
raises the likelihood of incarceration, homelessness,
becoming a single parent, failing to complete high
school, and even dying younger.
Science also tells us that poverty–and its
associated stress – affects brain development.
Poverty affects the pre-frontal
cortex of the brain which is in-
charge of decision-making and
long-term thinking.
Source: https://www.empathways.org/news/article/
the-atlantic-monthly-how-poverty-changes-the-brain

15. When a person lives in poverty,
a growing body of research
suggests the limbic system is
constantly sending fear and
stress messages to the
prefrontal cortex, which
overloads its ability to solve
problems, set goals, and
complete tasks in the most
efficient ways.
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16. People in poverty are constantly struggling to
make ends meet which adds extra strain or even
trauma to their daily lives.
And the science is clear—when brain capacity is
used up on these worries and fears, there simply
isn’t as much bandwidth for other things.
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Source: https://www.empathways.org/news/article/the-
atlantic-monthly-how-poverty-changes-the-brain

17. There is HOPE!
Fortunately, we can take this
emerging science and use it to
design new ways to help people
achieve stability in life.
We can transform how we cater to
our beneficiaries and design
interventions that create
pathways out of poverty.
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18. ● To 'rewire' the brain to be able to think long-term and make
sound decisions in life which affect both work and personal lives
● To re-develop the prefrontal cortex and instill critical thinking
● To equip beneficiaries to make decisions properly
● To provide the ability to help one’s self through access to
decent work, formal education and psychosocial support
Some Key Objectives of the Replication Program
for the beneficiaries
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19. ● To equip the business leaders with inclusive business
leadership skills like mentoring, coaching, giving feedback,
identifying depression, conflict resolution.
● To incorporate the individual development of the working
students into the partner business’s team goals
● To enable partner businesses to leverage the inclusive business
practices for their customer and employee satisfaction.
Some Key Objectives of the Replication Program
for the partner inclusive businesses
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20. ● To create at least 10 partnerships with businesses that will
include marginalized members of society into their workforce
through a working student program, thereby creating more
“proofs of concept” for inclusive businesses in the
Philippines.
● To make it a norm for for-profit corporations to include working
students and holistic interventions in the workforce
● To systematically lift families out of poverty permanently.
Some Key Objectives of the Replication Program
for the system at large
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21. “What we have today is a high quality consumer goods brand with the
potential to grow well beyond Manila and well beyond the Philippines,
and a world-class social program, with neuroscience based tools —
proving to everyone that a for-profit business can in fact be truly inclusive.
I can’t think of any other better way to give people a chance to help
themselves out of poverty, the way we have done in Messy Bessy.
It’s my personal advocacy now to encourage other for-profits to take
courage and follow suit.”
Krie Lopez, founder of Messy Bessy & HOUSE Foundation

22. messybessycleaners@gmail.com
+63 917 845 2749
messybessy.com
22
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