Empowering Filipino Entrepreneurs: Canva Philippines Launches the First-Ever Negosyantrends Expo

Canva Philippines will hold Negosyantrends Expo 2023, its biggest face-to-face event geared for all entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners, on August 5 at the Music Hall of SM Mall of Asia. The event will feature one-on-one consultations with brand and design experts, interactive stations, and design activities to help entrepreneurs level-up their businesses. Interested participants can sign-up for the expo by registering at canvaph.com/NegosyantrendsExpo-2023. 

The expo will also feature success stories from select entrepreneurs and a panel discussion on innovation and design headlined by entrepreneurs Reese Fernandez Ruiz, president and co-founder of Rags2Riches, Andre Chanco, head of product and co-founder of Yardstick Coee, and Cara Paguio, senior creative for photography at Canva and owner of the local beachwear brand Guppy PH. 

“We heard countless stories of Filipino entrepreneurs using Canva. Following the success of Negosyantrends 2022, Canva Philippines aims to continue uplifting the entrepreneurial spirit of Filipinos through this event and we're excited to interact with our community in person. We believe that through Negosyantrends Expo 2023, we'll be able to help more negosyantes take their business to the next level with Canva,” Maisie Littaua, Canva Philippines’ Head of Growth said. 

 

Empowering Entrepreneurs Through Design 

Canva Philippines also held its education caravan through engaging online webinars with various partners such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Globe Business, Edukasyon.ph, and Bayan Academy. 

The series kicked o with the "Design & Diskarte Talks for Entrepreneurs" with DTI, highlighting Canva's brand management capabilities like Brand Kits, Brand Guidelines, and Brand Folders. These tools help businesses manage their brand assets in one place, maintain consistency, and allow teams to collaborate more easily. 

As part of the series, Canva Philippines also partnered with Globe Business, Edukasyon.ph, and Bayan Academy for a session on building a digital brand. 

In 2020, Canva Philippines launched Canva for Negosyo, which provides entrepreneurs with branding and graphics design resources for free, marketing toolkits, photo collections, and video tutorials, and has since established an engaged community of Filipino entrepreneurs. Now with over 60,000 members, its Canva for Negosyantes community on Facebook continues to be a platform for many business owners to share ideas, collaborate on designs, and provide insights to each other. 

"As Pinoy entrepreneurs take their businesses online, we want to be right there with them," Littaua said. "When it comes to design and branding, Canva for Negosyo is the Filipino business owner's partner in creativity and productivity for their digital presence." 

For more updates on Canva Philippines' eorts for entrepreneurs, follow @CanvaPhilippines on Facebook or join Canva for Negosyantes. 

 

Express yourself with Canva’s new collection of playful, illustrative Pride templates

 Creating an inclusive work environment is more than just lip service. It requires listening, understanding, and constantly evolving a company’s processes to ensure that every employee feels included and understood.

Canva Philippines, with its over 700-strong workforce, celebrates diversity beyond the much-celebrated Pride Month of June. Every day, Canvanauts are encouraged to celebrate and embrace their identity at work and beyond. 

Advocating for equal rights through education

Yuni Lao, Senior Brand Designer at Canva Philippines, champions gender equality through her design craft and passion for teaching.

Yuni Lao, a senior brand designer at Canva Philippines, marries her passion for creativity, education, and equality through the different hats she wears. Aside from her work at Canva where she helps conceptualize and bring ideas to life through various design applications, Yuni also advocates for human rights and equality for different gender expressions and identities. She is also a design lecturer at Ateneo de Manila University and a content streamer.

 

As a bisexual woman, Yuni realized there’s more she can do to educate others. She lets her advocacy bleed into her work and in her class, “I try to impart to my students that the space I make for them is something they can have even outside the classroom,” Yuni shared. Aside from talking about her sexuality openly to make her class feel more comfortable, she also encourages them to propose topics that they care about through class projects.

Geryl Minguillo, a learning designer in Canva University, also brings his advocacy to work. Canva University is the company’s learning and development unit. “Gender rights, specifically LGBTQIA+, rights, is something I feel extremely passionate about. Growing up as a closeted gay kid, I’ve experienced being teased and bullied about my self-expression,” Geryl said. 

It wasn’t until college when he fully embraced who he is and got exposed to the different realities of LGBTQ+ individuals. He continues to join, advocate, and celebrate at Pride where he meets more people from the community and learns about their experiences. Now, through his work in Canva Philippines, he helps champion this advocacy through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) sessions for newbies and educating fellow Canvanauts from using respectful and nondiscriminatory language and understanding someone’s preferred pronouns to practices that cultivate behaviors of inclusion. 

“In my first week at Canva, one of the first things I shared with everyone, in my newbie intro, was that I’m a gay-mer. 2 facts in 1. And I’ve never felt more welcomed in my life! The level of safety and openness I experienced was inspiring,” he added. 

Geryl Minguillo advocates for diversity through his role as a learning designer in Canva Philippines.

Championing diversity from people to product

Canva Philippines Country Manager Yani Hornilla-Donato highlights the importance of fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace to enable employees to do the best work of their lives. “We encourage Canvanauts to bring their whole selves to work and be proud to share them with others. Whether they’re advocating for an organization or want to educate others about gender equality, we aim to provide them with an environment where they feel welcomed and appreciated.”

From hiring to doing the actual work, every Canvanaut gets the support they need through DEI learning sessions, various interest clubs, accessibility features at the office, and even Slack channels dedicated to sharing resources. ​​Hiring is also made inclusive through conducting accessibility and awareness training for the talent acquisition team, organizing a diverse interview panel, and investing in Textio, a tool that assesses the use of inclusive languages for job ads. 

Canva also allows Filipinos to design with pride with its new collection of playful and illustrative Pride templates following a Filipino retro style. From Instagram stories to podcast covers, these templates can be used by anyone who wants to design with pride. 

To know more about Canva, visit www.canva.com or follow Canva on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. Canva is also available for download on App Store and Play Store.

PLDT and Smart continue its commitment to champion mental health and wellness through art with Canva PH

As part of a month-long celebration of Mental Health Awareness Month this May, PLDT and Smart empower the youth across the country to champion mental health and wellness through art with its campaign, "The Time Capsule Project”. With support from Canva Philippines, youth participants are encouraged to use art as a form of mental healthcare.

The Time Capsule Project invited the youth to share their stories, by using art in the forms of music, spoken word, photography, and visual arts. The top five participants recently won PHP 10,000 worth of connectivity packages from PLDT and Smart and a three-month premium subscription from Canva Philippines. They also had an opportunity to donate to their chosen mental health advocacy groups.

Through The Time Capsule Project,  an initiative made possible through partnership with Canva Philippines, Mind Games and Silakbo.

“As we hold the second run of The Time Capsule Project, we are very happy and privileged to get support from Canva Philippines as we champion our shared advocacy on mental health and wellness. We are looking forward to the many stories that our participants will share. It is our hope that together we can enable a generation of storytellers and purveyors of truth in the digital space,” said Katherine P. Diaz De Rivera, PLDT and Smart Stakeholder Management Digital Wellness Executive.

“Expressing yourself through design can be powerful and we believe in its power to raise awareness on mental health and wellness. With this initiative, we hope that the participants will find Canva a useful tool in expressing themselves through our mental health-related templates, vast range of elements, audio clips, and even stock photography. Collaborating with PLDT and Smart in this meaningful initiative enables us to be a force of good in the lives of our youth participants as they design better days ahead for themselves and for those around them,” said Canva Philippines Country Manager Yani Hornilla-Donato.

The Time Capsule Project kicked off with a special masterclass on content and visual creation led by Junior Designer Dre Agar, who is also part of Canva Philippines’ Video Squad. Through the app, anyone can design and use Canva’s features whenever they want, wherever they may be. Users can play with filters, pair fonts, add photos and fun elements, mix and match colors, and use Canva’s vast range of templates for all their design needs. The app is available for download on App Store and Play Store. 

Canva Philippines holds “Usapang Canva” for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and educators

Canva Philippines will hold its first-ever Communities Mega Webinar, “Usapang Canva”, on May 26, 2022 which aims to educate freelancers, entrepreneurs, and educators on how they can utilize Canva in achieving their goals. The webinar is free and open to all and will be livestreamed on Canva Philippines’ official Facebook page. 

Canva is an online visual communications platform with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design. With its drag-and-drop user interface and a vast range of templates ranging from presentations, social media graphics, posters, plus a huge library of fonts, stock photography, illustrations, video footage, and audio clips, anyone, including business owners, freelancers, and teachers, is empowered to bring their ideas to life. 

The Mega Webinar will feature demonstrations and learning sessions about Canva’s features including Canva Video Suite, Photo Editor, Smartmockups and Quick Create, which are valuable for those creating visual content for their businesses, clients, or classes. Participants will also get a chance to take home free 3-month Canva Pro access. With Canva Pro, they can unlock other premium features such as multiple Brand Kits, Background Remover, Magic Resize, and Content Planner.

“We’ve seen how valuable Canva is for Filipinos especially with the rise of the gig economy, online businesses, and distance learning. While these were all spurred by the pandemic, we believe that upskilling our communities of freelancers, negosyantes, and teachers don’t just stop even after we transition to the “New Normal”. We need to constantly upgrade their design skills so they can make the most of what Canva can offer,” says Maisie Littaua, Canva Philippines Head of Growth.

Canva Philippines harnesses the power of its communities in ensuring that design becomes accessible to all Filipinos. In its online communities Canva for Pinoy Freelancers, Canva for Negosyo, and Canva for Pinoy Teachers, members are empowered to share their ideas and provide design insights to fellow community members. Canva Philippines also hosts a series of interactive events within the communities to ensure that members are collaborating and connecting with one another. 

For updates on the Mega Webinar, check out the “Usapang Canva” event page. To learn more about Canva, visit www.canva.com or follow Canva on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. Canva is also available for download on the App Store and Play Store.