Tote Culture: It’s the Tote that Counts

by: Mary Jullien Resplandor, Thames Undergraduate Student 

Tote Culture is an organization of students and creatives who are dedicated to showing the beauty of the Philippines, its culture, and its history by selling tote bags with designs based on the Filipino culture for a cause.

It was established as a part of Thames International’s Entrepreneurial Behavior Class during the Summer term of 2020 under the guidance of Miss Sheila Dingcong, professor of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Associate Dean of Thames International. The class was divided into groups whose goal was to create a project that could solve specific problems of micro and small entrepreneurs using Design Thinking. They had to implement a project to impactfully help those in need within a limited time frame.

Tote Culture consists of six members with different tasks different roles: Ivan Andrew Combalicer, Social Media Manager; Andree Luigie Lualhati; Public Relations Officer; Justine Dani Marcelino, Finance and Design team; Lance Kensley Rementina, Finance and Design team; Mary Jullien Resplandor, Design team; and Sharmaela Stephie Rosete, Head of Operations.

The Philippine education system was widely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Students are struggling with the sudden shift to the new environment of online learning. Many students do not have enough resources or access to the materials needed for online learning. That is why the members of Tote Culture came up with the idea to extend their help towards Filipino students who are struggling to cope with the new normal.

They chose organizations who share the same goal of helping Filipino students who are struggling with online classes. Tote culture was able to partner with Next Gen I.T., who launched a campaign called “Campaign F1 for Juan” which aims to help support young Filipino students with their virtual class requirements, and Project Wifi whose main goal is to help support students by providing pocket WiFi for those in need.  

Starting up a business in the middle of a pandemic was quite a challenge for the Tote Culture team, but they fought through the challenges with the guidance of their professor and the school. “The process was hard and tiring but we kept on reminding ourselves why we do this—which is to help other students who can’t afford the tools needed for online learning,” says social media manager Ivan Combalicer.

Head of operations Stephie Rosete said, “It is one of the highlights of my quarantine life during the pandemic. I, myself is also a student who transitioned into online learning. As a student, I know the feeling of having a loss of connectivity while you’re having a presentation or that kind of anxiety when you can’t attend synchronous classes. I am grateful that I had a chance to create an organization wherein I was able to raise awareness and help those unfortunate students who don’t have the capacity to continue their education.” 

“It was a unique experience and I can say that it really taught me a lot of lessons. It made me realize that even in the simplest ways, we can extend a helping hand and reach out to those who are in need,” design team member Jullien Resplandor said when asked about her experience.

What started as an idea turned into a part of a solution that was able to help and reach out to those who are in need. Tote Culture was able to donate 70% of its profit from selling tote bags to partner beneficiaries. It is proof that the smallest acts of kindness can go a long way. It truly is the tote that counts! 

Tote Culture has been featured in Find Glocal.com! Read more about them at http://www.findglocal.com/PH/Makati/117264453369675/Tote-Culture or visit ToteCulturePH.  

Thames International is committed to building a new order for the world by giving talented students and entrepreneurs the tools to thrive and lead the way in a world beset by rapid change. If you’re interested in augmenting your skills and making connections with some of the brightest minds in business education today, please take a look at our future-proof undergraduate and postgraduate programs