2 women agri entrepreneurs win 2025 Siklab Awards
Two female entrepreneurs are contributing to the transformation of Philippine agriculture by championing sustainable farming practices in communities and giving access to quality agricultural inputs.
For embodying innovation, resilience and nation-building, Cherrie Atilano and Julieane Camile “Juca” Lacsina, bagged the 2025 Ramon V. del Rosario Siklab Awards.
The award-giving body lauded Atilano—founder and CEO of Agrea Agricultural Systems International Inc., an innovative and inclusive agribusiness enterprise headquartered in Marinduque—for igniting a flame of agricultural transformation, community empowerment and sustainable development.
“As the founder and CEO of Agrea Agricultural Systems International Inc., Cherrie has demonstrated exceptional leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and a profound dedication to improving lives while contributing to nation-building,” according to Siklab Awards’ official website.
Agrea, a portmanteau of “agriculture” and “Gaea,” the Greek goddess of Earth, has transformed the lives of more than 30,000 smallholder farmers, increasing their income by 20 to 50 percent through various initiatives and partnerships.
Among Atilano’s notable contributions to the sector are the partnership between Agrea and integrated facilities management services provider Sodexo. Because of this initiative, participating farmers’ collective income surged to P5.7 million in December 2023 from only P50,000 in January 2023. Their operations expanded from small-scale farming to 60 hectares of diversified production covering 13 different vegetable varieties.
Through Agrea, Atilano developed the “One Island Economy” model, a scalable and replicable approach to achieving rural development and agricultural transformation. She also created the Agrea Farm School and various educational initiatives that provide hands-on training in organic farming and agri-crop production.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Atilano hatched the Move Food Initiative, wherein 200,000 kilograms of produce were rescued and distributed along with the establishment of direct farm-to-table supply chains.
E-commerce platform
Lacsina is cofounder and CEO of GOEden, a one-stop-shop e-commerce platform for agricultural inputs and services. She has envisioned modernizing the farm supply chain through technology, centering on creating a consolidated and efficient network of agri-supplies that can reach even the most remote areas of the country.
“The company’s proprietary e-commerce platform, built entirely in-house, rejects readily available commercial solutions in favor of customized functionality that specifically addresses Philippine market conditions and payment integration requirements,” says the award-giving body.
Lacsina, whose leadership philosophy is to lead by example and maintain unwavering ethical standards, envisions finding top talent in far-flung areas and providing them opportunities without requiring urban relocation.
GOEden combines product distribution with farmer education on proper agricultural input usage through its Tech Caravans.
Aside from providing a seamless way to offer agricultural inputs through the e-commerce platform, GOEden has trained 1,741 farmers in 47 barangays for digital inclusion.
To date, the entity has catered to almost 100,000 farmers across 240 municipalities in 72 provinces since its inception. It also attained a remarkable 6.5 times revenue growth in 2023, scaling from seven- to eight-digit revenue and raising $850,000 in preseed funding from Kaya Founders and Wavemaker.
“Her organization’s zero return rate on agri-products, thanks to rigorous quality control measures, demonstrates the effectiveness of her approach to building trust in e-commerce among farming communities,” Siklab Awards says.
