The first mentoring session for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Negros Oriental and Siquijor province, dubbed as Kapatid Mentor Me program, has officially started Monday in the province with the first module on entrepreneurial mind setting and values formation.
Trade & Industry Regional 7 and Negros Island Region Director Asteria Caberte said the first batch is composed of 25 MSMEs from Negros Oriental and five from Siquijor.
They have assured DTI of their commitment to complete the 10-day session which is conducted ones in every week, to be able to finish what she described as a compressed MBA course that will totally open up the minds of small businesses to go bigger and wider as well as expand their reach.
She said the target for the region is 9,800 small businesses to be assisted by DTI under the program, 1,900 of them are from Negros Oriental as part of their share.
According to the DTI regional director, the sessions will open up the minds of the participants that they cannot just remain forever as small, they need inputs, coaching, mentoring and the needed skills such as preparation of business plans, product development, design, establishing linkages and other relevant business information.
She made as example the very famous budbud (rice cake wrapped in banana leaves” of Tanjay City, which for the longest time remained the same.
The Kapamilya Mentor Me program had been in five areas in the region. It was also launched in Bacolod last week and started their second module this week.
During the entrepreneurial program they will come up with their respective business canvass and on the tenth week they will present their business plans to their mentors, to some banks, to possible buyers of their products that will totally be different prior to the conduct of the training.
In an interview, Caberte said DTI have really planted the culture of entrepreneurship in Negros Oriental and is hoping that with these interventions and initiative the private sector will catch and sustain it and propel them to grow better in the future.
Meanwhile, the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry signed Monday a Memorandum of Agreement with the DTI and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship to implement the Kapatid Mentor Me for the MSMEs of Negros Oriental.
DTI and PCE prequalifies and selects both the mentors and MSME-mentee applicants to help MSMEs grow their businesses through a series of coaching and mentoring sessions covering various modules on how to become successful entrepreneurs, said NOCCI president Edward Du. (Juancho Gallarde and Judy Flores Partlow)
