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25 budding MSMEs in Cebu finish DTI mentoring program

By John Rey Saavedra

August 1, 2019, 9:32 pm

<p><strong>BUDDING ENTREPRENEURS.</strong> Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Jay Yuvallos awards the graduation medal to one of the 25 micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs who finished the "Kapatid Mentor Me" Program of the Department of Trade and Industry in a simple ceremony at Aiza Suites in Cebu City on Wednesday (July 31, 2019). Also in photo are DTI-7 Regional Director Asteria Caberte (fourth from left), DTI-Cebu Officer in Charge Esperanza Melgar (right), and the mentors of the program.<em> (Photo by John Rey Saavedra)</em></p>

BUDDING ENTREPRENEURS. Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Jay Yuvallos awards the graduation medal to one of the 25 micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs who finished the "Kapatid Mentor Me" Program of the Department of Trade and Industry in a simple ceremony at Aiza Suites in Cebu City on Wednesday (July 31, 2019). Also in photo are DTI-7 Regional Director Asteria Caberte (fourth from left), DTI-Cebu Officer in Charge Esperanza Melgar (right), and the mentors of the program. (Photo by John Rey Saavedra)

CEBU CITY – Twenty-five budding entrepreneurs in Cebu on Wednesday marched in a simple graduation ceremony, marking the start of their new lives as businessmen after completing the “Kapatid Mentor Me” (KMME) program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Central Visayas.

Asteria Caberte, regional director of DTI-7, said the 25 mentees comprised the sixth batch of the KMME program in the region and formed part of the 160-total number of graduates since the program’s launching in October 2016.

Caberte said the DTI-Cebu headed by Esperanza Melgar has implemented six runs since the program’s inception in the province.

The 25 mentees who graduated on Wednesday were able to finish the 12 modules that ran from May to July this year. The modules cover business seminars and mentoring on entrepreneurial mind-setting and marketing which were done during the opening of the program for the sixth batch.

Other topics in the mentoring process every Friday were product development and market growth and expansion, business model canvas, operations management, supply and value chain, human resources and organization management, entrepreneurial accounting and financial management, taxation, business laws, and inter-agency.

In the 12th module that touches on business improvement plan presentation, each mentee was made to present a business model in a panel of mentors, while the presentation template was supplied by the mentors from the DTI-Cebu.

In her opening message, Caberte thanked the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) for its partnership with the DTI in mentoring potential entrepreneurs in Cebu.

“I am always inspired because of the formidable partnership we have with the business community in Cebu in helping the DTI fulfill the Duterte administration’s thrusts on inclusive economic development,” Caberte said.

She told the 25 mentees to do their share in becoming serious with the respective business they nurtured in the 11 weeks of mentoring process.

“It’s true that it is hard to make your business grow and and how risky it will be to endure it,” Caberte said, underscoring however the government’s readiness to assist them to become successful in their respective endeavors.

“The Duterte administration is very serious in helping the MSMEs (micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs) and in implementing programs to ensure inclusive economic growth,” she added.

Jay Yuvallos, vice president of the CCCI, who read the message of Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, prompted the 25 mentees “to go out and compete,” saying that by going out that one “would know how good you are” in their respective venture.

“Toil daily but look for the purpose and vision, and go out and ask yourself why you want to do this business,” Yuvallos said.

The KMME program, as part of the “Kapatid Angat Lahat” project of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship – Go Negosyo and the DTI led by Sec. Ramon Lopez, encourages medium and large corporations to serve as “big brother” by acting as mentors to the MSMEs considered as “small brother,” in support to the Duterte administration’s 10-point socio-economic agenda. (PNA)

 

 

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