LAOAG CITY – A total of 53 owners of micro and small enterprises from Ilocos Region graduated Tuesday from the three-month mentoring program under the Go Negosyo’s Kapatid Mentor Me-Money Market Encounter (KMME-MME) program.
Twelve of the graduates were from Ilocos Norte while the rest were from the provinces of Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan.
The partnership between the Department of Trade and Industry-Region 1 (DTI-Ilocos) and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship – Go Negosyo empowers micro-enterprises with business development tools.
Ilocos Norte’s first Business Incubation Center in this city serves as a co-working space and a one-stop-shop for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to increase their confidence in an ever-changing business landscape and scale up with support of the provincial government and partner institutions such as the DTI, Mariano Marcos State University, Department of Science and Technology, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the Department
of Information and Communications Technology.
“It’s a privilege to be one of this year’s KMME-MME graduates from the Department of Trade and Industry. I learned a lot,’ Grace Rabang, proprietor of Doña Remedios Diner in Laoag City, said during the online graduation.
Despite her busy schedule as an accountant for the Department of Education-Ilocos Norte, she managed to complete all 10 modules.
Relatively, the Anvil Business Club allocated PHP1 million for the mentoring of local entrepreneurs engaged in manufacturing and processing.
The club, formally known as the Association of Young Filipino Chinese Entrepreneurs, is an organization of entrepreneurs and professionals.
Elma Gabriel, head of the Ilocos Norte MSME Office told the Philippine News Agency in an interview Tuesday that 30 of the 130 slots have been taken. Trainings will start once all slots are completed.
‘The funding was donated by Anvil Business Club. The provincial government through the Ilocos Norte Business Incubation Center will facilitat
e the acceleration program designed to support and nurture MSME’s development, focusing on helping entrepreneurs to scale up,’ she said.
About 95 percent of business establishments here are composed of MSMEs.
Source: Philippines News Agency