ILOILO City – Nineteen micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs) capped their “Kapatid Mentor ME” program with their respective business improvement plan presentations at Stargazer Inn, Brgy. San Miguel, Jordan, Guimaras last Aug. 31.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Guimaras Provincial Office has engaged these entrepreneurs from the food, crafts, poultry and service sectors to a 10-module session to assist them to scale up and sustain their enterprises through weekly coaching and mentoring by business owners and practitioners on different functional areas of entrepreneurship.
DTI-6 regional director Rebecca M. Rascon said that this mentoring and coaching program further strengthens the MSMEs’ position as the key catalysts of the country’s economic growth and development.
MSMEs plays a significant role to our country’s economic growth, trade, employment, innovation, and poverty alleviation as they account for 99.5 percent of established businesses and employ over 60 percent of the country’s workforce.
Since the program was introduced in Region 6, a total of 273 MSMEs have already graduated from the program. In 2016, DTI Iloilo Provincial Office was piloted and has produced 17 graduates.
Last year, DTI Region VI registered 129 MSMEs finishing the KMME Program from the provincial offices – Aklan, 24; Antique, 24; Capiz, 20; Guimaras, 22; Iloilo, 21; and, Negros Occidental, 18.
This year, a total of 127 MSMEs graduated from the program from the different provincial offices in the region – Aklan, 23; Antique, 24; Capiz, 21; Guimaras, 19; Iloilo, 20; and, Negros Occidental, 20.
The Mentor ME Program aims to help micro and small entrepreneurs scale up their enterprises, spur economic activity and generate employment opportunities, and mainstream OTOPreneurs (one-town-one-product entrepreneurs) who are ready for business expansion.
The program features modules that shall subject the mentees to various business concepts and develop the acumen needed in scaling up and sustaining an enterprise, such as: product development, marketing, operations management, accounting, taxation, finance, obligations and contracts, human resource management, supply and value chain, succession planning and business plan development.
The KMME Program is a joint program of the DTI and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship – Go Negosyo./PN
