A FORMER overseas Filipino worker (OFW), John Melvin P. Agregorio is now a grantee of the iFWD PH Program or the Innovations for Filipinos Working Distantly from the Philippines.
Gregorio owns Elijah Furniture Shop in Roxas City, Capiz, and receives fund assistance for its startup furniture business from the Department of Science and Technology VI (DOST VI) under the iFWD PH program.
iFWD PH is DOST’s initiative to provide opportunities for OFWs to put up businesses here in the Philippines, especially those who were displaced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elijah Furniture Shop was established on June 21, 2022 just after Agregorio finished the first phase of the program which provided capacity-building trainings such as business concept and business development trainings.
Now, the furniture shop proceeds to the next phase by officially signing a partnership with DOST VI through the Capiz Provincial Science and Technology Office (PSTO). The partnership will entail the provision of funding for new equipment such as the table saw machine, induction motors, electric jigsaw machine, and orbit palm sander, among others. These can help the business scale up in terms of production and sales.
It has always been Agregario’s dream to have a business in furniture-making and this was made possible through DOST’s iFWD PH Program. (DOST VI-KMU)/PN
