Wednesday, January 23, 2008 Councilor sets aside funds for 3 non-infra projects By Joy Romares-Sevilla
A TOTAL of P450,000 was allotted by Davao City Councilor Peter Laviña, chair of the committee on trade, commerce and industry, for three non-infra projects this year.
These projects are the Business Plan Challenge, Consumer Welfare and Protection, and Marketing Assistance to the Davao Branding System and the One City/Ten Product (Otop) Program.
Laviña set aside the biggest bulk of the fund to assist the Davao Branding System and the Otop program with P200,000.
"We allotted P200,000 to help market the products of SMEs which are accredited with the Davao Branding System and also the products of the 10 districts of Davao," Laviña said, adding the fund can also be used to assist SMEs participating in trade exhibits.
He further said the program on marketing assistance will be implemented, in coordination with the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII), Small and Medium Enterprise Development (Smed) Council, and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
The Business Plan Challenge project, on the other hand, was allocated with a total of P150,000.
The project was initiated to encourage local entrepreneurs and students to prepare business plans as tool for effective business management.
Laviña said the business plan challenge is patterned after business plan writing competitions in the United States like the MIT 100K Entrepreneurship Competition.
"I plan to leverage this amount to get more sponsors and implement the same through the various business schools in the city, DCCCII, and the Philippine-Australian Human Resource Development Facility (PAHRDF)," Laviña said.
He added that of the total budget for the competition, P50,000 will go to a series of seminars, while P100,000 will be set for the prizes.
Meanwhile, to raise the level of public awareness on consumer rights and protect consumers from unscrupulous business practice, the Consumer Welfare and Protection will also be implemented this year with a budget allocation of P100,000.
The project will include a series of fora and seminars and the holding of the annual consumer week celebration.
This project is to be implemented together with the DTI 11 and consumer groups of DCCCII.
