Friday, June 01, 2007 Young entrepreneurs to get focus in GenSan biz month
ORGANIZERS of the coming business month dubbed "Yabong Maliliit na Negosyo sa GenSan" (Yaman GenSan) have agreed to feature young entrepreneurs' products and services in a bid to harness the business acumen and encourage the youth to become capitalists, officials said Saturday.
Dorecita Delima, Department of Trade and Industry-Central Mindanao assistant director, said this would be the first time that a young entrepreneurs' fair will be held since Yaman Gensan gained ground in 2003.
"This is something new which endeavors to develop the business adaptability of the students and to encourage them to become entrepreneurs," she said.
"By doing so, they can contribute to jobs creation rather than add to the bloating unemployment figure. This fair will feature products and services conceptualized by students from different schools in the area," Delima, also the supervisor of the DTI field office here, said.
Last year, the month-long business activity infused an estimated P50 million in new cash circulation in the locality, local Trade department data showed.
This year's Yaman GenSan is slated on June 22 to July 21. In between the period, an island-wide trade fair dubbed Yamang Mindanao will also take place on June 29 to July 2.
Yamang Mindanao, which loosely translates to Riches of Mindanao, features the "One-Town, One-Product" of localities in the island.
Yaman Gensan earned international exposure last year through the holding of the Yamang Mindanao Island Trade Fair, which was attended by institutional and individual buyers from the United States and Europe.
Delegates from East Asean Growth Area's Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia also graced the Yamang Mindanao trade event, which generated sales of nearly P40 million.
For this year's Yaman Gensan, organizers have listed at least 52 activities, which also includes trainings, technical sessions, technological demonstrations, seminars and business matching.
"All of these are geared towards developing and improving entrepreneurial skills for micro, small, and medium enterprises," Ms. Delima said.
Yaman GenSan was institutional through City Council resolution 169 in 2003.
Since it started, at least 66,702 participants have attended 163 activities in the month-long event, a study by the Mindanao State University here said.
About 74 percent of these activities are seminars, trainings, meetings and fora. This positively resulted to the creation of new businesses as shown by the increase in business licenses issued.
From 729 new registrants in 2003, it reached 1,456 in 2006 posting an average annual growth of 12.8 percent.
While the increase cannot be attributed to the conduct of Yaman Gensan alone, it has eminently contributed to the growth of investments and employment in the locality, trade officials said.
Yaman GenSan was also conceptualized to fill the gap between the Kalilangan and Tuna festivals, which are celebrated every February and September, respectively.
The months of June and July were chosen as these have been described by local businessmen as the "lean months" business-wise. (BSS)
