THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Negros Occidental, through its “Kapatid Mentor Me” program, has produced another batch of 20 local mentees, who are now considered as more competent micro, small and medium enterprise (MSMEs).
Romel Amihan, program dean for Negros Occidental, on Friday, told SunStar Bacolod that all 20 participating mentee-entrepreneurs have completed the 10-module sessions starting March this year.
Amihan, also the senior trade and industry development of DTI-Negros Occidental, said before the graduation rites held at Business Inn Hotel in Bacolod City yesterday, the mentees presented their respective Business Improvement Plan (BIP) output on Wednesday.
The panel members are composed of DTI Western Visayas regional and provincial directors, representatives of various banking institutions, local mentors, and those from the academe accredited by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE).
“Their BIPs have went through consultations with the DTI staff before presenting it to the panel members for their suggestions, comments and inputs,” he said, adding that the mentees have actually produced potential improvement plans for their businesses.
Under the program, the mentees were given a template in making their BIPs.
It contains the business model canvass and plans for four functional areas of business such as marketing plan, operations management plan, financial plan, organization management plan.
Through which, they can be able to identify the areas of concerns and the specific strategic actions to be implemented in the years to come, Amihan said.
“From our end at the DTI, we hope that they will be able to implement especially the actions identified in their BIPs in order to level up their business operations,” Amihan said, stressing that “for those having business, improvement plan is imperative.”
On June 29 last year, the DTI launched the "Kapatid Mentor Me" program in Negros Occidental, the 66th location in the country.
It is aimed at helping MSMEs scale up their businesses through weekly coaching and mentoring by successful business owners and practitioners on different functional areas of entrepreneurship.
The agency has partnered with the PCE for the conceptualization of the program, which is one of the three components of its Project Kapatid along with adopt-an-SSF (shared service facilities) and inclusive business.
For the first batch, 18 of the 21 mentees graduated from the program and were able to also produce potential improvement plans for their businesses.
The 10 modules which participants need to attend include entrepreneurial mind-setting and values formation, marketing with market trends, business model canvass, product development, operations management, human resource management, supply and value chain, accounting and financial management, taxation, and business law.
Amihan said to ensure sustainability of the program, the agency will conduct continuous monitoring of the mentees, particularly the implementation of BIPs and its impact to their business operations.
Based on the program template, they are expected to cover another batch of 20 mentee-entrepreneurs from Negros Occidental next year.
“The mentoring program is really intended to upscale the competency of our MSMEs, enabling them to overcome present and future industry challenges,” he added.