THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its “Kapatid Mentor Me” program, identified 20 new mentees in Negros Occidental, who are positioned to become more competent micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
DTI-Negros Occidental director Lea Gonzales, who spoke at the launching of the third batch of the recipient-mentees at the Terrace Garden Restaurant in Cadiz City on Wednesday, April 24, said they are expanding the program outside Bacolod City.
Gonzales said these MSMEs are mostly from the northern localities like cities of Escalante, Sagay and Victorias, among others, with various businesses like food, bakery, salon, aluminum and glass installation, and coffee shop, among others.
“The new batch of mentees were identified based on criteria set including at least one year operation, business is registered with the DTI and local government and committed to complete the program modules,” she added.
In June 2017, 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 Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (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 produce potential improvement plans for their businesses.
In 2018, DTI-Negros Occidental also produced 20 mentees who completed the 10-module sessions last June.
The 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.
Gonzales said the new mentees already attended the first two module-sessions conducted after the launching activity.
Like the first two batches, they are expected to come up with a Business Improvement Plan (BIP) which will be subjected to consultation and screening by a panel.
The panel members are composed of representatives from the DTI and various banking institutions, local mentors, and those from the academe accredited by the PCE.
The BIP template contains business model canvass and plans for four functional areas of business such as marketing plan, operations management plan, financial plan, and organizational management plan.
Gonzales said the latest batch of mentees is expected to complete the module in July this year.
“We hope that they will be able to implement their improvement plans and become more competent MSMEs at the end of the program,” she added.
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.