MORE than 30 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) under the Food Processors’ Association of Northern Mindanao (Fopanormin) showcased their local produce as they took part in this year’s Tinagboan Food Festival held at the rotunda area of Limketkai Mall, Cagayan de Oro City last Friday, August 2.
According to Nenita Tan, the president of Fopanormin, Tinagboan 2019 is in line with the organization’s 19th anniversary celebration.
“This year’s celebration, since we have a lot of members already in our organization, it’s very exciting kasi marami ngayong mga bagong (there are many new) companies na willing to join and support the celebration with a lot of food and goodies for all of us,” Tan said as she described how different this year’s Tinagboan compare to the previous year.
Anchored on its theme, “Fiesta Carnival, Celebrate Food for Life: “Where food, culture and people converge together to celebrate life in vibrant colors,” the event was filled with fiesta-related colors and decors, such as banderitas, and carnival games.
There are also activities lined up such as food demonstrations, lectures, and others for invited students from different universities and people from academe, and the public to encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to come up with their own product and join the organization in the future.
A part of the food sector, Almer Masillones, acting provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Misamis Oriental, said that the DTI has been giving all the assistance they can give to the MSMEs under Fopanormin, which includes entrepreneurial trainings, product development, product evaluation, packaging, labeling, and the certification for MSMEs to sell their products in the market.
“The cycle of our support will just continue. Our focus, we are doing this because they are MSMEs and bottom line is we want to expand their business, we want them to grow so that they can give employment to the locality and others will have income too,” Masillones said.
Tan also shared that they will be opening their recruitment for new Fopanormin members in the fourth quarter of this year.
The requirements for membership, Tan said, are the product, DTI registration, and business permit. The applicants will have to undergo screening and will have to comply to some other requirements after.
“We have initiated a kind of procedure wherein our priority we’re not after of the quantity, we’re after the quality,” Tan said.
“So I hope we could also get a quality kind of members not only after of the benefit that they can get but what they can contribute to the organization. That’s what we want to have for Fopanormin, the kind of mindset that we need to join and think of what is something that we could help and contribute to the organization,” she said.
Tinagboan Food Festival 2019 runs from August 2 to 4.