THE training sessions for micro small medium enterprises (MSMEs) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under its SME Roving Academy (SMERA) in 2015 were attended by 9,889 participants throughout Central Luzon.
Last year, 184 training sessions were attended by participants coming from the 129 towns and citiies of the region.
DTI Bulacan held the most number of trainings with a total of 41 runs attended by 1,760 participants, followed by Pampanga with 34 runs and 2,438 participants while DTI Tarlac was able to conduct 30 runs with 1,809 attendees.
Nueva Ecija had 29 training sessions with 1,812 attendees while Bataan had 26 runs with 1,237 participants. Zambales had 15 runs with 535 participants, while Aurora had 9 runs attended by 298 participants.
SMERA is the capability buidling program of DTI-3 aiming to increase the knowledge and skills of small business owners and potential entrepreneurs to improve their chance in succeeding in their participation in economic activities. The SMERA brings its training sessions to the different towns in Central Luzon to provide access to entrepreneurs in the countryside. The training programs are now being customized by DTI in the face of globalized trade, climate change and the ASEAN economic integration.
For 2016, DTI-3 is targetting to conduct 161 SMERA sessions in Central Luzon. Similar to the training areas in 2015, the SMERA for this year will not be about livelihood skills but will be directed towards up-to-date capacity areas such as Business Continuity Planning, Doing Business in Free Trade Areas, General System of Preference (GSP, Business Opportunities, Visual Merchandising, ProGreen Economic Development (ProGED), Energy Efficiency, Waste Minimization and Financing, all meant to improve the capability of micro and small enterprises in managing their businesses.