KAPATID Mentor Me program is one of the government’s steps in lowering the poverty rate of the Philippines.
Last Friday, September 1, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Davao launched their 3rd batch of the Kapatid Mentor Me program at the Marco Polo Hotel. The first batch was launched October of last year followed by the 2nd batch March of this year.
Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE) adviser engineer Merly Cruz, in his talk last Friday, said that as of 2016 the poverty rate of the country is at 23 percent, much higher than the poverty rate of its Southeast Asian countries. The current administration’s goal is to lower the rate by as low as 14 percent.
One of the contributing initiatives of DTI is the Kapatid Mentor Me program, which according to Cruz would be an answer against poverty through good entrepreneurship. She added this program is a process that injects knowledge to the mentees on how they can improve their business.
PCE, in partnership with DTI, helps with the screening and the selection of mentors that would best help with the mentees.
According to Trade and Industry assistant secretary Blesi laLantayona, about 99.6 percent of the business enterprises in the country are made up of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), that’s why they are focusing on the development of this sector.
“Each program that we are running has its own objectives. The selection (of participants) being done by DTI–Davao City Office is very crucial because we want the success of this program,” Lantayona said.
“We really need to get more mentors. They are certified by PCE. We need mentors who are not working for money but to pay forward the prosperity,” she added.
Lantayona mentioned that there are graduates of the 1st and 2nd batches who had already upgraded their business while some had talks with interested investors on the expansion of their business. Still others are being offered with loan schemes by different banking sectors.