ENTREPRENEURIAL MENTORING. Entrepreneur Leonora Salvane, founder and chief operating officer of Cebu-based skincare company GT Cosmetics, is leading the first module of the barangay-based entrepreneurial mentoring program. This module will teach mentees on developing their entrepreneurial mindset. (Screenshot of the BBEMP virtual session)
CEBU CITY – The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) successfully launched here on Friday the barangay-based entrepreneurial mentoring program (BBEMP).
The project initiated by the CCCI is in partnership with Famcor Franchise Management and Executive Development Corp. and the city government.
CCCI president Felix Taguiam said that BBEMP’s long-term goal is to boost the city’s local economy by supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on how to revive and survive.
Taguiam said that if needed, the undertaking is meant to reboot and reformat businesses to recover and build back in a better position amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
The virtual launch of the program was graced by Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama, Sangguniang Panlungsod budget committee chair, Atty. Raymond Alvin Garcia; Liga ng Barangay president Franklyn Ong, and CCCI officers led by Taguiam, immediate past president and BBEMP champion Virgilio Espeleta, vice president for business development and BBEMP core team leader Jay Yuvallos, and vice president for Cebu business mobilization Mike Cubos.
About 120 participants joined the program launch composed of Cebu City officials, representatives from 35 barangays, CCCI trustees, and officers from the departments of Trade and Industry, Agriculture, and Science and Technology, the SB Corp., and BBEMP mentors and mentees.
CCCI, together with Famcor Franchise, has started the BBEMP Batch 1 online class module 1 on entrepreneurial mindset amidst the pandemic realities this week.
Leonora Salvane, CCCI trustee and vice president and chief operating officer of GT Cosmetics, is handling the mentoring session.
Batch 1 is composed of 30 multisectoral enterprise owners (12 males, 18 females) from 24 barangays here.
Taguiam said the mentees have been “very appreciative” of the sharing of Salvane, a rags-to-riches Cebuano businesswoman, on the challenges her company has encountered and how her team worked together to grow the company even during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The mentoring will also pave the way for entrepreneurs to find new friends, listen to each other’s stories, and form a new community where they can draw inspiration and support from one another together with the guidance of CCCI business leaders.
Taguiam said the program’s short-term specific objectives are to provide a platform for existing entrepreneurs to learn from and be inspired by the entrepreneurial journey of the mentors while achieving individual aspirations in life; guide the participants in adopting smart business strategies that respond to the challenges of the “new normal” business environment; and channel capacity building on an online platform using as a benchmark the Kapatid Mentor Micro Enterprise–Money and Market Encounter (KMME-MME) online program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) implemented in partnership with the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE)-Go Negosyo.
Registration of target program participants is still ongoing.
Interested MSMEs, displaced workers, and OFWs interested in opening a business may visit the BBEMP FB Page at: https://www.facebook.com/BBEMP to facilitate their registration.
They may also contact the CCCI BBEMP Secretariat. (PNA)
