‘Negosyo sa Barangay’ attracts Cebu entrepreneurs

CEBU CITY – The Department of Trade and Industry in Central Visayas said government’s effort to teach barrio folks in Cebu some entrepreneurial skills has borne fruit with 44 barangay-based traders showing interest in the “Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay” (NSB) program.

Asteria Caberte, DTI7 director, said the local DTI has been assisting 44 micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs (MSMES), who were among the 241 people who participated in the launch of the NSB at the Moalboal sports complex in Poblacion West village recently.

The participants came from Moalboal’s three major villages of Basdiot, Poblacion East, and Poblacion West, Caberte said. “We really want to intensify the awareness and dissemination of DTI programs and services at the barangay level, especially for those (who) have not received or heard of DTI and other government programs,” Caberte said.

She pledged to provide “business development services to both existing and aspiring entrepreneurs in these barangays.” The DTI will also facilitate the needs of the village entrepreneurs in business registration, business advisory or counseling, access to finance, seminars, training, and mentorship, shared service facilities, product development, trade fairs, market linkage, consumer advocacy and fair trade laws briefing, and other services through DTI Negosyo Centers, she said.

Caberte said while the residents of the three villages showed interest to learn new trading skills to be taught by the DTI through the NSB, the local government unit of the town led by Mayor Paz Rozgoni, Vice Mayor Inocentes Cabaron, and barangay officials provided support to the initiative.

She said the NSB program is supported by 17 different government agencies, such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the departments of agriculture, labor, and science and technology, PAG-IBIG, Philhealth, Social Security System, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

The village entrepreneurs also received a lecture on “Pondo Para sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso Program” by the DTI’S Small Business Corp. (SB Corp). This program provides microenterprises an “alternative source of financing” that is easy to access and is made available at a reasonable cost.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier commended the DTI for its SB Corp programs after almost 86,000 MSMES have benefited from more than P3 billion in loans since 2017.

DTI-CEBU Director Esperanza Melgar said the NSB program in the province will cover 288 villages from 21 fourth- and fifth-class municipalities. The program will be implemented from 2019 to 2022.

The NSB, a national flagship program espoused by Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, aims to promote inclusive growth through business and development, with focus on micro-enterprises in fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-class municipalities in the country. (John Rey Saavedra)