Aspiring Pharmacist and Retrenched Training Specialist Receive Livelihood Kits to Re-invent in the New Normal

CEBU CITY – Two hopeful entrepreneurs receive 6,000 worth of livelihood starter kits from DTI Cebu after graduating the 3A BOOTCAMP: Accept, Adapt and Act program by the DTI Philippine Trade Training Center in partnership with the Angelpreneurs and LEADMORE.

Chancel Dorothy Franciso graduated Pharmacy a week prior the lockdown was implemented in March 2020. During the pandemic, she waited with uncertainties to include the board exams.

On the other hand, Carla Dalagan was displaced from working on a food franchise corporation and was unemployed for ten months.

Both, in support to their families, applied for the unique virtual training program by DTI.

The 3A Bootcamp is intended for working students, housewives, displaced employees and teachers, and OFWs (who have recently returned from abroad) who are interested to start a business to replace lost family income.

Participants are aimed to present a ‘mockup product’ or product concept test business model-market/product validation. Critiquing will be done to improve the plan and other aspects of setting up the new business especially in light of the pandemic and. digitalization. This will help them find opportunities based on their skills so they can re-invent themselves in the new normal.

The learning sessions are also designed with practical approach and delivered by actual business practitioners. The training being done online, Francisco and Dalagan said to have championed it despite the troubles with internet connection and the budget for load allocation.

“Thankful ka-ayo ko sa mga mentors kay patient sila namo, online baya siya, so lisud siya,” [I am thankful to the mentors for their patience since the training is done online, and it's challenging] Dalagan explained. She plan to start an ice candy business, with fresh milk as main ingredient.

“This boot camp and the mentors have helped me augment the knowledge I have thru the few business units I had in pharmacy school. The mentors presented us the bird’s eye view of what to expect in entrepreneurship,” Francisco added. The business she pitched during the program is the production of sugar hair removal wax.

Francisco and Dalagan are among the thirty-one (31) qualified scholars out of almost eighty (80) participants from the country qualified for the completion of the program. The mentoring program ran 7 sessions from January to February 2021.

Both received a certification and livelihood kits from DTI Cebu OIC-Provincial Director Esperanza Melgar and SDD Chief Marivic Aguilar.

“This program primarily aims to instill a resilient mindset that can accept and adapt to the new normal and pivot out of unemployment, act with an entrepreneurial mindset, and be able to set-up a business. Both of them are able to do that,” Dir. Melgar asserted.

DTI Cebu, through its Negosyo Centers, shall provide the beneficiaries with Entrepreneurship Development Seminars, facilitate Business Name and Barangay Micro Business Enterprise (BMBE) Registrations, and assist in other appropriate Business Development Services to improve their businesses.