LEGAZPI CITY – At least 70 small, and micro-enterprises (SMEs) in the Bicol region are moving up to the next level as they are about to upgrade and expand their business operations.
This is after the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Bicol and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Foundation started on Tuesday the four-day training dubbed as Small Enterprise Acceleration Lab-Business Expansion through Training and Application (SEAL-BETA) program.
In an interview before the opening, DTI Bicol Regional Director Dindo Nabol with the DTI Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) said the objective of the training is to capacitate the SMEs with the potential to expand their market trades.
“This is a short business course with a complete package from training to application, marketing, and financing. The target of BPI is to implement this program with four regions in the country and Bicol is the pilot region to implement this SEAL-BETA program,” he said.
Nabol said BPI funded the four-day training to help and support the SMEs in the Bicol Region.
“Participants are registered micro-enterprises from Albay, Camarines Sur, and Sorsogon. Willing to undergo and complete training and mentoring sessions and bring products for the mini fair trade. They are currently running a business for at least two years and need capital for business expansion,” he said.
Nabol said the SMEs can avail of business loan packages from PHP20,000 up to PHP500,000 through the BPI Direct BanKo.
In an interview, Loinades Laguador, 54 of Tiwi, Albay thanked the DTI and BPI for the training opportunity for free.
“Thank you, DTI and BPI for the invitation, with this training, I will gain more knowledge and enhance my capability in making my business more attractive to buyers. I will avail of the financial loan since it will help to finance my business in a minimal interest,” Laguador.
Noel Tui, BPI Foundation Inc. manager said the SEAL-BETA program will also be conducted in Region 1 (Ilocos), Region 6 (Capiz), and Region 11 (Tagum City). I Connie Calipay
