Bangued, Abra – About three hundred micro, small to medium entrepreneurs, returning overseas workers, representatives of the academe, local government units and SME Development Councils converged at the provincial capitol’s multi-purpose hall for a free seminar on entrepreneurship.
Businesswoman Josephine See of the Philippine Center of Entrepreneurship and Kapatid Mentor Me shared some of her firm’s marketing strategies to over 300 participants of the DTI led Mentor Me rollout program.
She emphasized the need to focus on a particular entrepreneurial activity. “Kailangan standout ang produkto ninyo at kailangan maging matyaga kayo sa inyong pagnenegosyo,” she said keeping an attitude of perseverance when meeting and consulting with clients and costumers. “You have a finished product therefore you need to do marketing strategies,” See further stressed. You must have a sense of discipline especially on how to handle money or profit. Gross profit must be segregated from net profit and this include salary, capitalization and rental, See elaborated.
Also a successful franchisor, See mentioned courage as among the qualities that an entrepreneur must have including the ability to manage time.
Enrique Pablo Caeg also of PCE Kapatid Mentor Me discussed his unique selling propositions referring to competitive advantages that others cannot duplicate or implement. It includes identifying target market and the need to do a research on what customers want and need. Caeg also discussed the pricing of goods as compared to the cost of production. He also discussed marketing and promotions that involves digital marketing, on-line selling and buying among others. Also, he hinted that market niche and positioning referring to psychographic and demographic edge of the enterprise is something that must be taken into consideration with the type of clients and price of service or products. Customer experience is important because a satisfied client has positive effects, Caeg concluded.
During the press conference at the Department of Trade and Industry office in Abra, Dir. Myrna Pablo referred the Kapatid Mentor Me program as resetting the SME’s entrepreneurial mindset where mentors share their personal experiences in a person-to-person or heart-to-heart talk. On whether the program provides loans to MSMEs, Pablo answered that there are business counsellors who can asses the needs of the clients and provide guidance because there are instances where loans are not really what is needed. Provincial Director Arell Bañes explained, “We assist clients by linking them to financial institutions and conduct financing forums at the DTI-Negosyo Centers.
Paul Anthony De Guzman of Go Negosyo further explained that mentors are either individuals or associations who share topics like supply chain, taxation and even business laws among others. We want our MSMEs to be part of our program and we welcome the new 23 mentees coming from Abra.
On what it takes to be a mentee, the DTI-CAR acting Asst. Regional Director Grace Baluyan further explained that the mentees, aside from having the passion to learn must also work on their business improvement plans.
To be a mentor, you must have the passion, unselfish dedication and willingness to share your experiences whether these were failures or success.
On why he is involved with the program, Caeg said, “our desire to share our mindsets goes beyond corporate social responsibilities” to which See added, “its about time to give back what happened to me as a mentee years before.”
