“Gaya ng ating mga entrepreneurs, maituturing silang mga bayani tulad ng mga bayani ng nagdaang panahon sa ating bansa (Our entrepreneurs are considered as heroes just like the heroes of our country from the past),” Director Melanie M. Moraga-Leaño of the University of the Philippines Institute for Small-Scale Industries stated as she opened the annual “Tara Na, Negosyo Na!” webinar series last August 29, 2022.

Dir. Moraga-Leaño emphasized in her opening speech that the MSMEs play a huge role in the economic recovery of the country.

“Patuloy na lumalaban ang mga entrepreneur para sa ikauunlad ng ating bansa at ng kanilang buhay kasama ng mga nabibigyan nila ng hanapbuhay (Our entrepreneurs continue to survive for the betterment of the country and for their lives along with those who receive jobs from them),” she added as she formally welcomed all the participants.

UP ISSI celebrated its anniversary month with a three-day webinar series slated on August 29-31, covering three topics: Out of the Box: A Journey from Corporate to Entrepreneurship, Customer Matters: Optimizing Customer Experience for MSMEs, and Shaping Opportunities: Opportunity Identification and Competition Analysis for MSMEs.

Corporate to entrepreneurship

 Through the life lessons and experiences of Mr.  Orly A. Ballesteros, Chief Operation Officer of Ex-link Management and Marketing Services, the first day kicked off with the discussion on his journey from working in the corporate world to the field of entrepreneurship.

“You cannot give what you do not have,”  Ballesteros emphasized as he explained the importance of equipping oneself with knowledge and skills through advance studies and various trainings and seminars to become a successful manager in a corporate world.

Aside from adding value to oneself, he also claimed that honesty, quality, and adding value to shareholders among others are some of the lessons he gained from the corporate world which are important to become a successful entrepreneur.

“We are wealth creators not wealth users,” he said towards the end of his talk emphasizing that we should become entrepreneurs who will open job opportunities for others and for the economic growth of the country.

Moreover, Engr. Ma. Luisa Solarte-Lee, University Extension Specialist (UES) of the Business Enterprise Development Division (BEDD) cited the competencies that the speaker possesses and officially closed the first day.

 Customer experience matters

The second day focused on optimizing customer experience for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Ian Jester M. de Vera, DProf, Head of the Research Division of UP ISSI opened the session stating that then and now, there is a need of promoting entrepreneurship in the country and for developing our MSMEs especially in the countryside.

 “This webinar is expected to give you some necessary tools to remain in business and to keep on hoping for a better future,” De Vera said.

 Esteemed resource person Mr. Marco Angelo Rasos, Industry Development Consultant and Entrepreneurship Professor helped the participants in creating the best customer service or engagement program.

“Pag para sa isang business or entrepreneur, walang value ang customer, ang kanyang customer service ay napakapangit po. Pero kung ang kanyang customer ay very valuable, nag-iiba po iyong anyo o kulay o yung delivery ng customer engagement (If, for a business or entrepreneur, a customer has no value, the customer service is bad. But if the customer is very valuable, the form or color or delivery of the customer engagement changes),” he said, explaining the importance of the value of a person in the context of customer engagement.

Through a guided workshop, Rasos presented the three parts of his exercise including (1) Brands You Love, (2) Brands You Hate, and (3) Thin Line between Love and Hate. These included identifying the brands, mapping the purchase journey and describing the customer service experience.

“The best way to design it (customer engagement program) eh tandaan niyo lang po yung customer journey mula awareness hanggang action point (The best way to design it is to remember the customer journey from awareness to the action point),” he ended, reminding the participants to gauge what the business can provide so that all resources will become very valuable to the experience of the customers. 

In addition, Engr. Jefferson C. Sumalabe, UES from the Training and Entrepreneurship Education Division (TEED) thanked the resource person and participants during the closing remarks of the webinar.

 Creating opportunities

The last day highlighted the opportunity identification and competition analysis for MSMEs. Miss Joanna Rose T. Laddaran, UES from TEED of UP ISSI welcomed the participants on the last webinar session as she emphasized the importance of being an opportunity seeker and of finding ways in improving products and services as entrepreneurs.

 Mr. Reynold Ferdinand G. Manegdeg, Head of BEDD discussed how entrepreneurs can systematically shape opportunities.

“Sa negosyo, hindi sa lahat ng pagkakataon, mabibigyan ka ng option or choice. Nasa sa iyo ‘yan kung paano ka gagawa ng creative solution (In business, not all the times, you will be given an option or choice. It is up to you how you can make a creative solution),” Mr. Manegdeg said.

Manegdeg also shared the known and unknown factors which leads to the creation of idea or opportunity. Here, he explained the process of identifying the problem, testing the hypothesis and evaluating the opportunity.

“Results of your experimentation will be the key to be able to evaluate the overall viability,” he highlighted as he ended the session. 

 Furthermore, Engr. Rolando Ramon C. Diaz, Head of TEED of UP ISSI closed the three-day session by sharing that despite the ongoing pandemic, some MSMEs thrived and were able to increase their business revenues because they were able to see the need and opportunity. 

Meanwhile, as part of the celebration, UP ISSI also chose 12 lucky participants who received 50% and 100% training vouchers which they can use in upcoming online training programs of the institute.

This year’s management team was composed of Allysa Anne M. De Guzman, Program Manager of Tara Na, Negosyo Na! Year 12,  with the facilitators (Day 1) Krystel Maisie T. Soria, (Day 2) Ron Allan R. Estrebillo and (Day 3) Marvin M. Manlapas, all from TEED.