UP ISSI Launches Three Entrepreneurship Projects for Marginalized Groups with UP Diliman Extension Grants
The University of the Philippines Institute for Small-Scale Industries (UP ISSI) is set to implement entrepreneurship projects for the marginalized youth, women, and policymakers. Funded under the UP Diliman Extension Grants (EG), the three projects will be led by University Extension Specialists Jake A. Villanueva of the Training and Entrepreneurship Education Division (TEED), Senedith A. Delos Reyes (TEED), and Melanie V. Cabotaje (Research Division).
Villanueva, Delos Reyes and Cabotaje attended the official signing of EG contract with the Office of Extension Coordination (OEC) of UP Diliman Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development on August 13, 2024.
Villanueva’s project “Building Entrepreneurship Skills Training for the Youth (BEST Youth)” aims to develop entrepreneurial mindset and skills among the youth, especially the out-of-school youth, members of the LGBTQI+ community, and people with disabilities in Metro Manila. They will learn basic entrepreneurship concepts and skills through discussions, sharing of experiences, group exercises, and simulation games. Various methods will be employed to complement and create relevant and meaningful learning experiences that will prepare them in the real world.
Delos Reyes’s project “Joint Entrepreneurship Extension Project (JEEP) – Training towards Business Competitiveness and Profitability for Women-Led Enterprises” seeks to address the unique challenges and opportunities women entrepreneurs encounter by providing them with essential business skills and knowledge. Specifically, the project aims to identify specific problems faced by women-led MSMEs in their business, fill gaps in entrepreneurial knowledge through the development of training programs, and capacitate women-led MSMEs by conducting seminar workshops that will help them improve their business profitability and competitiveness.
Cabotaje’s project “Advancing Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprises: Awareness Building for Policymakers” introduces the concept and practice of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises to policymakers. Under this project, face-to-face learning sessions on Social Entrepreneurship will be conducted among policymakers (House of Representatives and Philippine Senate, national government agencies and local government units). Social entrepreneurship is defined as a business process that produces innovative solutions to address a social issue while social enterprises are businesses that aim to address a social problem, i.e. poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation, etc. According to a British Council Report in 2015, there may be as many as 164, 473 social enterprises in the Philippines. But due to lack of legal designation, social enterprises do not receive targeted support beyond what is available to regular businesses.
The three projects will be implemented this year and will end by the first quarter of 2025.
Supervised by the OEC, the Extension Grants are outright grants given to faculty and staff to encourage them to implement extension projects that provide social and public service.