Citi Foundation and World Vision empower Microentrepreneurs through financial management and product development trainings
For the past year, 12 microenterprise groups from 6 World Vision communities have undergone various trainings as part of the Empowerment Through Entrepreneurship Program. The program, which is a partnership between Citi Foundation and World Vision, aims to equip the groups with the knowledge and skills needed in managing their businesses and organizations in order to ensure their success and sustainability, allowing vulnerable households to provide for themselves and their families. In line with this, various trainings are conducted, which includes financial management and product development.
The financial management trainings were conducted from February to November 2019 and was facilitated by World Vision’s finance officers Ms. Lasagnia Antiporda and Ms. Lyn Alejandro. These focused on the basics of recording business transactions and the importance of budgeting. Various accounting terms and concepts such as debit, credit, expenses, income, assets, and liabilities were also explained to them.
The product development trainings, on the other hand, were conducted from April 2019 to January 2020. These were specified according to the business needs of each producer group, with the members being consulted on what topics they wanted their trainings to focus on. For instance, the Baseco Sewing group requested a training on tote bag making where they were shown a demonstration of the step-by-step procedure and given the opportunity to create their own tote bags themselves. The Dried Malunggay and Luya Products groups of Laurel, as well as the Bag Making and Dishwashing Liquid groups of Dasmarinas, learned about labelling, packaging, and branding in their separate trainings. The training of the Meat Processing group of Malabon was on improving the taste and quality of their siomai products, while the Vegetable Gardening group had a hands-on workshop on urban container gardening and communal farming.
Both the financial management and product development trainings gave extra motivation for the microenterprise groups to further improve their products and business operations. The trainings provided them the opportunity not only to explore and try new ideas but also to provide solutions to the common problems encountered in their groups and businesses, as they continuously work hard to provide for their families and serve their communities.
The Dasmarinas Bag Making and Dishwashing Liquid producer groups during their Financial Management Training with Speaker Ms. Lyn Alejandro.
Members of the Baseco Sewing group sewing their own bags during their Product Development Training.
Members of Malabon Vegetable Gardening group during their seedbed preparation and transplanting demonstration.
