15,000 women to undergo business training under TESDA-Coke-Taguig City deal

Joel Villanueva INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines—Aiming to empower 15,000 women as entrepreneurs by the end of the year, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) inked a deal with Coca Cola Philippines and the Taguig City government for a three-month business training.

Tesda director general Joel Villanueva on Wednesday signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the bottling company and Taguig City mayor Maria Laarni Cayetano to help female retailers make their small businesses boom through the Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources program.

Villanueva pointed out, “Women entrepreneurs are the fastest growing segment in the community of small businesses. Because of this, wider and greater access to assistance should be made available to them.”

He added, “Providing them (women) with training and opening up avenues for resources to expand and sustain their business will help level the playing field so that they could succeed.”

Signing the MOA for Coca Cola, public affairs and communications director and lawyer Adel Tamano said, “It is partnerships with equally passionate and committed organizations like Tesda that makes the program successful. We see them (Tesda) as a strong ally in helping women retailers become better entrepreneurs.”

The Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources program is part of the international bottling company’s initiative “5 by 20,” which seeks to empower 5 million women worldwide by the year 2020.

Launched in 2011, the program is implemented in 25 cities and provinces, including: Metro Manila, Benguet, Cagayan, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Albay, Camarines Sur, Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Palawan, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Aklan, Cebu, Iloilo, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Lanao Del Norte, Davao City, Davao Del Sur and Davao Del Norte.

Under the MOA, the program will involve interventions for local women running small sari-sari stores and food stalls or karinderyas who will be provided basic entrepreneurship training and taught how to access business resources such as micro-loans and merchandising support.

Taguig City’s women micro-entrepreneurs will be granted scholarships for 12 weeks of training at the Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources Program Center for Excellence of the Tesda Women’s Center at Gate 1 of the Tesda Complex along East Service Road, South Superhighway in Taguig City.

After completing the sessions, the scholars may apply for additional business capital through micro-loans from the agency’s partner-microfinance institutions or organize a cooperative. They can also apply to be Coca Cola-serviced outlets and included as the bottling company’s partner sari-sari store or food outlet.

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