Ladies and gentlemen, magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat.

We would like to welcome the guests, speakers, mentors, enrollees, and participants to today’s launch of the Youth Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) being rolled out by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Regional Office 1. We would also like to thank Regional Director (RD) Grace Falgui-Baluyan and her team for tirelessly working on the program’s blended program of live and technological approaches to ensure the participants’ safety during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Sa mga kabataan po na ating panauhin ngayon, sana po ay isapuso ninyo ang mga aral na inyong matututunan mula sa YEP program para po kayo ay maging mas produktibong mamamayan ng ating bayan sa pamamagitan ng entrepreneurship. At sa atin pong hangarin na makapag-build back better patungo sa isang post-pandemic future, ito po ang aming paraan ng paghanda sa inyo para sa hinaharap.

Due to the economic challenges wrought by the present pandemic, we’ve seen that there is a need to be more innovative in the way we do things. Many of our countrymen have adapted to the challenging times through entrepreneurship. Nationwide, there were 637,580 total business name registrations in 2019 and this increased to 916,163 last year. Moreover, January to March this year already has 432,962 registrations. In Region 1 alone, business name registration jumped from a total of 31,749 in 2019 to 48,787 last year. For January to March of this year, there are already 23,465.

We are also seeing a complementing boom in e-commerce adoption. Since the start of this year, business registration of online businesses nationwide has grown to more than 9,000. Last year also saw a significant increase in the number of online sellers that registered their business names, climbing to more than 80,000 as compared to around 6,000 from 2018 to 2019.

This is where your young age has an advantage over us, as you are more tech-savvy and tech-oriented. Thus, as young entrepreneurs, we encourage you to use technology to think and come up with new and relevant business models to address the needs of our people. Use technology the way you know it, apply it to entrepreneurship, and you can build back a better world.

Narito po ang DTI para tulungan kayong makamit ang layuning ito dahil naniniwala kami na ang entrepreneurship ay kayang bigyan ang mga Pilipino ng mas komportable at mas mataas na kalidad ng buhay. Bukod pa rito, si Pangulong Rodrigo Roa Duterte po ay nagpakita na ng kanyang suporta sa MSME development at paglikha ng isang kaaya-ayang business environment para sa entrepreneurs. Kaya po nilikha namin ang 7Ms Framework for Successful Entrepreneurship, na binubinuo ng Mindset Change, Mastery, Mentoring, Money, Machines, Market Access, and Models of Business.

Many of our programs under this Framework have been adjusted to help our MSMEs during the pandemic. These include providing them access to microfinance and helping them transition digitally so that they can benefit from the growing e-commerce market.

Furthermore, under Republic Act (RA) No. 10679, or the Youth Entrepreneurship Act, DTI is particularly committed to helping young people take up entrepreneurship. That’s why we created YEP, a focused program to support young Filipinos in becoming entrepreneurs. And with today’s launch of YEP in Region 1, we hope to ignite this entrepreneurial spirit in you all through the sharing of invited resource speakers noted for their business knowledge and experience in today’s seminars.

This is not the first time that our DTI office in Region 1 has run YEP. Last year, they conducted this program to help 1,251 youth MSMEs. And more than YEP, our DTI office has other initiatives to help you to become successful and smarter entrepreneurs. We currently have 64 Negosyo Centers serving MSMEs in the region, and we aim to establish 15 more for 2021. For this year, these Negosyo Centers have already assisted around 12,057 clients, of which 1,352 were youth MSMEs.

Moreover, our regional office has programs like our Kapatid Mentor ME (or KMME) and our Shared Services Facilities (or SSFs) to support your entrepreneurial journey. Through our KMME program, our mentors can coach you on the different aspects of business operations. From 2017 to 2020, they’ve had 528 graduates and they have two runs online for this year. Meanwhile, SSFs can improve the competitiveness of MSMEs by providing machinery, equipment, tools, skills, and knowledge that they can use under a shared system. Already, they’ve assisted with 252 projects for 6,780 MSMEs.

The DTI regional office also has notable MSMEs programs like the OTOP HubLaUnion.com, the Shop-IN, the Rolling Stores together with their OTOPreneurs, and the Build Entrepreneurial Acumen and Mindset (or BEAMS) Program. Additionally, a couple of young entrepreneurs in Region 1 that DTI has helped include Martin Borja of RPN Prime Meat and John Paul Naoe of Jaypee’s Bakeshop. Both were graduates of our KMME program.

Kaya po nais naming pasalamatan ang ating young entrepreneurs na nangakong maging parte ng programang ito. Sa pagtataguyod po ng entrepreneurship sa inyong rehiyon, makagagawa kayo ng mas maraming trabaho at hanapbuhay para sa ating mga kababayan, na siyang magsisiguro ng mas inclusive at sustainable growth and development sa probinsya. Ito naman po ay tutulong sa pag-build back ng isang mas maginhawang kinakbukasan para sa ating bayan.

Maraming salamat po at mabuhay tayong lahat. ♦

Date of Release: 21 April 2021