One of the responsibilities of Negosyo Center (NC) is to promote ease of doing business and facilitate access to services for MSMEs within its jurisdiction, and by means of access to services, SME Roving Academy (SMERA) is one of the DTI continuous learning programs designed for the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for them to become competitive in the domestic and international markets.

In order to help existing and potential entrepreneurs understand the importance of making their customers be the driver behind every marketing decision in their businesses, the NC Lumban conducted an SME Roving Academy (SMERA) entitled “Defining Your Market and Understanding Your Customers” conducted this 18th day of March 2022. The said activity was spearheaded by NC Business Counsellor (BC) Lumban Jamila Eleazar together with Dr. Mary Joy Barlisan Calinao, a candidate professor at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and New Era University via Zoom.

Dr. Mary Joy Barlisan Calinao, the resource speaker of the said webinar, clearly discussed topics on how marketing is important in defining your market, the use of Google Trends, understanding your customers and the marketing mix. To further equip and make the entire learning experience of the participants complete, the NC Lumban BC will send each participant notes on the topic via email which they can use as reference or guide in managing or building their own businesses.

The seminar received positive comments from the participants and they expressed their satisfaction with the learning activity. Overall, the SMERA program was commended by the potential and existing MSMEs and they are pleased to join future seminars, mentoring and coaching sessions of NC Lumban.

The recently conducted seminar of the NC Lumban was attended by a total of 90 potential and existing MSMEs from Lumban. ♦

Date of Release: 11 April 2022