SBMA sets ‘Go Negosyo’ seminars for displaced workers

SUBIC BAY FREE PORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has taken its retooling program for displaced workers one notch higher by teaming up with the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE) for a series of “Go Negosyo” seminars.

SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said the popular seminar series on entrepreneurship and business fundamentals will initially benefit 200 former workers in this free port who are planning to venture into small and medium enterprises, particularly in the tourism industry.

The two-day seminar, which normally costs P1,000 per participant, will be given free to former Subic workers displaced by the ongoing global economic crisis, Arreza said.

Arreza and PCE founding trustee Ma. Jose Concepcion III agreed to conduct the Go Negosyo seminar series here under a memorandum of understanding they signed on Monday at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City.

The signing of the agreement was witnessed by SBMA labor manager Severo Pastor Jr., SBMA public-relations manager Armina Belleza Llamas, PCE executive director Ramon Lopez and PCE programs-development manager Myra Dorothy Lorredo.

Concepcion, who is also the presidential consultant for entrepreneurship, said the Go Negosyo program is a flagship project of the PCE to prove that Filipinos can address poverty by engaging in entrepreneurship.

“If all Filipinos will form a small group and start their own small or medium enterprises, our economy will definitely boom to progress,” said Concepcion during the signing ceremony. He added that “putting up your own business may be the easy part, especially when you have the capital; keeping the business going and profitable is another issue.”

“This is where PCE comes in,” Concepcion said. Written by Henry Empeño - Business Mirror