KORONADAL CITY, – The Department of Trade and Industry Region 12 (DTI-Region 12)  is in search of budding entrepreneurs in Region 12 who will undergo free mentoring and coaching from DTI’s pool of expert business owners and practitioners for the 2021 Kapatid Mentor ME-Money Market Encounter Online (KMME-MME) Program.

The KMME-MME Online is a 10-module mentorship program of DTI in partnership with the Go Negosyo that aims to help Micro, Small, and Medium Entrepreneurs (MSMEs) scale up their business through coaching and mentoring on the different functional areas of entrepreneurship.

In Region 12, DTI will be recruiting a total of 96 entrepreneurs who are doing business in the regional priority industry clusters as well as those representing the youth sector.

The Region 12 mentees for this year will be divided into two batches with the batch of MSMEs from the industry clusters is scheduled to be launched on 5 April while the second batch representing the youth sector is on 5 July.

To graduate from the program, candidate-mentees must attend the online classes, mentoring and coaching sessions, and must successfully present and defend their Business Improvement Plans to a panel of industry experts composed of the government sector, business sector, and financial institutions.

The mentees will be graded based on their application of learned business concepts in areas critical to business such as human resource, marketing, finance, and operations.

“This year’s KMME-MME Online will be our second time to mount the program using the virtual platform. This is part of going practical and digital in the New Normal during the pandemic. We provide an avenue for the MSMEs to still enjoy the services of DTI without compromising their health,” said Jude Constantine S. Jaugan, regional director of DTI-Region 12.

Now in its sixth year, the program has produced 404 mentee-graduates in Region 12 with businesses ranging from food processing, homestyle, and wearables, as well as services with some of these graduates have successfully penetrated the national market.

Interested MSMEs may visit the nearest DTI or Negosyo Center for the initial screening and orientation on the program. DTI-Region 12 will be accepting applications for the first batch until 26 March and 25 June for the youth sector (second batch). ♦

Date of Release: 22 March 21