The Department of Trade and Industry Region 2 (DTI-R2) in partnership with the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE) GoNegosyo officially launched the 5th batch, composed of 54 online mentees, of the Kapatid Mentor ME-Money Market Encounter (KMME-MME) Program via Zoom on 15 March 2022.

Regional Director (RD) Leah Pulido Ocampo said that enrolling in the program is like taking a master’s degree with more advantages such as free tuition and bonus sessions on crafting business improvement plans, digitalization, one-on-one coaching sessions, and the government services forum which will tackle the different government programs for businesses.

This was also echoed by DTI Regional Operations Group (ROG) Undersecretary (Usec.) Blesila A. Lantayona, who emphasized KMME as one of the most comprehensive programs on MSMEs that DTI and PCE-Go Negosyo offer. She also said that the MSMEs’ investment in this program is their attendance at all the sessions and their sustained commitment to finish the modules.

On the other hand, having the right mindset in business amid the pandemic and the need to reboot, reinvent, and pivot to overcome adversities was highlighted by the GoNegosyo mentor, Nonoy Espeleta. The overview of the ‘GoNegosyo’ and KMME briefer and implementation plan was discussed by PA De Guzman of PCE- GoNegosyo.

The mentees then gave their respective self-introduction and elected their leader and note-taker per group for the entire session.

DTI R2 Assistant Regional Director (RD) Winston Singun commended the mentees for their first step in growing their business through KMME and encouraged them to complete the sessions and utilize the learnings to develop their businesses.

Every mentee must be able to come up with their Business Improvement Plan with the help of coaches to be deployed by PCE – Go Negosyo to graduate from the program. ♦

Date of Release: 29 March 2022