Coca-Cola partners with TESDA to empower women of Palawan

MANILA, Philippines - Coca-Cola Philippines, guided by the direction set by its international parent company of empowering women through entrepreneurship, launched the training component of Coca-Cola TESDA National Convergence Program on Empowering Grassroots Women Entrepreneurs, in Puerto Princesa City last December 12.

Assisted by the local government unit of Palawan and Puerto Princesa City, and local NGO Taytay sa Kauswagan, Inc. (TSKI) the program brought the trainers of Region 4-BTechnical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to train 300 women in 10 cluster sites for basic entrepreneurial skills such as book keeping, businessplanning and inventory management.

According to Gilda Maquilan, Corporate Communications manager of Coca-Cola, the objective of the National Convergence Program is to make women grassroots retailers become better entrepreneurs. “Giving women retailers access to training on business, micro-financing, peer mentoring and merchandising will give them a better chance of getting their business off the ground and hopefully help them become successful entrepreneurs.”

Maquilan added that “women always prioritize their family. Their success means that they can help provide the basic needs of their family members and if they become more successful they can be potential engines of community development.”

The National Convergence Program on Empowering Grassroots Women Entrepreneurs is part of the corporate advocacy platform of Coca-Cola Live Positively. Johanna Hife, Live Positively Manager of Coca Cola Philippines, said that no less than the Global Coca-Cola president and CEO Muhtar Kent vowed to economically empower five million women worldwide by year 2020. Of that number Coke Philippines committed to empower 10,000 women for 2012 alone.

Mandy Aquino, TESDA Provincial director and Focal Person of the Coca-Cola TESDA partnership said that this first tie-up on business skills training with a big company like Coca-Cola symbolizes how public-private partnership can reach successful fruition to help the country realize portion of its Millennium Development Goals targets for 2012 to 2016 of alleviating poverty that can best be achieved through creation of small and progressive businesses.