Go Negosyo continues to inspire

Many of you by now would have heard about our concluded Young Entrepreneurs Summit, probably our most successful summit to date. This Go Negosyo project was highly publicized and seems to be the highlight of our year, but what many may probably still not know, is that Go Negosyo runs and participates in projects like this throughout the entire year, although not as public as our summits. Go Negosyo continuously promotes and develops entrepreneurs in the country in partnership with many other institutions.

A few weeks back, Executive Director Mon Lopez on behalf of Go Negosyo awarded the 2011 Most Outstanding Microentrepreneurs and partner cooperatives, NGOs, and rural financial institutions at the SIPAG Awards 2011, a program by the National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).  LBP president Gilda Pico and NLDC president Lina Amata led the awards program. Go Negosyo was part of the committee headed by Usec. Lina with Myrna Bituin of Betis Craft, Director Nestor Raneses of UP-ISSI and Director Susan Leones of DAR.  They deliberated and selected microentrepreneurs and MFIs across the country who have jointly worked hard to see success and to free people from poverty through entrepreneurship. The 2011 Most Outstanding Entrepreneurs are Erlinda C. Tomas from Bayombong, Nueva Viscaya, Leonora C. Alipar from Legazpi City, Mirasol S. Requiron  from Sagay City, Negros Occidental and Josefina H. Maca from Buug, Zamboanga Sibugay. The Most Outstanding Partner Conduits are: Nueva Segovia Consortium Cooperative, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur; Countryside Multi-Line Cooperative, Daet, Camarines Norte; Loay Community Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Loay, Bohol; Gata Daku Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Clarin, Misamis Occidental; Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc., J.M.Honrado Foundation, Inc., Taytay sa Kauswagan, Inc., Starjed Microfinancing Corp.; Cooperative Bank of Cagayan, Rural Bank of Guinobatan, Inc., First Agro-Industrial Rural Bank, Inc., and D’ Asian Hills Bank, Inc.

Last week, I went to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to join PDI chairperson Marixi Prieto, BSP Deputy Gov. Nestor Espenilla for Gov. Amando Tetangco, Citi Country Officer Sanjiv Vohra and Ayala Corp. COO Fernando Zobel de Ayala in recognizing remarkable microentrepreneurs once more, this time through the Citi Microentrepreneur of the Year, organized by Citi Philippines, the BSP and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines, Inc. That day, we deliberated who among the finalists really stood out the most.

The Masikap semi-finalists for the Citi Microentrepreneur of the Year are Corazon Bautista, manufacturer of RTW; Jocelyn de Guzman, manufacturer of slippers and sandals; Sylvia dela Cruz, producer of dried fish or tuyo; Anita Mandalupe, producer of rice seeds; Anastasio Postrero, seaweed farmer, sari-sari store and piggery owner and manufacturer of danggit; Catalina Sayson, food processing and trading of fried chicken, ice cream, juice, popcorn and salted peanuts; Danelito Castro, manufacturer and distributor of herbal oil; Subaida Maik, sari-sari store owner and engaged in buying and selling of malong. The Maunlad Award semi-finalists are Rosita Bolaños, owner of a pizza business, barber shop, sari-sari store computer shop; Natividad Gabriel for deep offshore fishing, red grouper culture, and dried fish processing; John Cabillon in fresh squid buying and selling, motorcycle and tricycle for hire, sea cucumber dealing and

Lapu-Lapu fish cage; Carina Gonato in chicken lumpia manufacturing; Andresa Javines, manufacturing ready-to-use packing material fortuna exports and tuna buying and selling; Susana Miranda in furniture making; and Hermis Tan for abaca and rubber farming as well as for her bakery business.  The winners of the Citi MOTY will be awarded on Nov. 23.

After our successful book launch on Oct. 20, the Go Negosyo team of Angelpreneurs did special full-day Negosems in Masbate and Davao City in partnership with the DTI and the Davao Chamber of Commerce and Industry. For this year, we have already conducted around 19 Negosems around the country and for this we thank all our partners and Angelpreneurs who went of their way to conduct seminars in the provinces.

This is just a snapshot of what a week with Go Negosyo is. Today, we are joining franchise guru and Go Negosyo Angelpreneur Butz Bartolome as he leads the mounting of the Phil. SME and Franchise Expo.  Tomorrow, our director joins the British Council in the judging of I am a Changemaker entries in a competition that presents new and innovative Social Enterprise business models presented by various schools nationwide.

And the projects and campaigns aren’t over. This Nov. 24, we are mounting our third summit this year, the OFW Summit, a project in partnership with Mrs. Cynthia Villar and the Villar Foundation. On Nov. 23, from the Citi MOTY Awards at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, I will head straight to the Meralco Theater, this time for the MVP Bossing Awards. We are a major partner of Manny V. Pangilinan and PLDT SME Nation as we once more award inspiring entrepreneurs who are leaders in their industry.

Our calendar at Go Negosyo is so tight that it may seem that we have barely have enough room to breathe. But we won’t stop till we achieve our mission in seeing Filipinos succeed and move up in life, through our projects and partnerships that promote and develop success-driven and entrepreneurial minded Filipinos.

Go Negosyo.  Tulay sa Tagumpay