Empowering Filipinos on Go Negosyo’s 15th anniversary

Go Negosyo started with a dream of bringing together different people in pursuit of a vision of helping our micro and small entrepreneurs. It’s been a remarkable 15 years. Through the years of bringing mentorship closer to every Filipino, we are proud to say that we have nurtured thousands of aspiring and already successful entrepreneurs through our mentorship, money, and market programs.

As Go Negosyo marks its 15th anniversary this November, we have organized a month-long celebration that looks back on this momentous journey while reaffirming our commitment to the prosperity and growth of our entrepreneurs especially at this time of crisis.

The anniversary celebration will feature a series of events, in-depth discussions, and interactions on MSME development and inclusive growth. Through these activities, we hope to bring more people together and spark meaningful conversations about building a sustainable future and conducive business environment for our MSMEs.

We will be kicking off our anniversary activities with our daily Pandagdag Puhunan Program of giving capital augmentation to more than 300 micro-entrepreneurs amounting to P5 million on our daily Mentor ME Online sessions. This is in addition to the P4.5 million that we have already given to lucky MSME winners since March, bringing our total to close to P10 million.

The number of our followers on Facebook has steadily grown to 1.7 million, expanding our reach to the farthest areas of the country. Before the end of this year, we hope to see this breach the two million mark so that we can continue to bring mentorship to entrepreneurs residing in the most rural of provinces.

MMO is broadcast live on Facebook three times a day and features financing opportunities and loan assistance for MSMEs, one-on-one mentoring sessions, Balik Kabuhayan series (Navigating to the New Normal), New Kabuhayan sa New Normal, and Puhunan Pang-Negosyo raffle promo.

The forward march of digitalization has allowed us to take our MMO sessions to a broader audience. Mentees need only sign up on Zoom calls to connect with and learn from industry veterans. We also have an easier time accessing mentors since there’s no more travel, food, or accommodation costs. The program has been very successful, and we hope to expand it to the ASEAN level through the ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network (AMEN).

I believe that this platform has great potential not only in the Philippines, but also across all 10 ASEAN member countries working together, sharing resources, and helping their MSMEs grow through the power of digitalization.

Our line-up of events for the anniversary campaign is packed with prominent public and private sector leaders. We have invited the President to grace our culminating summit. We will also hold our much-awaited MSME conference, which will highlight business resiliency, disruption, adapting to the new normal, and business health protocols/safety operational measures.

We have invited notable speakers such as Capt. Raghu Rahman, group president (risk, security, and new ventures) of Reliance Industries Ltd.; Dr. Astrid Tuminez, president of Utah Valley University; Dr. Robert Yap, ASEAN BAC Singapore chair, vice-president of business development, Singapore Management University; Engr. Dado Banato, managing partner of Tallwood Venture Capital; Analisa Balares, CEO of Womensphere; Gang Ye, co-founder of Shoppee; Anthony Tan, CEO and Co-founder of Grab; Manny Pangilinan, chairman of the MVP Group of Companies; Tessie Sy Coson, co-chairman of SM Investments; Enrique Razon, president of International Container Terminal Services, Inc.;  Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman and CEO of Ayala Corporation, among many other captains of industry. We will also hold an agriculture conference, family business conference, and digital conference in November to complement this campaign.

With COVID-19 upending lives and businesses all over the world, it is more important than ever to guide our MSMEs with the knowledge and know-how to navigate this new normal and link them to different money and market opportunities. For the past 15 years and counting, Go Negosyo continues to lead the entrepreneurship revolution, helping more Filipinos find success and building a stronger, more dynamic, more competitive national economy as part of our vision of #AngatLahat.