178 DISPLACED OFWs BENEFIT FROM DTI ENTREP DEVELOPMENT TRAINING AND BUSINESS CONSULTANCY SERVICES

As part of the Department of Trade and Industry's commitment and assistance to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who are either displaced, repatriated and with finished contract and will stay for good in the Philippines, the office acceded to the request of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) -Regional Office No. V to partner with them by providing entrepreneurship development training and business consultancy services to the sector.

This initiative is part of OWWA's Enterprise Development Training (EDT)project under the Reintegration Program for OFWs. Aside from attending Entrepreneurship Orientation, the trainees are required to prepare Simple Business Plans to avail of the P 10,000.00 grant under the National Reintegration Center for OFWs Fund for livelihood projects. Likewise, for OFWs or group of OFWs who need bigger capitalization ranging from P 300,000.00 up to P 2,000,000.00, they are required to prepare a more detailed business plan for submission to the Landbank of the Philippines who manages the P 2 billion Reintegration Program for OFW Fund.

In the preparation of business plans by OFWs,the DTI takes a major critical role as it is given the prime responsibility to assess and evaluate the feasbility and viability of the projects and recommend the same for funding.

Since the DTI-OWWA partnership started last May, 2011 up to this writing (July), the DTI already facilitated three training sessions attended by a total of 178 OFW-participants, evaluated and recommended 83 business plans with total grant/loan applications amounting to P 10,027,947.00. Majority of the proposals are on agribusiness, allied services, food and non-food processing and trading.

It is worthwhile to mention that less than three months after the DTI intervention, some of the OFW-beneficiaries already started their formal business operations. They already complied with the mandatory business requirements such as DTI Business Name Registration, BIR and Mayor's Permit. Noteworthy to mention are two repatriated OFWs affected by the recent conflicts in Libya and they are Jesus Pedido Lustre III of Ligao City who registered his Lustre's Welding and Repair Shop and Alexander Guban Fresnido also of Ligao City who registred his Alesig Hollow Bloacka Factory and Gravel and Sand. As the DTI assistance continuous, more new entrepreneurs are expected to be developed and therefore more economic activities for the province.