DTI arms youth with trade skills

Seeking to fill the gaps of youth development in rural communities, the Department of Trade and Industry MIMAROPA Region equipped students with basic business skills and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Under the Be Your Own Boss or BOSS program, a practical and activity-based training, the participants are trained with step-by-step business skills important for environmental scanning, identifying small business opportunities, and developing and operationalizing a business plan.

Placing value on youth talent

DTI MIMAROPA conducted several sessions of the BYOB. The largest convention of existing and budding youth entrepreneurs from the provinces of Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro and Palawan was held virtually.

The United States Agency for International Development Opportunity 2.0 (O2) Program through the Education Development Center Inc. forged a partnership with DTI to advance youth's
entrepreneurial potential through innovation and life skills by integrating the entrepreneurship initiatives of the O2 Program to the DTI's Youth Entrepreneurship Program or YEP.

Joel Valera, Regional Director of DTI MIMAROPA, said: "We have always envisioned our entrepreneurial path to be inclusive, which includes the upward progress of the youth sector."

Following the discussions on the basic concepts of business, customer service, marketing, and finance, the participants were asked to present a marketing and business plan to complete the three-day extensive session.

Hazel DP. Salvador, Provincial Director of DTI Palawan, emphasized during her closing remarks that she is optimistic for the growth and development of the youth participants as entrepreneurs of the future.