Conference for micro and small entrepreneurs held in Cagayan de Oro
Cagayan De Oro City – Mga Likha ni Inay (MLNI), the 14th institution and marketing arm of social development organization, CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) recently held the first leg of its 2016 MLNI Summit with the theme, Building Inclusive and Innovative Enterprises here in Cagayan De Oro.
About 60 micro and small entrepreneurs from several cities and municipalities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao came to learn and network with co-CARD MRI members and with the panelists and speakers during the conference.
Ms. Yoling Sevilla owner of the Leather Collection provided the key note speech and shared their journey to continuous innovation that helped her family’s micro enterprise to grow. According to her, having a feedback mechanism and doing researches to improve products is important to be able to penetrate and stay in the market.
Three panelists, Ms. Esther Shiela Vitto, a CARD member and owner of Bahag Footwear, Ms. Lolita Cabanlet owner of Handmade Paper Crafts, and Ms. Juvenal Fernandez, shared how they managed and grew their businesses.
The conference is also a venue for both private individuals and companies and government agencies like Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to work together in helping the micro and small entrepreneurs learn product branding and marketing, packaging and labeling, and business and product registration and licensing.
To add spice to the event, MLNI included a mini-fashion show where products of CARD MRI members like wearable dresses and clothes made from Lumban, T’nalak, and loom fabrics as well as accessories and bags were shown and worn by models who are CARD staff and children of CARD MRI clients from Cagayan de Oro.
The participants was also able to have a half day tour to the Northern Mindanao Innovation Center at the Mindanao University of Science and Technology to see firsthand machines and innovations in food development, packaging, labeling, and testing.
Products brought by the participants were also exhibited and sold during the event with the assistance of CARD, Inc. staff and officers.
The conference has been organized with the aim of empowering micro and small entrepreneurs who are members of CARD MRI with knowledge and management skills that they need in building and growing their enterprise. This also serves as a venue for members to establish network with other micro and small entrepreneurs who participated in the conference.
One of the participants from Agusan del Sur, Ms. Criselda Catalon, a graduate of the CARD OFW Foundation Hongkong who is now staying in the country for good said, “I am very happy that I was chosen to join this conference. My learnings from the CARD financial literacy program in HongKong were enriched by this MLNI Summit. I gained more knowledge on how to improve my business and this also challenged me to explore other businesses possible in our hometown not only from the speakers but from other entrepreneurs here.”
CARD MRI will hold another conference this year to empower more micro and small entrepreneurs in the country, a move to help poverty eradication in the country.