“We intend to help you [participants] gain more knowledge about the important aspects of business such as operations, finance, marketing, and organization/human resource; and distinguish problems you can come across and how to solve them,” said Ms. Imelda G. Villanueva, head of Market Development Section of AMAD.

Putting up and managing a business is a lot of work. There are requirements and processes one must complete to get it up and running. There are various licenses and certificates they need to obtain and different government agencies that must be involved to help them all the way through. Therefore, participants were engaged in discussions and activities that covered topics like Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) business name permit registration requirements and procedures; processes of applying for a license to operate (LTO) of food establishments and certificate of product registration (CPR) with Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) business registration guidelines and procedures; and basic accounting.

Furthermore, they were taught about the importance of leadership and organizational management which help a business maximize efficiency and to achieve its goals; and marketing/product promotion that will bring in more customers and ensure profitability for businesses.

Action plans of each of the agricultural firms were the outputs presented by them.

Participants expressed their appreciation for having the chance to attend the activity as it was insightful and made sense in terms of growing their business opportunities.

These agri-entrepreneurs were previously trained on how to prepare a business plan. They and perhaps more of them will be invited for another activity on market access and development as part of AMAD’s continuous integration of market development support services to farmers, fishers, MSMEs, and other stakeholders in CALABARZON. • ARC