- TSPI STAR Program graduates with their TESDA instructors Alfaisal Madueno and Bella Lanado, and Project Officer Marie Ballera
THE TECHNICAL Skills and Training Development Authority of the Philippines (TESDA) and Tulay sa Pag-unlad, Inc. (TSPI) organized the closing ceremony of TSPI’s pilot batch of client attendees for Coca-Cola Philippines’ Sari-sari Store Training and Access to Resources (STAR) program. The ceremony was held at the TESDA Women’s Center in Taguig City last May 7. The entrepreneurship program is part of Coca-cola’s global initiative to help 5 million women entrepreneurs across its value chain by the year 2020.
Twenty-seven TSPI clients from the Taguig 1 and 2 branches graduated as STAR scholars, led by batch president Ms. Vicenta Manao of Taguig 2. Certificates and special awards were handed out by STAR instructors Ms. Bella Teresa L. Lanado and Alfaisal V. Madueno, witnessed by TSPI Enterprise Development Services (EDS) Director Maria Teresa Perfecto and TSPI Central 1 Sector Manager Josephine Montemayor.
The ceremony was the culmination of four months of determination and firm belief by the Taguig clients that they are microenterepreneurs who can make a difference in their families and communities. The program reinforces this belief with gender appreciation and sensitivity counseling through case studies in social-business relationships. Valuable business skills like marketing, merchandising, business planning, and basic bookkeeping are then introduced to round up their training. By addressing the common barriers faced by female microentrepreneurs, the program aims to empower the scholars to sustainably invest their incomes on the health and education of their children and create tremendous economic impact in their communities.
The EDS department is working out a Memorandum of Agreement with TESDA on formalizing TSPI’s participation in the program.
Text by Resmon L. Gonzalez and photos by Joanne G. Fajardo of Enterprise Development Services.