By Chupsie Medina
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:15:00 05/15/2008
What will it take for the Filipino youth to embrace entrepreneurship?
Although government and the private sector have increasingly promoted entrepreneurship in recent years, an experience by the Philippine Trade Training Center showed that there may be interest among the youth, but not enough to nurture business ideas and grow them into earning endeavours.
“We found that most of our young are still not as passionate about pursuing an entrepreneurial career,” says Ma. Josefina Urmeneta, officer-in-charge of the PTTC’s Trade Business Division.
Urmeneta had mentored last year 13 groups of students chosen from 37 teams representing high schools and colleges from Metro Manila and Luzon that showed interest in joining the PTTC’s Program for Young Entrepreneurs, a hands-on business incubation laboratory for students.
The chosen teams showed commitment in the beginning to start a business -- ranging from charcoal, dried fish, buntal hats, feminine wash, filter tumblers, and food products such as atsara (pickled vegetables), burger, pizza, coffee from corn, yema, adobo spread and chocobars -- and nurture these to the commercial phase.
For one year, Urmeneta and her team of selected PTTC staff guided the students in preparing prototypes of their products and producing these for the market. Every program participant designed their own finished products, looked for financing, marketed them and supervised operations.
The students also attended an intensive, one-month, live-in learning camp at the PTTC, imbibing as best as they could the ABCs of starting and nurturing a business. “It was like sending them to a crash course in business,” but without the huge costs that are normally charged by established learning institutions, PTTC executive director Adelaida Inton said.
All costs incurred in the program were shouldered by PTTC and Go Negosyo.
“We thought of this business incubation project after seeing the gap in the efforts of Go Negosyo,” said Urmeneta. “Those who wanted to start their businesses just didn’t know where to begin,” she said.
Go Negosyo, an initiative of businessman Jose Ma. C. Concepcion III through the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship is a multi-sectoral campaign that espouses entrepreneurship as a means for Filipinos to rise from poverty.
Program for Young Entrepreneurs launched its search for student teams in December of 2006, and ran for a year. PTTC counsellors were assigned to monitor the teams in their schools and communities, and provide timely advice even after the one-month, live-in sessions.
Sadly, of the 13 participating teams, only four passed the grade. “Some teams just lost interest in pursuing the business projects. Some projects had to be put aside to give way to academic commitments. It was especially difficult for those graduating,” Urmeneta said.
Not one of the students from the three chosen high school teams pursued a college career in entrepreneurship. “Most of them decided to take up a Nursing course,” Urmeneta said. Some parents even begged PTTC counsellors to leave their children alone so they could finish a course that could give them jobs when they graduate.
Raising adequate financing for their projects became a major stumbling block for most teams. “We told them we could help in raising the needed funds, but many had already lost heart,” Urmeneta noted.
Of the four teams that made the grade, only one managed to ‘graduate’ this year by participating in an international trade exhibit. What makes this team a stand-out? “Passion,” Urmeneta said. One particular member of the team had shown such ardour to pursue the business – and this was enough to bring the whole project team across the finish line.
The three other teams had called a temporary halt to the projects, and promised to pick up from where they left off after a year or two. In the meantime, they took 8-to-5 jobs that promised a sure pay check every 15 days.
Despite the discouraging results, PTTC is planning to improve on the next business incubation training design based on the lessons learned from the pilot program. “We’re aiming for an 80-percent success ratio when we do offer the program again,” Urmeneta said. When depends on the availability of funds although PTTC executive director Inton is optimistic that they would find the money.
Since access to financing was a major obstacle, more attention would have to be given to this problem in succeeding business incubation programs, Urmeneta said.
She said access to capital was more challenging to those studying in public colleges and universities. On the other hand, three of the four successful teams came from exclusive colleges and universities in Metro Manila, and were more optimistic about their own ability to raise financing for their business projects.
For all the shortcomings in its initial attempt to bring entrepreneurship closer to the youth, Inton and Urmeneta are satisfied that at the very least, the beginnings of a truly worthwhile journey had been started.
Filipino youth still lack passion for entrepreneurship
mindset baya dyud nato is that if we are employed it means we are "secure" diba? nothing beats, getting your salary every 15 day. 
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