The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Central Visayas is conducting enterprise development seminars to help entrepreneur beneficiaries of the SUGBO Negosyo program of the Cebu provincial government.

Emelinda Tayad, a 59-year-old housewife from Talisay City, Cebu, is among the 8,000 beneficiaries of the program.

On Monday, the budding mother entrepreneur shared she has received PHP10,000 capital under the “Mga Serbisyo ug Ginagmay’ng Patigayon” category from the office of the provincial board member Yolanda Daan.

DTI-7 said it has so far conducted 17 seminars this month through its Negosyo Centers to provide the eligible beneficiaries with entrepreneurship development seminars, facilitate business name and barangay micro business enterprise registrations, and assist in other appropriate development services to improve their businesses.

SUGBO Negosyo is a livelihood assistance program of the Cebu provincial government in partnership with the DTI-7 and the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Capitol has allocated PHP100 million for the program, which had been released through the 17 provincial board members worth PHP5 million each, and PHP15 million through the Office of Vice Governor Junjun Davide.

“I am very grateful for this program. When the lockdown hit Cebu last year, I thought I was hopeless but this blessing came,” Tayag said in the local dialect.

She was among the beneficiaries who attended last week a DTI-organized training on business development.

Tayad had settled in Cebu from Tarlac in 1989 for a living. Her husband used to work in the coffin industry which later on started his own business.

During the pandemic, her daughter, who works as a kitchen staff in Dubai, had stopped sending money back home for a while due to financial difficulties.

Tayad thus decided to put up a sari-sari store in front of their house in Talisay to sustain their needs on top of her husband’s fleeting sustenance.

Tayad said she only learned about the program during the last day of submission of requirements.

“Through the assistance, I was able to buy additional supplies for my sari-sari store. My daily earnings could already reach as much as PHP2,000,” she added.

Recipients of the program received their capital in the form of “SUGBO Negosyo” cards which they would use to purchase goods for their business operations to sustain their livelihood affected by the pandemic.

Other categories of the program include “Negosyo Padayon” worth PHP50,000 for each beneficiary and “Produktong Sugboanon” worth PHP20,000. (PNA)