TFC supports OWWA seminar for OF families in Davao,advocates for the entrepreneurial skill of Pinoys

QUEZON CITY, Philippines - Dec. 22, 2013 - PRLog -- The Filipino Channel (TFC) further supports the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration’s (OWWA) programs aimed at providing end-to-end support for overseas Filipinos (OFs) en route to their overseas work and back to the homeland. The TFC team graced OWWA’s “Mag-negosyo Tayo,” micro-entrepreneurial business seminar recently held at the Pinnacle Hotel and Suites in the Crown Jewel of Mindanao, Davao City in Southern Philippines.

According to Officer-in-Charge and OWWA Region XI Director Eduard Bellido, the seminar, attended by nearly 50 OF families, is part of OWWA’s monthly activities for overseas workers and their loved ones under its OFW Family Circle program.  The OFW Family Circle is a program that gathers these OFs and their families with the aim of bringing these distant families together using a holistic approach, covering areas from psychological well-being to financial literacy.  “Mag-negosyo Tayo,” the micro-entrepreneurial seminar, specifically aims to break the vicious cycle of dependency of the families of OFs.  With the theme “Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset,” the seminar, Bellido said, aims to change the thinking that is prevalent in these families - to look at their OF beneficiaries for economic support.

Bellido said “As much as possible, we want these families to veer away from the dependency situation of the families on those working abroad.  We also want to develop the entrepreneurial skills of those left behind.  “Kesa naman asa tayo ng asa sa mga anak natin, kaya pa natin, isipin natin anong magandang papasukin? Ano ang magagawa ng ganitong amount na naitabi?” (Instead of depending on our children, we can opt to do something to sustain our families.  What can we do with the amount our OF family members saved?)

OWWA, the primary government agency assigned to promote the welfare and over-all well-being of OFs and their dependents,  in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region XI unit represented by Ivy Uy, senior trading industrial development supervisor, took this shift in mindset further through a whole-day training covering leadership capacity building, financial literacy and technology training.  The seminar included advice on sunrise industries such as soap-making and craft-making and foreboding against sunset industries.

Public Employment Service Office (PESO) Manager Sheryl Espinosa also discussed the proper procedures in the employment procedure to avoid illegal recruitment and other illegal activities possibly involving returning OFs.

During the seminar, actual OFs whose families successfully set up their own businesses and shared their experiences included Amparo Leanes Plaza, mother of OF Samuel Jayson Plaza who set up a food business named TNS Buffet along San Pedro St. in Davao City.

Another living testament to the many possibilities that OFs can explore is Ronelyn Achacoso who already established her own handicraft business after working in Brunei for less than a year.  With her sister Nelia Malahay, she established a handicraft business in NCC mall in Davao City.  According to Achacoso, setting up her own business was not without challenges.  Her initial foray at retailing crafts produced from plant wastes such as from abacca (species of banana plant) and coconut (species of palm tree) was met by disbelief by Filipinos who thought that her product will not click in mainstream retail industry.  Now, she has pulled out of her mall outlet and has instead set up her own distribution company, JMark handicraft which supplies to Dipology City and other parts of Visayas (Central Philippines) and Mindanao.

According to Bellido, this is exactly the kind of mind shift that OWWA encourages.  “The very first important thing to change is the mindset.  We want them to be more pioneering in their concept.  We don’t want the hot pandesal (local bread) mentality whereas our kababayans jump into whatever bandwagon there is in business,” Bellido ended.

The stories of Plaza and Acachoso are just two testimonials of the roles that OFs can still take on in society beyond being part of the regular work force.  Moreover, their stories prove that the Filipinos skill spans not only the culture and the arts but also covers craftsmanship and skill.

Aside from the OFW Family Circle, OWWA also conducts other programs such as the recently concluded Model Overseas Filipino Family of the Year Award and the Presidential Salubong to recognize outstanding OFs and their families as well as to reaffirm OF’s important role in nation-building.  TFC and OWWA are partners for these efforts which are in support of the OF’s journey overseas.