City Mayor John Geesnell “BABA” Yap thanked the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for the Livelihood Negosyo Kits distributed to the Cogon market vendors affected by the fire last year. The City Government has given various financial assistance to the vendors enabling them toreopen their business, “We are optimistic that the financial assistance we have extended to the vendors in Cogonhelped them regain their livelihood and confidence back. And with this assistance from the DTI, they will not only gain additional capital, but entrepreneurial skills as well”, Yap said. The livelihood assistance program dubbed as the “Pangkabuhayan sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa” (PBG) provided a whole gamut of incentives to the Cogon vendors. An Enterprise Development Training consisting of business skills like Basic Accounting and Marketing were taught. The Cogon vendors who were trained submitted a simplified action plan which could serve as the blueprint on how they will manage and grow their business using the DTI financial assistance. Under the PBG program, DTI will provide financial assistance of P10,000 and educational materials after profiling and giving business training to the Cogon Market vendors.
Mayor Yap along with PBG Project Coordinator Jerome John Gabin of the DTI awarded the gift checks to the Cogon market vendors. “PBG is an initiative of the national government and DTI to help the smallest of entrepreneurs who were affected by calamities or disasters. The program gives a fast and easy source of initial capital to help microentrepreneurs regain normalcy in their livelihood after an unfortunate incident,” said Gabin. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to visit the DTI Negosyo Centers and provincial offices to help them restart or grow their businesses.