LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Facilitated by 4-H Club President Ryan Palunan and Marsha Pasong of Cordillera office of the Department of Trade Industry, a talk show guested Young Farmers Challenge (YFC) 2021 awardee Nick Loque, YFC 2022 awardee Ray Mark Manawas, Young Entrepreneur Program (YEP) awardees Aulivia Ong and Cinder Bayongasan, and 4-H Club Members Kerwin Palpal and Giovannie Addatu.
The talk show served as knowledge sharing and inspiration for the youth, especially those who are just starting with their businesses, as the speakers shared their motivation for engaging in business, their failures and how did they overcome these, their biggest “AHA” moments, and non-negotiable considerations when it comes to business, as well as advise to starting entrepreneurs.
Ong who owns a milk tea café in La Trinidad, Benguet said that her cravings for milk tea after giving birth to her son and wanting to share her passion and love for the milk tea has led to the creation of her business. The other guests shared that the COVID-19 pandemic opened opportunities for them as they looked into the positive side of the situation. Hence, their businesses jumpstarted during the height of pandemic. Their innovation and their gung-ho attitude to take on risks enabled them to work on their businesses despite the limitations brought by the pandemic.
In terms of failures and challenges, the young farmers and entrepreneurs noted that they indeed they are still facing these even at present. However, these failures and challenges are considered stepping stones in achieving the desired success in business. As Bayongasan underscored, achieving success is not final and the failures are not fatal, rather, it is the courage to move forward that matters.
All the guests emphasized on having the right foundation, the right entrepreneurial mindset, and networking as major factors to hold on to when venturing into business.
“Your biggest competitor is not your neighbor but yourself. Competing with yourself is unlocking the potentials that you did not know you are capable of,” Ong shared.
Moreover, Addatu of Tabuk, Kalinga also recognized the different trainings and programs being provided by the government such as the YEP of DTI and YFC of DA which are helpful in molding and boosting anyone who is interested to go into agriculture and entrepreneurship. He then encouraged the participants to take advantage of these programs and apply the gained learnings in their chosen businesses.
The talk show is part of the two-day Agribusiness Support for Promotion and Investment in Regional Exposition or ASPIRE event themed, “Inspiring agripreneurs towards a resilient and innovative agriculture sector”.
Aside from the talk show slated on the second day, discussions on logistics services, services on the food innovation center of Benguet State University, and digital marketing were also conducted. These topics were presented by John Christian Palisoc of J&T Mabini, Baguio City; Karen Gaerlan of BSU, and Dean Cuanso of Humarri Corp., respectively.
Several programs for the youth were also presented by the different government agencies for further promotion and dissemination. These programs include the YEP of DTI-CAR, the YFC of DA-CAR, the Kapital Young Access for Young Agripreneurs (KAYA) and ANYO loans of Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), and the 4-H Club Programs of the Agricultural Training Institute -CAR, all of which gear towards assisting the youth in developing their chosen enterprises. These programs were presented by Ms. Pasong, Senior Agriculturist Jocelyn Beray of DA-CAR, Marcial Lloyd Bayangan of ACPC, and Mr. Palunan, respectively.
For specific information on these programs, please browse the official websites and/or Facebook pages of the agencies.
