BAGUIO CITY – The Young Farmers’ Challenge (YFC) provincial winners, known as Yaggies, participated in a seminar on “Business and Product Registration and Certification” from October 25 to 26, 2022, at the Conference Hall of the Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR) here in the city.
As a part of their business development services, the Agribusiness Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) tapped different agencies to discuss with the Yaggies the different prerequisites to accomplish before their businesses can become fully functional. This is also in preparation for the YFC 2022 Regional Level competition on October 28, 2022.
Charles Marlou Macli-ing began the sessions by outlining the various Department of Trade and Industry initiatives available to the Yaggies, such as the Mentor Me Program, Young Entrepreneurs Program, and Negosyo Center, among others. Macli-ing also discussed the process and the requirements of business name registration.
Allan Abayo and Camille Mangunay from the Baguio City Permits and Licensing Office then spoke about the advantages of having a registered business, the procedures of the city government for business registration, and the support of the city for small to medium enterprises, including the stimulus package, and Sunday market showcase at Session Road.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s Angeli Aura Cid, Jenifer Mendoza, Luciel Sawate, Angeli Tarasi, Joster Koso addressed during the afternoon session the requirements and registration steps for new business and the process of invoicing and bookkeeping.
Since the majority of the YFC beneficiaries are manufacturing food products, AMAD also tapped Saturnina Pandosen from the Food and Drug Administration to talk about the procedures for obtaining a certificate of product registration and license to operate.
On the second day, Amelita Bayawa from Cooperative Development Authority discussed various topics including the functions and types of cooperatives, the organizational structure of a cooperative, documentary requirements for cooperative registration, and the process of new and renewal applications.
Dindo Indasen from the Department of Labor and Employment then explained the procedure and advantages of setting-up organization, association, and employment registration.
For the last topic, AMAD’s very own Adriane Castañeda discussed the Farmers and Fisherfolk Enterprise Development Information System, which was designed to fast-track the delivery of DA-related grants, loans, and programs to registered group enterprises and entrepreneurs and shared the steps on how the Yaggies can register their enterprises to the system.
Meanwhile, the Yaggies expressed their gratitude to DA-CAR and AMAD for another opportunity to learn about the legalities of establishing a business.
“Malaking tulong po ito sa’kin na nagpa-plano pong mag-legalize ng aking business soon. Ngayon, may alam na po ako kung paano at ano ang mga kailangan ko po i-ready sa future legalization ng aking business. Thank you po sa mga seminars and trainings. God bless po sa ating lahat. I’ll do everything I can to make my product better,” one participant commented. By JBPeralta