by rossanahead | Mar 24, 2017 | Business Tips, Existing Business, Startup Guide, Trainers
In line with the Philippine administration’s agenda of accelerating the growth of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez has announced the nationwide schedule of the Kapatid Mentor ME for 2017.
The Kapatid Mentor ME Program aims to assist MSMEs scale up and sustain their businesses through weekly coaching and mentoring by business owners and practitioners on different functional areas of entrepreneurship. It is a joint program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship-Go Negosyo.
“With our strong desire to help the country’s MSMEs and provide jobs to Filipinos, DTI and PCE-Go Negosyo conceptualized the Kapatid Mentor ME Program to serve as the entrepreneurs’ guide to a globally competitive enterprise,” Lopez said.
The trade chief, as chair of the ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting and Related Meetings, continues to champion the MSME development thrust at the meeting with his fellow ASEAN economic leaders, bringing the national priority to the regional agenda.
The Kapatid Mentor ME sessions kicked off March 8, 2017 in Catbalogan, Samar and will run in 89 areas in 16 regions throughout the country until the end of the year.
The 11-week program will have weekly modules such as Marketing, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, and Operations Management, among others. On the 11th week, the mentee is required to present his or her business improvement plan, incorporating the learning from the lectures and mentoring sessions.
To qualify as a mentee, the entrepreneur should be a business owner or manager of an enterprise with an asset of P3 million and below, operating for at least one year.
“To help address poverty, we are consistently determined to produce more entrepreneurs, as well as generate more jobs for Filipinos,” Lopez said.
To get more information about the Kapatid Project and view the Kapatid Mentor ME Program Schedule for 2017, click here.
You may also visit the Negosyo Center nearest you for training programs.
Featured Photo from Dumaguete Info
by rossanahead | Mar 22, 2017 | business, Business Tips, Existing Business, gender equality
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is leading the drive to help more women entrepreneurs in the region, including those in the Philippines, gain entry into the global marketplace.
Small business promotion authorities from APEC member economies are taking the next steps to ease bottlenecks hindering women-led exporters and their growth and job-creating potential in the Asia-Pacific, the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group said in a statement.
The group detailed plans to expand efforts to tackle gender bias in trade during recent meetings in Sydney, Australia. These include greater cross-border training and technical exchange to enable reforms that aim to level the playing field for women-owned and managed firms in APEC economies, and improve their access to international markets.
“The move could increase trade-driven growth and job creation across a range of businesses—from a successful hand-loomed fabric producer run and operated by women in Philippine villages, to an emerging technology company started by a Peruvian woman that helps disabled people to communicate via instant messaging, to women-managed suppliers of materials and parts in Viet Nam that support manufacturers in Australia, Japan and the United States,” said the statement released March 22.
“APEC economies are deepening cooperation to break down barriers to the development and competitiveness of women-led businesses,” explained Nguyen Hoa Cuong, chair of the working group.
“Our work to address inequalities facing women entrepreneurs and managers stands to boost trade and growth, particularly among small businesses that account for the majority of employment across the region,” noted Nguyen.
The focus is on lowering institutional and policy barriers to participation in trade by women-led businesses. Examples include outdated labor laws that fail to sufficiently protect women, a lack of childcare services, limited availability of credit, and inadequate or out-of-reach higher education and skills development opportunities.
To address these challenges, APEC is increasing public sector capacity to introduce gender-responsive trade promotion policies and programs, in coordination with the business community and civil society. Training and information-sharing sessions for trade promotion officials, to be held next month in Ha Noi, Vietnam, will take this multi-year, region-wide initiative forward.
“Women-led small and medium enterprises can better tap into international business and global supply chains when they are supported by government policy and practices that tackle gender specific constraints faced by female entrepreneurs,” explained Cynthia Balogh, director of Women Going Global, the chief trainer leading the team overseeing the project. “The incentives for job creation and growth in the region are potentially huge.”
This work is complemented by measures taking shape in APEC to widen access and use of e-commerce by women-led micro, small, and medium enterprises, helping them reach customers and business partners abroad.
Opening up financing avenues, branding, intellectual property protection, and management support are further areas of emphasis.
“Women in the Asia-Pacific are major drivers of small businesses with great exporting potential but may be constrained by unsupportive economic and social policies,” said Hoang Thi Thu Huyen, chair of the APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy.
“Reform is key to realizing more gender balanced trade that benefits everyone. It is also critical to transforming attitudes that remain the bigger obstacle to women’s economic empowerment,” she added. – Romelda C. Ascutia
Photo: Asian Development Bank
Featured Photo from Agriculture.com
by rossanahead | Mar 20, 2017 | Business Tips, Startup Guide
Who run the (business) world?
Girls, as a matter of fact, according to a recent Facebook study, if only they are given the right entrepreneurial opportunities—which could translate to almost four million new jobs in the country.
Launched in time for International Women’s Day on March 8, the study, conducted by Development Economics and YouGov on behalf of Facebook, revealed that almost nine of 10 Filipino women expressed their desire to put up their own businesses.
Read more at Business Inquirer.
Featured Photo from Freepik
by rossanahead | Mar 19, 2017 | Business Tips
By Rowena Diocton
Now that popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter are inundated by fake news articles, it’s easy for anyone to be swayed by Internet rumors and outright propaganda. For us women, it’s important to differentiate between genuine and manufactured news in social media, as this can affect decisions we make in our personal, business, and professional lives.
Living in the ‘Post-Truth’ Era
Editors and opinion leaders stress how we now live in the post-truth or post-fact era. Oxford Dictionaries even named “post-truth” word of the year in 2016.
And who could blame them when misinformation has been widely used for various intents during the past year? U.S. President Donald Trump has been accused of repeatedly misappropriating information and lying to push his agenda. Renowned Filipina journalist Maria Ressa called out President Rodrigo Duterte’s then-campaign spokesman Peter Tiu Lavina for sharing a photo of a rape-slay victim to justify the drug war in the Philippines, even as the photo was taken in Brazil. Misinformation has been so extensive that the largest technology names in society, Facebook and Google, are ramping up their efforts to combat fake news.
But is this really the first time we have seen fake articles like these? Are we really in the post-truth or post-fact era?
Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, does not think so. In the article “No, We’re not in a ‘Post-Fact’ Era,” Mantzarlis pointed out that the buzzwords above have been used in various campaigns years ago.
Nothing New
Fake news is nothing new. As early as 2009, Mashable has alerted us with a list of the various Internet hoaxes that people usually fall for, such as the Montauk monster, the kidney thieves of New Orleans, and the discovery of Bigfoot’s body. Fake news and articles have been consistently used online to spread political propaganda, misleading marketing, dangerous malware, information-stealing scams, and other nefarious schemes.
What’s new, however, is the use of technology and social media to disseminate fake news and influence a large group of people. Real and fake accounts (“sock puppets”) have been used to create false perceptions in social media, which in turn affected the recent Philippine elections. Trolls who hide under the guise of “social media marketing consultants” have been paid up to P2,000 to P3,000 a day to condition the minds of Filipinos to believe in their propaganda.
How to Stay Clear of the Abyss of Misinformation
Misinformation has always been a weapon of manipulation. Swaying public opinion is something that has been done even before the terms post-truth and post-fact were coined. Getting duped by wrong information can get you to back ideas against your values and the values your organization holds. Our professional and personal lives often intertwine in the online sphere, making the things we share open to public scrutiny. How can you make sure you’re not getting duped into believing a half-truth or an outright lie? Ask yourself these questions:
Does it come from a reputable source?
Exercise due diligence before sharing anything. Check first where your information is coming from. Is it from a news site and does it explicitly say so in its About Us section? If yes, is it a news site known for running balanced stories with more than one or two sources? If it’s not a news site, is it a blog? If yes, who is running the blog and what are the bloggers’ motivations? Are those behind the information linked to any political factions, commercial groups, or other organizations? Have they been criticized for their coverage? Are they objective and fact-based in their coverage? Have you gone to their website to check what other articles they share?
Have you checked the web address?
Remember to always check the web address or URL of the article you’re sharing as well. Fake-news sharers are often duped by what looks like legitimate URLs at first glance but are really misspellings of the real URL. For instance, fake articles are shared online by fake-news propagator theguard1an[dot]com, whose URL can deceive people into believing that they are reading news from legitimate news provider theguardian[dot]com. Note that legitimate news sources like The Guardian are now exercising caution in shared links and are adding their branding to the posts. This measure, however, may still be bypassed, and branding can be copied by others.
Have you read it completely?
One rule of thumb for every article you share on social media is this: read it first. Researchers from the Columbia University found that majority of links shared on Twitter were not clicked. People tend to share articles without reading them first, and this can be detrimental because headlines do not necessarily represent the article. For instance, you may remember the last time you clicked on something exciting, only to be taken to an article that not only has an entirely different title but has less exciting content than promised. These misleading articles often use the formulaic “Something happened to someone, you won’t believe what happened next!” in their headlines to attract clicks.
If you read an article through completely, you will know if it represents all sides fairly. You will be able to check if it is a work of fiction being misrepresented as news. You will also be able to gauge if it’s satire by reading between the lines. So make it a point to read something first before sharing it.
Can you verify the facts independently?
To be safe, you can also check if the sources cited in the article indeed said the things they said. Look for at least two or three other reputable sources that cite the information you’re going to share. If it’s breaking news and you’re sharing something based on just one source, be aware that you’re doing so, but also find time to double-check afterwards if the story is indeed true.
Even trained investigators in the country have been duped by fake news websites. The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency has been called to a hearing for citing a fake news article in an intelligence report.
Have you run news items by fact-checking and scam sites?
One great thing about the Internet is it being the information superhighway, information being the operative term here. If a certain source is a known fake news source, there is a chance that someone has called it out in a shared space online. Before sharing, take the time to run the website and title through fact-checking and scam sites such as PolitiFact, the soon-to-be-relaunched tool ABC Fact Check, or the Facebook fake-news detector plugin B.S. Detector.
Once in a while, buzzwords backed by half-truths and outright lies will pop up to influence our thinking, so it’s wise for us women to know how to separate truths from lies, especially in social media where all the mischief is now happening. Putting in that extra effort can save you not just embarrassment, but heartache as well. Swallowing wholeheartedly persuasive but likely dubious news and information can so easily lead us to make decisions in our personal life, at work, or in business that could have disastrous results.
Photo: Jason Howie
by rossanahead | Mar 1, 2017 | business, Business Tips, career, gender equality, Recent Posts
Times are definitely changing—for the better—for women. We can now aspire to be anything and everything we want to be, especially in the professional and business world, and we’re more likely to succeed too. Women have been elected president of a country, been named CEO of a conglomerate, become a much sought after motivational speaker or financial guru.
But, admittedly, it is still not easy for any woman who attempts to break the glass ceiling. The higher up the corporate or business ladder women go, the harder we’ll need to compete and prove ourselves in a still largely male-dominated world.
So how do you make it in a room filled with men? Here is a seven-point action plan you can adopt in your fight for recognition, promotion, or excellence in your chosen profession or industry.
Create a strategic plan. Don’t just passively wait to be noticed. Instead, map out a platform for success and then follow through with your plans. To find motivation, you can study the profiles and career trajectories of women achievers. For example, you can do research on Jessica Cox, a motivational speaker and pilot who was born without arms and who steers airplanes with her legs. Or look up the accomplishments of award-winning Dr. Josette Biyo, the executive director of the Philippine Science High School who has a planet named after her in recognition of her excellent body of work. In your own company, don’t hesitate to ask a close superior or director, both men and women, about their strategy as they moved up the corporate ladder.
Promote yourself. Think of yourself as a marketing expert who needs to introduce herself to a whole lot of people and who has to build relationships. Take on difficult challenges and risks to stand out and eventually get promoted. Consider also serving on board meetings to raise your visibility, and stay active in professional associations and search for leadership roles and responsibilities.
Be proactive. Don’t hinder your own growth by becoming complacent or content. Actively seek training, seminars, and workshops to keep learning professionally and improve your work or entrepreneurial skills.
Find work you enjoy. It may be a cliché, but doing work that truly gives you joy is half the battle. Look for a work culture that complements your strengths, limits your weaknesses, and is easier to endure in times of isolation. You are more likely to stay motivated in the face of gender-related hindrances when you are passionate about what you do.
Develop a plan to counter discrimination. Yes, intolerance still exists today, even in the workplace. Develop a plan to combat discrimination, but remember that not everything that may go against you is an attack on you, so choose your battles carefully. If you have trouble coping, it may be good to seek professional help or advice.
Have realistic expectations. Many women enter the workplace thinking that breaking new ground would be a breeze. When their expectations are not met, they give up or decide to settle for less. Learn to accept that not everything will go as planned, and prepare for setbacks by studying how you can stay strong as you strive to overcome opposition or failure.
Seek mentors. They need not only be your bosses or professional allies, mentors can also be friends and relatives of both sexes who have chalked up outstanding achievements. Look to them not only as individuals who can share their professional skills with you, but who can also introduce you to other people who can help you move ahead. – ED
Photo: UN Women
by rossanahead | Feb 22, 2017 | Business Tips, Investment, Recent Posts
Whether we like it or not, emergencies happen, and often when we least expect them. But while we can’t always predict or prevent crises, we can definitely prepare for them in advance.
A tire that bursts, a home appliance that malfunctions, or a minor injury that needs immediate treatment may hurt but not deplete your purse. However, there are dire situations that can literally empty one’s pocket, such as a serious health issue, loss of employment, or a failed business venture. In these instances, an emergency fund will be most useful.
Randell Tiongson, a registered financial planner, wrote in his book No Nonsense Personal Finance that building an emergency fund is ideally done simultaneously with improving your cash flow (finding ways to earn more and spend less) and getting out of debt as much as your resources permit.
He adds that to build a proper emergency fund, it is essential to know just how much you actually spend in a month. Consider all your expenses, check your bills, and record your spending to get a good estimate.
The rule of thumb for creating an emergency allocation, he says, is to put aside an amount between three and six months’ worth of your monthly expenses.
“Three months is good, four months is better, five months will be great, and six months is excellent,” says Tiongson.
He adds that the most common reason to build an emergency fund is to cover a potential sudden loss of income. “I have given countless seminars to employees who went through retrenchment, and the common occurrence among them is that despite their stellar performance, they still lost their jobs,” adds Tiongson.
He also reminds people to exercise wisdom when determining what a real emergency is. “A 42-inch flat LED TV, a laptop, or designer bags and shoes that are on sale is definitely not an emergency—no matter how you justify it!” he emphasizes.
Here, Tiongson enumerates three good reasons to set up an emergency fund:
- To prepare. It is wishful thinking to say that you won’t be badly affected by crises in the future. As you get older, you’ll come across unplanned substantial expenses and bills that you will have to settle.
- To have peace of mind. Having an emergency fund will minimize your stress and worries when something untoward does happen.
- To reduce risks. With an established emergency fund, backed by life, non-life, health, and other insurance plans, you may be able to avert indebtedness or even total financial ruin in case of a major setback.
The good news is, as you plan ahead for adverse events that may happen in the future, you develop the skill for making sound decisions that will have a long-term benefit on your life. – Ruth Manimtim-Floresca
Photo: www.tradingacademy.com
