It seems not too long ago when we started the Go Negos-yo advocacy with a small group of successful entrepreneurs with known Philippine brands like Felipe Gozon of GMA7, Roland Hortaleza of Splash, Harley Sy of SM, Nanay Coring of National Bookstore, Felix Ang of CATs Motors, Pruds Garcia of Mekeni, Cora D. Ong of CDO, Rosalind Wee of Marine Resources, Injap Sia of Mang Inasal, Justin Uy of Profood International, Ester Vibal of Vibal Publishing, and many more entrepreneur advocates all with good intentions to give back this time to society and try to inspire and “teach the nation how to fish”, rather than just give a fish.

Last week, we gathered them once again with a bigger community of entrepreneurs, fellow enablers in government especially the leading entrepreneurship advocates in Senate like Senators Cynthia Villar, Bam Aquino, Sonny Angara and Sec. Greg Domingo, corporate partners like PLDT led by Poly Nazareno, Eric Alberto, Kat Luna-Abelardo, Gabby Cui, Smart’s James Bernas, Meralco’s Dave Buenviaje, BPI Family led by TG Limcaoco, DHL’s team led by Yati Abdulah, French Baker’s Johnlu Koa, PFA’s Samie Lim and AFFI’s team led by Butz Bartolome, DZRH team, angelpreneurs/lecturers, that have joined our cause, to make the Philippines a country of empowered enterprising people who would know how to move up in life, and who would take control of their destiny. This to us is our lasting solution to poverty.

I am humbled to see many of our advocates from day 1 who joined us that night. I appreciate how they have been around as part of the many activities the Go Negosyo has been doing, from the many summits and seminars around the country, being part of our 9 bestselling books, Philippine STAR columns, TV and Radio shows and sharing their stories and advise to aspiring entrepreneurs.

We also featured some beneficiaries of our seminars and our new initiative called Negosyo Mo Bukas Ko (NMBK) Program, where we train out-of-school youths on values formation and employment for an education fund.

We are blessed to be given this opportunity to share what we know with our fellow Filipinos. We hope we can reach out to many more beneficiaries who will take part in the next economic surge in the years to come

Last Wednesday, we successfully rolled out the Visayas leg of our Youth Entrepreneurship Summit(YES) following the North Luzon run we had in Baguio last July. Starting last year, we were bringing the Go Negosyo Youth Entrepreneurship Summits, one of our most well-attended events, in other parts of the country to give the same entrepreneurship experience to the youth in the provinces. We partner with major colleges and universities and the YES Visayas run was in partnership with the Central Philippine University, one of the largest universities in the country with close to 20,000 students. We had the active participation of the local Iloilo government led by its honorable Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and of course, Central Philippine University, who did all the on-ground preparation, headed by its president Dr. Teodoro C. Robles.

CPU’s Rose Memorial auditorium was filled with almost 3,000 students and teachers from 26 colleges and universities including some micro and small entrepreneurs and representatives of local media and local government units.

Dr. Robles delivered the welcome remarks while Mayor Jed gave a special message that highlighted Iloilo as a progressive city in the country. Our Executive Director Mon Lopez shared more about Go Negosyo and challenged the participants to adopt the 4C’s in having a successful life- character, competence, creativity and concern for others. We are also grateful for the local entrepreneurs who joined us in the forum. They were Nathaniel Canillas and Ricky Sulpico of 4H Club, Ivy Rozina Castro of Chicken Oro Marketing, Atty. Sweet Malones-Sanchez, Malones Printing Press & Publishing House and Kawayan Marketing, and Arsenio Rafael III of AM Builders Depot. We had very interesting discussions and there were a lot of questions from the floor.

We are also grateful for our Go Negosyo Angelpreneurs who shared their time and talent: the energetic Dean Pax Lapid (Negosyo O Empleyo: Entrepreneurship 101), Jorge Wieneke (Product and Concept Development) and Armand Bengco (Money Matters: Financial Literacy for the Youth) and Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Nelson Pomado for his special closing message.

Indeed, it was another fulfilling activity being able to influence the minds and character of our youth. We look forward to having a new success story in the near future from one of the young participants in Iloilo. This to us is our real payback in all these projects we are doing.

Amidst all the Senate inquiries on the current issues in our country, it is encouraging to note that Senator Bam Aquino, the Chair of the Senate Trade and Commerce Committee, is taking the lead in improving the ease of doing business in our country. We participated in his latest hearing on how government can improve the business procedures, cutting down red tape and corruption at all levels. Senator Sonny Angara joined him as they gathered all stakeholders on the issue and solve once and for all the perennial problems experienced by small entrepreneurs especially when it comes to business registration. Best practices like the one in Singapore with one step and one day processing was used as benchmark. Bill Luz, the head of the country competitiveness committee, Chair Teresita Herbosa of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Usec Nora Terrado of Department of Trade and Industry(DTI), Mayor Herbert Bautista of Quezon City, Mark Yu of the entrepreneurship organization led the several agencies and private institutions during the hearing.