Senior High School students from a public school in Manila became the first to benefit from the pilot run of Youthpreneur, Go Negosyo’s joint project with the Department of Education to teach entrepreneurship among young Filipinos.

More than 450 students from the Rajah Soliman Science and Technology High School participated in the half-day program last December 13, 2023 at its campus in San Nicolas, Manila. The students are under the Academic and the TVM (Technical-Vocational-Livelihood) tracks of the DepEd’s K to 12 Basic Education Program. The event was facilitated by the DepEd’s Bureau of Curriculum Development, and is designed to promote an entrepreneurial mindset among the youth and build skills that complement the entrepreneurial aspect of the Senior High School curriculum.

“We want to help the students in these schools succeed in life,” said Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion. In his message to the students, Concepcion said that having an entrepreneurial mindset is possible both as an employee and an employer. “Negosyo is one way, but it is not the only way,” he said.

He encouraged the students to do their best in school and learn the basics by first becoming employees before trying their hands at business. “Learn from your employer and then eventually find that idea that matches your skill; then you can start your own business,” he said.

“For those who are not able to reach college, it is not the end of your journey,” he told the students. “Strive for what you want to be. Determine if you have the skill to fulfill that dream, and make sure that your training will lead you to it,” he told the students.

For ABM student Cedrix Justin Tan, attending Youthpreneur opened his mind to the “possibilities and outcomes ng real world.” As students, he said, their lack of experience and exposure may lead them to believe that putting up a business is easy. “As we get exposed to people na merong experiences knowledge and credibility, mas na-o-open ang perception naming sa reality ng mundo,” he said.

For his part, Rajah Soliman school principal Raffy Caballes thanked the DedEd and Go Negosyo, saying that the Youthpreneur program aligns with the vision of the Senior High School program and equips the students to transform their lives through the inspiration and mentoring of the speakers who were brought to the school by Go Negosyo.

The first half of the Youthpreneur program was a plenary session, starting with a talk by author and entrepreneurship consultant Henry Tenedero on how to have an entrepreneurship mindset. Also on hand to speak to the students was Shawarma Shack CEO Walther Buenavista, on how he founded and grew the successful food business.

Later, entrepreneurs and content creators Ariella Diaz and Christine Jacob shared how they use social media for business. They also related how their academic backgrounds did not determine their future success as entrepreneurs, and how they instead capitalized on their skills to find their own niche markets.

In the second half of the program, Concepcion led entrepreneurship mentors and successful businessmen in directly mentoring the students. Volunteering their time to speak to the students were entrepreneurs Arnold De Guzman and Jordan Patente, franchise guru Butz Bartolome, Yovel East President James Amparo, and veteran entrepreneurship mentor Renea Tan.

This is the first in-school Youthpreneur event of Go Negosyo, following the success of its free mall-based mentoring event for students at the SM City Fairview in Quezon City. Youthpreneur is part of Go Negosyo’s Memorandum of Agreement with the DepEd, which was signed last November to promote entrepreneurship, build skills through mentorship, increase financial literacy, raise agricultural awareness, cultivate entrepreneurial skills in agriculture, and facilitate industry connections for mentorship.