Talk show host, actress, producer, and product endorser; this is Kris Aquino to many Filipinos. She’s a personality that everyone from different classes and generations can relate to. But more than that, she is also a proud entrepreneur with franchises of different brands including the Potato Corner and Nacho Bimby.

During dinner a couple of nights ago with Manny Pangilinan, Alice Eduardo, Chot Reyes and Nic Gabunada (who ran Duterte’s election campaign), Kris mentioned to us her new digital media business which will produce web-episodes featuring her travels and lifestyle.

Today, Kris is still one of the best endorsers of consumer products. She has been our endorser for many years and has made our Fiesta pasta brand number one.

She has also participated in one of the Go Negosyo summits. As she joins Go Negosyo Kapatid, she will be an effective endorser who can encourage Big Brother companies to help our micro and small entrepreneurs by making them part of the value chain and ecosystem. She will also join us in inspiring many MSMEs and empower them to continue and not give up despite the different challenges they will face.

Kris presents herself in a new role, as posted in her active and well-followed social media, and will be able to use that platform to encourage many micro and small entrepreneurs. She will also share success and inspiring stories which are needed by many struggling entrepreneurs to continue.

Inspiration and mentorship are very powerful. This is what Go Negoyo has been doing for the past 12 years. Sec. Mon Lopez, who was the executive director of Go Negosyo, shares the same vision. As he leads DTI and I as presidential adviser, we can both help change this situation. We cannot allow the 99.5 percent of all businesses in the Philippines to stay in their micro, small, or medium state. Poverty will never be solved in this country if this continues, thus we need to see more companies move up to medium size and hopefully double the number of large companies in the next years.

The Department of Trade and Industry, our prime partner, and its Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council is organizing the National MSME Summit 2016 which will be held today up to tomorrow at the SMX Davao Convention Center. The summit aims to create greater awareness on various MSME development programs in the country, including Go Negosyo and DTI’s Kapatid, Angat Lahat program.

The summit will be attended by more than 500 delegates from different regions who are basically the implementors of the MSMED Plans. The key to the MSMED plan is the capacity building through Mentor Me, and government interventions like Shared Service Facilities (SSF), SET-UP, or farm modernization which is basically providing equipment interest free or through sharing of equipment. And lastly, the promotion of inclusive business or getting big companies to practice the concept of Kapatid.

If OFW workers can bring home money to help their brothers and sisters to have a better life, big companies (kapatid) should also help micro and small entrepreneurs be part of their ecosystem. Government should in time move the P65 billion budget of the conditional cash transfer and be used in more government interventions which will help micro and small.

To some, conditional cash transfers are not teaching people how to be enterprising, but instead teach beneficiaries to be dependent on the money that cannot be sustained forever. In fact, since the conditional cash transfer has been implemented, the poverty index continues to remain the same with no improvement.

So tomorrow, Friday, will be the second town hall session with President Rodrigo Duterte. It was only last month when we invited President Duterte to the Mentor Me launch in Davao and named him as “Kuya Rody.” We are fortunate to have President Duterte once again to this DTI-led summit focusing on empowering entrepreneurs. We hope to have this Kapatid town hall gathering quarterly with the President.

As you may have seen in advertisements and articles posted online, Kris and President Duterte will be at our town hall session and will be joined by micro and small entrepreneurs from different industries.

As we promote inclusive growth, we also aim for unity. The Philippines knows Kris comes from a different party, but I assure you she has expressed her full support in the mission of scaling up micro and small entrepreneurs which is also one of the agenda of the Duterte administration. This will be a harmonious partnership between the Duterte administration and Kris as a Go Negosyo advocate.

I believe that with Kris on board, we can further promote the culture of being enterprising. Whether you will be an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, one must have the entrepreneurial mindset.

Join us as we hear more of Kuya Rody’s plan for MSMEs on Friday, Nov. 11. Tune in to PTV4 and TV5 to watch the live broadcast of this exciting town hall session from 4 pm to 6 p.m.