Owners and leaders of top Filipino homegrown brands will take up teaching posts in a professional development course developed by the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. for new and aspiring entrepreneurs.
The Certificate Program on Practical Entrepreneurship is a mini-MBA program made up of courses to be personally taught by seasoned Entrep-Mentors who are expert in various areas of discipline, making it a much more intimate method of learning for the participants.
Among the Entrep-Mentors who will give lectures in the program are Abrea Consulting Group’s Mon Abrea, Center for Pop’s Gwenn Albarracin, GMB Franchise Developers’ Armando Bartolome, Mobkard’s Carlo Calimon, Fiorgelato’s Ricardo Cuna; Generika Drugstore’s Teodoro Ferrer, Accra Law Firm’s John Paul Gaba, Ink All You Can’s Jerry Ilao, Reyes Barbecue’s Inez Reyes, Lots A Pizza’s Teresita Ngan Tian, Vcargo Worldwide’s Paulo Tibig, Nail It!’s Jean Uvero, Tokyo Tempura’s Jorge Wieneke and Seaoil’s Francis Glenn Yu.
All Entrep-Mentors are members of the AFFI Entrepreneurship Mentors Fellows, a sub-group of the association dedicated to serve in AFFI’s entrepreneurship-related educational programs.
“Those of us who will be teaching in this course had once dreamt of managing our own business, so we took it upon ourselves to help anyone who wants to do the same. Our goal is to equip people with the skills, knowledge and connections for them to be able to jumpstart their entrepreneurship careers as soon as possible,” said AFFI president Jerry Ilao in a statement.
Apart from skills and knowledge, Ilao said the program also seeks to build personal relationships between the mentors and the mentees, as well as boost the confidence of its participants.
One key element of the particular mini-MBA program is the integration of site-visits in some of the modules, which means participants will get to see the actual workplaces and companies of their mentors. This, according to Ilao, is intended to provide them with a conducive venue for learning in a real business setting.
“Bringing the participants to where the real action happens allows them to get a feel of how a practicing entrepreneur manage his or her own business daily. It will be a bit of a hands-on experience for them,” Ilao said.
The Certificate Program on Practical Entrepreneurship will follow five modules on Leadership Skill-building; Personal Finance/ Profit-Loss Understanding; People Management; Basic Entrepreneurship Laws; and Cost Effective Marketing. Bonus mentoring sessions featuring at least three Entrep-Mentors in an active coaching session will also be added.
The program, in partnership with GoNegosyo and sponsored by PLDT SME Nation and BPI Family Ka-Negosyo, is one of AFFI’s flagship projects devised under their Thrive Towards 2020 vision launched earlier this year.