In partnership with prince warehouse, Cayetano to help kids of store owners

CEBU, Philippines - Senator Alan Peter Cayetano emphasized the importance of promoting the practice of entrepreneurship in the country to help poor families feel the economic growth and enable them to address problems related to high prices of goods and services, lack of jobs, and low income.

“Sari-sari stores are one of the drivers of economy. The retail sector, like you have, contributed 13 percent of our Gross Domestic Product. Malaki ang naitutulong ninyo sa ekonomiya ng ating bansa,”said Cayetano, who was the guest speaker at the Prince Warehouse 8th Sari-Sari Store Festival yesterday.

The event was attended by thousands of sari-sari store owners in Cebu and other parts of the Visayas.

Robert Go, owner of Prince Warehouse Club, Inc. also thanked their customers for their contribution, not just to Cebu’s economy, but to the entire country.

Cayetano said that allowing entrepreneurship to develop in the country will provide the people with a viable source of income and enable poor families to be self-sufficient.

He said that the development of entrepreneurship in the country will also contribute to political and democratic development especially in a society where poverty & inequality are rampant.

Cayetano, in partnership with the management of Prince Warehouse, will be granting 100 slots in his scholarship program intended for children of sari-sari store owners who are successfully managing their business.

“Hindi kailangan matalino ang bata to avail of the scholarship. Ang importante maganda ang takbo nang sari-sari store nila. This is one way of helping our sari-sari store owners na hindi sila malulugi,” said Cayetano in a separate press conference.

Cebu’s number one senator added that it is difficult to run a business especially when one lacks or has no capital.

To address this, Cayetano reiterated the importance of creating a 2nd phase program complementary to the government’s conditional cash transfer program (CCT).

Cayetano envisions the “CCT 2” to be a mechanism that will provide access to capital for poor families to start or sustain their own micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME).

He added that such a program will inspire and encourage people to start their own businesses as an alternative and self-sustaining means of livelihood.

MSME’s generated a total of 3.9 million jobs in 2011 while large enterprises generated 2.5 million jobs. Of the 3.9 million jobs created by MSME’s, 1.8 million came from micro enterprises while 1.6 million and 450,000 jobs were created by small and medium enterprises respectively, the senator said. — (FREEMAN)