Council asks Congress to include Cag de Oro on DTI’s Go Negosyo

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent .

city council on Monday approved a resolution asking the House of Representatives through Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to allocate funds and include Cagayan de Oro City in the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) business program called “Go Negosyo.”

During the Monday regular session, the city council made an immediate approval after a joint resolution was authored by Majority Floor Leader Ian Mark Nacayan and City Council’s chairman for the committee on trade, commerce and industry George Goking to take part of the present administration program.

“So much amounts is funded by the present administration to finance the Go Negsoyo program and we believed that it can address poverty in the countryside by engaging in entrepreneurship and developing an optimistic, passionate, creative and innovative, resourceful, diligent and persevering character. We encourage everyone to take charge and make the most of their resources and abilities by utilizing and transforming these into viable enterprises,” Nacaya said.

He said Go Negosyo program will not only provided funding but also technical matters and production matters that will surely help micro-small enterprise and considered also as an alternative to unemployment, job-seeking or migration.

“Those also can avail the program will be train to become a large scale business enterprise by  improving entrepreneurship education, and in providing a marketplace of ideas, innovations, business models and best practices. Councilor Goking manifested that if the intention for the Cagayan de Oro will be realized, it will lifted several families because a number of employees would also be employed,” he added.

For his part, Goking explained before the council plenary that Go Negosyo does not endorse a particular kind of business or franchise. Instead, it provides links to government partner entrepreneurs’ businesses, to business opportunities, to entrepreneurshipelated training programs, and to funding sources.

He said in the local level, one of the formerly-small scale businesses identified like Vandep in Camiguin province and the Mang Inasal of Bacolod City.

“This program is aimed to eradicate the so called 5-6 loan sharks in the community. The government is now offering a self-liquidating business financial scheme that would surely help those in the lower level,” he said.

He said they seek help from Arroyo considering that Go Negosyo is considered as her pet program together with Joey Concepcion in 2005 as her Presidential Consultant for Entrepreneurship.

Go Negosyo went on to forge partnerships not only with business corporations and entrepreneurs but also with academic institutions, non-government organizations (including business chambers and professional organizations), microfinance institutions, government agencies, and local government units.