COMMUNITY | Digital entrepreneurship training reaches Laguna MSMEs
Participants attended workshops on smartphone photography and cybersecurity awareness to help them improve online product marketing while protecting themselves from online scams.
More than 100 farmers, fisherfolk and micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) owners in Laguna have completed digital entrepreneurship training under the Digital-PINAS program, an initiative led by the International Trade Centre (ITC) with support from PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications.
The workshops were held in Santa Cruz, Pila, Victoria and Los Baños as part of the Joint Programme on Inclusive, Competitive and Responsible Digital Philippines, or Digital-PINAS. The program aims to help community-based enterprises adopt digital tools to expand their businesses.
PLDT and Smart, the initiative’s sole telecommunications partner, conducted sessions on smartphone photography and cybersecurity through their #KonektedforLivelihoods program. Participants also received Smart Prepaid Pocket WiFi devices and prepaid load cards to support the training.
Lorna Bondoc, lead ITC digital expert for Digital-PINAS, said the initiative focuses on helping small business owners use technology to improve their livelihoods rather than introducing complex digital tools.
“True digital transformation in the countryside isn’t about giving small business owners complicated software they don’t need. It is about taking the fear out of technology and showing a farmer or a local food vendor that a smartphone can be a powerful tool to protect their daily harvest, reach new buyers, and secure their family’s income right from their farms or kitchen tables. But without internet connectivity, bringing this digital transformation to those who need it most is challenging. We are proud to count PLDT and Smart as our partner in supporting internet access during our trainings under Digital-PINAS and enhancing the connectivity of small businesses across the Philippines,” Bondoc said.
Stephanie V. Orlino, assistant vice president and head of stakeholder engagement at PLDT and Smart, said the partnership supports the group’s broader efforts to promote inclusive digital growth.
“Our participation in Digital-PINAS reflects the PLDT Group’s broader commitment to inclusive growth, particularly for communities that have long faced barriers to entry in the digital economy. But our role goes beyond connectivity, because these sessions are meant to give the participants both the skills and the confidence to compete as digital entrepreneurs,” Orlino said.
Participants learned branding, logo creation, product photography and online safety.
In Santa Cruz, members of the Coalition Alliance of Farmers in Santa Cruz, Laguna, received training in logo creation and smartphone photography to help establish an online presence.
“From being ‘just farmers,’ our members can now become farmer-entrepreneurs,” CAFSCL Secretary Queen Anino said.
In Pila, about 40 farmer-MSMEs and local business owners, including members of the Pila Laguna Agriculture Cooperative, practiced product photography using their own products during the workshop.
In Victoria, entrepreneurs Jennifer Soria of Momshie Jen’s Bites and Filominas Espiritu of Pinky’s Pasalubong learned techniques for presenting their products more effectively on social media.
In Los Baños, cooperative leaders from the Municipal Cooperative Development Council and partner organizations received practical product photography training.
“This is excellent training for entrepreneurs like us,” council Vice Chairman Rafael J. Jumawid said.
Digital-PINAS is funded by the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals Fund with contributions from the European Union. The program is implemented by the ITC, the International Labour Organization and the U.N. Development Programme in partnership with Philippine government agencies led by the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
Full disclosure: All news articles published on the TechSabado website are written by human journalists, unless otherwise specified. Final text editing is partially assisted by artificial intelligence (AI).
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