NYC commissioner urges students to engage in social entrep

Youth Commissioner James Ceasar Ventura urged students of MMSU and those from other schools in Ilocos Norte to engage in social entrepreneurship to increase their families’ income.

In his keynote speech that focused on the role of the youth in nation-building during the provincial youth business convention held at MMSU’s Teatro Ilocandia on March 28, Ventura cited the challenges of the youth when they thought of engaging in an entrepreneurship. One is to ensure that their finances are secured and the other is putting more importance to employment over entrepreneurship.

“These mindsets are stopping us in pursuing entrepreneurship, thus, we tend not to invest because we don’t want to take the risk,” Ventura said, adding that some people are afraid to engage in entrepreneurship because they value stability over opportunity.

Ventura said the government has been doing its best to address such challenges by seriously implementing Republic Act 10679, a law that promotes entrepreneurship and financial education among the Filipino youth.

The law, which was enacted in 2015, has serial components such as the creation of an entrepreneurship education committee that is composed of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Education (DepEd), Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and the National Youth Commission (NYC).

Among the programs that are being implemented under the law is the giving of financial grants and loans to eligible and deserving young entrepreneurs. Ventura promised that the implementing rules and regulations of RA 10679 will be published and enough funds will be secured this year.

“We need money to fully implement the grants and loan programs for deserving students,” he said while urging MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis to encourage the faculty members of the university to educate their students to use their professions to earn beyond employment.

In response, Dr. Agrupis said that entrepreneurship and financial literacy will be incorporated in the present administration’s initiatives for the development of the youth. She, too, stressed that the present strategic goals of MMSU were created to provide opportunities for students to become empowered and fortified agents of change and progress in the countryside.

Tapping the manpower resources of the College of Business, Economics, and Accountancy (CBEA) in private businesses and in government offices, Dr. Agrupis advised the college’s dean, Dr. Angelina Abrojena, to build a university travel agency, which shall serve as a potential source of manpower resources and a live-in laboratory to train CBEA students.

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