The highlight of the Annual General Membership meeting of the Small Enterprises Research and Development Foundation (SERDEF) held yesterday, May 15, was a presentation of the Foundation’s major research projects conducted in 2012 by the respective project leads.
Professor Maria Lourdes Tirona-Lopez reported on the project “Product Development Strategies of Micro and Small Businesses,” a study on how small businesses develop their products and innovate, given their size-related problems. The various chapters of the upcoming book are in various stages of being finalized and copies are due for release in mid-2013. “The book is expected to be an income-generating investment for SERDEF,” Lopez said, “and will potentially place the Foundation in the international arena of entrepreneurship.”
The outcome of the recently-concluded pilot project on “Rechannelling OFW Remittances for Enterprise Creation” was presented by Ms. Serenidad F. Lavador. The piloting of model schemes in Masbate, Antique and Agusan del Sur resulted in 239 beneficiaries trained, 16 new businesses launched, four loan applications submitted to banks, and collaborations formed with more than 20 institutions.
Dr. Paz H. Diaz, for her part, discussed “Windows to Entrepreneurship: A teaching guide,” a manual designed to upgrade the competency of teachers and trainers who handle Entrepreneurship subjects in colleges and training institutes. The manual is made up of two parts. Part I consists of Lectures, Activities and Exercises in entrepreneurship teaching from the entrepreneurial profiling phase through business planning and start-up and implementation to enterprise growth and cessation stages. Part II discusses various concepts and theories related to entrepreneurship education.
Ms. Angelita B. Resurreccion apprised the general membership on the progress of the “Building Enterprising Society Today” (BEST) project, a research on entrepreneurship education at pre- and grade-school level. According to Resurreccion, the objective of the project is to connect school learning with the outside world. “Its focus is on enterprise for life, to develop students to adopt an enterprising mindset.”
In the President’s Report, President Paterno V. Viloria summarized the various programs and projects of the SERDEF in research and information, training and capability building, forums and conferences, advocacy through mass media, internal streamlining and organizational strengthening, and partnerships and networks.
Dr. Viloria also provided a glimpse of what Foundation expects to do in the next few years “to plant more seeds of entrepreneurship to help hasten the emergence of the Philippines as a full-fledged Asian tiger.”
SERDEF Treasurer Editha A. Reyes, meanwhile, presented the Foundation’s financial picture as of the end of 2012. Some of the highlights she reported: Total assets of PhP 45,489,449, up by more than 10 per cent from the P49,118,927 reported in 2011; and total liabilities/fund balances of 45,489,449, down about 10 per cent from last year’s 49,118,927.
Chairman Francisco R. Floro presided over the meeting.
In the elections that followed, the six Trustees whose terms were ending this month were all re-elected, after which the Trustees re-elected the same set of officers holding office the year before, namely: Francisco R. Floro, Chairman; Paterno V. Viloria, President; Paz H. Diaz, Secretary; Editha A. Reyes, Treasurer; and Serenidad F. Lavador, Special Representative to the Executive Committee.
Another highlight of the AGMM was the recognition of Trustee Yolanda de la Cruz for “Outstanding Service” to the Foundation.
