PIA Press Release
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 SEA-K beneficiaries urged to venture into food processingby Ninfa Iluminda B. QuiranteCATBALOGAN, Samar, Jan 24 (PIA) -- The beneficiaries of the Self- Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Program are urged to venture into other livelihood opportunities like food processing other than the usual sari sari store that most of them pursue. According to Ruth Thelma Samonte of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), once the SEA-K funds are released, the municipal link of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) usually request them to conduct Enterprises Development Training (EDT). “Beneficiaries usually choose sari-sari stores, but these are saturating the market, so we urged them to focus on other alternatives like food processing,” said Samonte. The DTI official said that “we have to teach them deeper knowledge of business venture.” “We also teach simple accounting and bookkeeping, because although they think it is a small time business, it should also observe business processes,” Samonte said. The same seminars had been done in Tarangnan and Zumarraga towns where the beneficiaries see the advantage of the business process. Once the seminar is done, many changed their minds, she added. The SEA-K is a livelihood and capability building program aimed at enhancing the socio-economic skills of poor families towards establishing and managing sustainable community-based credit organization for entrepreneurial development, according to the SEA-K site. The SEA-K program enables the poor to have access to credit, promote entrepreneurship and increase understanding on values of honest work, pay debts, have social responsibility and increase their income.(PIA-Samar) | 
