University of the Philippines
Diliman

University of the Philippines
Diliman

Academe

34 CL social entrepreneurs complete UPDEPP pilot course

Diliman Information Office
January 25, 2019 | UPDate Online > Academe
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(l-r) UPDEPP Director Grace Gorospe-Jamon, Jacqueline Ampil (Lead for Citi Philippines Corporate Citizenship), Arcega and UP President Concepcion.

(JAN. 25) — Thirty-four social enterprise leaders and cooperatives officers from Central Luzon recently completed the UP Diliman Extension Program in Pampanga’s (UPDEPP) 8-day pilot course for social entrepreneurs.  The participants represent over 20,000 individual members of Central Luzon’s livelihood groups and cooperatives.  

The participants trained under the UPDEPP course Entrepreneurial Leadership for Social Enterprise Competitiveness (ELSEC).  The ELSEC is part of the Social Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion Bridging Program that teaches participants how to build their entrepreneurial expertise.  

The UPDEPP-implemented Program is a 4-part course on: Social Entrepreneurship and Leadership, Marketing, Human Resource, and Basic Accounting and Finance for micro and social enterprises.  This is supported by Citi Foundation in partnership with the UP Foundation.  

Maricon Arcega, President of Floridablanca-Lubao Organic Farmers Association (FLOFA), through her ELSEC certificate is now a UP scholar.  Through her training, she learned that revisiting her group’s vision is important.  

Batch 1 of ELSEC scholars, program officers and guests (front row, from left) Luvy Villanueva (Co-Lead for the SEFIBP), Prof. Gerardo Agulto (UPFI Director), Prof. Aries Patawaran (Co-Lead and ELSEC Facilitator), Ampil, UP President Concepcion and his wife Atty. Ma. Gabriela Roldan Concepcion, Gorospe-Jamon and Clark Development Corporation VP for Administration and Finance, Mariza O. Mandocdoc

“Revisiting our vision is very important, it encourages us to be realistic and in-touch with our current situation and operations as an organization, helping us determine the best strategies to achieve objectives that we have set for the group.  We have learned the importance of having the proper mindset, to deal with doubts and instead focus, on our strengths and capabilities,” Arcega said.  

UP President Danilo L. Concepcion congratulated the scholars for having completed the course.  He expressed his appreciation for Citi Foundation’s support and UP Foundation’s planting of the “seed that could grow in the region.”  

Concepcion added that such programs are a way of addressing and assisting with the needs of key sectors and communities.  These also allow trainers and professors to go back to ‘basics’ to make academic practice and programs become more relevant.  

The ELSEC closing program last Dec. 4 at the Xenia Hotel at Clark Freeport Zone was attended by research partners from government agencies in Central Luzon, representatives of the UP Foundation and Citi Foundation, and the UPDEPP faculty and staff. (To view click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SMtV9vz0ntv-x8CE3HDhytXysqQKR5JC/view) — UPDEPP