Women sari-sari store owners go for STAR

 

 

DAVAO DEL NORTE---We used to think of the small-time sari-sari stores to later turn out as “sira-sira” stores as some have eventually closed shop with the emerging convenience stores right at our communities.

            Coca Cola Philippines together with the Technical  Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is giving women micro-store owners  in town, great hope to grow big  in business.  Coke and TESDA  are rolling out the Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to Resources or STAR Program in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

            For women who want to become stars in the micro business of selling variety of household goods, Coca Cola Philippines has opened the STAR Program for them to become professional entrepreneurs.

            In a press conference yesterday at Big 8 Corporate Hotel, Atty. Adel A. Tamano, Coca Cola Philippines vice president for Public Affairs and Communications said the success of  the STAR Program “lies in the hand  of the women who want to improve their lives.”

Atty Adel Tamano

Who would not want to go with the flow of success of such program imbued with inspiring and business perspective-changing lessons for micro entrepreneurs?

            “The program will mold women to  become professional entrepreneurs,” said Delia dela Cruz, one of the eight trainors trained ahead by Coca Cola Philippines to transfer  knowledge to women beneficiaries in  Tagum City.

Delia dela Cruz at leftmost, front row
 

            STAR Program beneficiaries who are sari-sari store and food-stall  women owners will undergo a 12-week  Basic Entrepreneurship and Gender Sensitivity Training to learn and practice business professionalism, business planning, business managing,  accessing resources using modules designed  for retailers.



            Dela Cruz described the training as “experiential”  providing trainees a  hands-on experience on how to handle “professionally” their micro business.

            Aside from the training, Atty. Tamano said  the program  leads women beneficiaries to access resources to fund and fuel their micro businesses, expand their network of support  through peer counseling, as well  as, benefit from the support of the cola company.

            “It’s multifaceted,”  Atty Tamano said but far from the misconception that Coca Cola will be pouring much material support   and collaterals for  the program beneficiaries.  He said cola-cooler facilities, ad billboards and other freebies will only come once they take a head-start in their micro businesses.

            He said the company considers education, not dole-outs, as  the prime factor leading to a shift in changing for the better the lives of its women partners.  Atty. Tamano revealed that STAR Program graduates whom the Coca Cola considers as “partners”,  were noted to have hit 40 percent increase in sari-sari store sales.

 

Mr. Edgardo Micayabas, CEO of FICCO

(MOA Signatory) Alma Uy, president of TCCWI

 



Coca Cola VP for Public Affairs and Communications, Atty. Adel A. Tamano,



Dr. Gaspar Gayona, TESDA XI' s Regional Director

 

 

            Local stakeholders  of the  STAR
Program have high hopes for it to create the same dent of success in Tagum City, Davao del Norte which has become  the 26^th Philippine province where Coca Cola Philippine runs such program in partnership with TESDA since 2011.

            In the same press conference, Tagum City Council of Women, Inc. chairperson, Alma Uy conveyed profound gratitude for Coca Cola Phils for enlisting 1,000 TCCWI members as Coca Cola scholars under the STAR  Program. Aside from TCCWI, Coca Cola and TESDA also partnered with the First Community Cooperative (FICCO) which will provide the micro finance resources for the scholars through loans calibrated according to their needs and capacity to pay.

            The STAR Program now has a total of 21,150 graduates since 2011. Coca Cola with TESDA is set to train 15,000 more women sari-sari store and food-stall owners this year, and  that they plan to reach out to  additional 25,000 women retailers nationwide in 2015.

            The STAR Program forms part of  Coca Cola’s  worldwide initiative dubbed as “5by20” to contribute to the poverty alleviation Millennium  Development Goal (MDG). The 5by20 targets to economically empower by year 2020,  some five million women involved in Coca Cola selling business.

            Tamano revealed that in the Philippines, the company sets to partner with some 200,000 women whom it targets to become its scholars through the STAR Program.  (PIA 11/ Jeanevive Duron Abangan)