On 24 February 2020, Dr. Christopher B. Abelinde (Dean of the College of Business & Accountancy) and Juan Raul Relloso, MBA (Chairperson of the Allied Business Courses Department) visited the provincial director of the Department of Trade of Industry Ms. Edna Tejada to explore possible partnership in assisting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Province.
The meeting focused on piloting consulting services and service-learning programs for MSMEs in the Finance area (e.g., bookkeeping, financial statement preparation, basic financial statement analysis, etc.). The challenge for HEIs is to continuously reinvent themselves in delivering the contents of their programs, ensuring that they are sensitive to the needs of the industry and the possible employers of the graduates in the future.
Studies showed that this sector experienced problems in their operations primarily because of lack of knowledge in the Financial aspect (Gulinam, 2015). According to Mendoza (2015), MSMEs have to connect financial performance to the broader external environment of the business. However, entrepreneurs can only effectively connect financial returns if they understood the economic data that they have and its implications to their business. Though, the purpose of CBA – ADNU is not to transform them into Finance wizards but rather arm them with knowledge on how to understand the financial data better and use them in decision making. According to Parilla (2013), micro-enterprises neglected the importance of the financial aspect of running a business and its impact on profitability.
Partnering with DTI will assist CBA-ADNU to identify the possible beneficiaries of these services, roll out the pilot program, and assess the impact of this program to the beneficiaries from MSMEs, Camarines Sur after a year of implementation. The pilot testing will cover two areas initially, the first is the Consultancy services through the faculty members of CBA, and the second is the service-learning program through the business students.
A meeting is scheduled in the second week of March 2020 to discuss the framework and other related concerns.
– by Juan Raul D. Relloso, MBA, CFMP, CMITAP
References:
Parilla, Eric S. (2013). Level of Management Practices of Micro and Small Business in Ilocos Norte. Retrieved February 25, 2020 from http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v3-i7/67.
Mendoza, Rufo (2015). Financial Performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines. Retrieved February 25, 2020 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275354818
Gulinam, Sheevun Di (2015). An Evaluation of Financial Literacy of Micro and Small Enterprises Owners in Iligan City: Knowledge and Skills. Retrived February 25, 2020 from static1.squarespace.com/static/5b85162bcc8fedc767ff5676/t/5bb11c2515fcc09a9839cc79/1538333737409/v4n1_17.pdf
