With the goal of empowering smallholder farmers and producers to revamp the operation of their enterprises, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD), in collaboration with the Department of Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB-DAME), conducted its second run of “Diskartepreneur: Training on Agribusiness Management for Producer Organizations, Extension Workers, and Agribusiness Development Partners” last December 11–15, 2023 in Los Banos, Laguna.
Headed by the Council's Agri-Aqua Business Hub (AABH), the five-day training aimed to develop the capacities of the leaders of different producer organizations, extension workers, and agribusiness development partners in selected project sites in entrepreneurial management, business plan development, and financial and marketing management.
Faculty members from UPLB-DAME, including Assistant Professor (aProf.) Rei Chino Pua, aProf. Cris Edwin Bonalos, aProf. Gian Carlo De Jesus, and Mr. Reginald Vargas served as the facilitators and “resource players” during the training.
Diskartepreneur 2023 was participated by 20 entrepreneurs, cooperative leaders, representatives from State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), as well as from the Municipal Agriculturist Offices (MAO) of the National Capital Region (NCR), CALABARZON, and Bicol Region.
Unlike traditional lecture-based discussions, Diskartepreneur differentiates itself by utilizing a gamified approach that recreates real-life scenarios. This method enables participants to apply their acquired knowledge through interactions with resource players and fellow participants as they complete missions and advance to succeeding challenges. Through this approach, participants were able to explore the different facets of entrepreneurship, fostering their resilience and adaptability to unpredictable market conditions. This program encourages participants to think quickly and improvise with each new challenge by mirroring real-world events.
As the final segment and culmination of the training, participants were given an opportunity to bring their ideas to life on December 15, 2023 as concessionaires of the DAME Bazaar held at Baker Hall, UPLB. This final activity served as their ultimate test, challenging them to transform their business concepts into profitable ventures - all through each participant's ‘diskarte’ or strategy.
Aside from gaining practical entrepreneurial knowledge, the participants also had the opportunity to create connections with customers and explore potential new markets. At present, a partnership between two of the participant-producer organizations is in the works. With this, all the participants of the Diskartepreneur 2023 graduated with flying colors, once again ensuring that Filipino smallholder farmers are capacitated to adapt to the ever-changing agribusiness landscape.
The Diskartepreneur Training was developed by the DOST-PCAARRD’s Socio-Economics Research Division (SERD) as part of the Agri-Aqua Business Hub’s (AABH) capacity-building services. It will be institutionalized as one of the regular course offerings under the AABH.
