Business Clinic for Momtrepreneurs of Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro Held


Bongabong, June 8, 2013 –Momtrepreneurs, together with Barangay Health (BHW) and Day Care Workers, and members of Rural Improvement Club (RIC), attended a two-day Business Clinic and Product Development Seminar conducted by the PCW-AECID project in partnership with the Center for Strategic Reforms of the Philippines (CSR Philippines) held in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro.

The two-day activity was facilitated by Raymond A. Abrea, founding president of the Abrea Consulting Group and CSR Philippines together with CSR representative Angelito Niño Verzosa.


The momtrepreneurs, BHWs, Day Care Workers and RIC members strike a pose with CSR representatives: Raymond Abrea and Angelito Niño Verzosa.

Mr. Abrea taught the women the How-tos of business which include basic steps in registration, how to prepare the cash flow and income statements as well as developing and costing products. Women participants got a chance to do an actual transactional analysis and accounting process, and product costing during the workshop. They were also given a chance to provide inputs on how to develop the local products such as tamarind candy, banana chips, polvoron (shortbread cookies), buko (coconut) shake, buko juice and ube macapuno candy. Most of the improvements were on packaging and labeling since all products lack the following information: expiration date, ingredients, nutrition information, and product name among others.


Raymond A. Abrea of CSR Philippines demonstrating how to calculate the number of products that needs to be sold in order to achieve the target profit.

The participants were very excited and thankful for being part of the business clinic. Ms. Girlie,a baker, said, “ Nagpapasalamat po ako ng marami sa pag-imbita po sa akin. First time ko pong maka-attend ng ganitong seminar. Usually ang inaattendan ko pong seminar ay baking seminar. Marami po akong natututunan sa product development. Dapat may tubo lagi. Medyo ginagawa ko na rin iyong iba pero na-enhance iyong kaalaman ko.” (I am very thankful for inviting me here. This is my first time to attend this kind of seminar. I usually attend baking seminars. I learned a lot in the product development. I learned that there should be profit always. I have been doing some of these but this enhanced my knowledge.)

The business clinic in Bongabong is the first in the series of planned business clinics in PCW-AECID project sites. The business clinic  is part of the implementation of the project “Institutional Strengthening of National and Local Governance on Human Rights and Economic Empowerment with a Gender Focus: Implementation of the Magna Carta of Women (MCW)” or the PCW-AECID MCW Project which aims to support women’s economic empowerment and fulfillment of their human rights through the development and implementation of convergent programs that support women’s entrepreneurship and employment and mechanisms that address their social rights.