Over 100 micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs in Cebu are now equipped with e-commerce strategies to boost their businesses using information technology through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Rose Mae Quiñanola, provincial director of DTI-Cebu, said through its partnership with a telecommunication company, they sponsored a two-day technopreneurs’ training on May 10 and 11, designed to maximize the use of technology in promoting business to the public.

Dubbed “Pilipinas: Aahon at Babangon,” the learning caravan offered courses for social media marketing and mobile photography not only in Visayas but also in Luzon and Mindanao, she said.

She added that the project was supported by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone-Smart Communications, online selling platform Shopee Philippines, and the local government units of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu.

“Our MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) make up the largest portion of the country’s businesses today and the (DTI) is in the forefront of making sure to capacitate them in their digital transformation, thus helping them become more resilient and sustainable,” Quiñanola told the Philippine News Agency.

Lecturers from PLDT-Smart and Shopee taught the new technopreneurs the basic techniques in mobile photography for online platforms, thus exposing them to the nuances of the e-commerce ecosystem.

The trainees were also taught about strategic promotions online through first-hand experiences as shared by a Cebu-based seller who shared how she championed her wearable and homestyle products called Stitches and Yarns.

Some of the participants of the learning caravan were sole proprietors who are yet to explore social media as a means to promote their products and services. (PNA)