The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial office here on Monday awarded livelihood kits to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) engaged in the furniture and guitar manufacturing industries in this province.

The move is under the DTI’s Pangkabuhayan sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa (PPG), a livelihood seeding and entrepreneurship development program that aims to help MSMEs affected by fire incidents and other calamities including the Covid-19 pandemic to recover and restart their businesses.

DTI Pampanga Provincial Director Elenita Ordonio said among those distributed to qualified program beneficiaries were 29 woodworking kits and 19 guitar-making kits.

She said the program aims to accelerate the recovery of affected businesses and communities by giving them livelihood assistance and entrepreneurship development programs for microenterprises.

The recipients of the livelihood kits thanked the DTI for the program, which they said gave them the opportunity to recover from their losses and restart their business.

“Kami po ay lubos na nagpapasalamat sa binigay na tulong ng DTI. Dahil kami po ay nawalan ng hanapbuhay, malaking tulong ito (We are very grateful for the assistance extended by the DTI. Because we lost our source of livelihood, this is a great help to us),” said Rodolfo dela Rosa, one of the beneficiaries of the program, in an interview.

Ordonio said the micro-entrepreneurs are those who were hit hard by the pandemic and either closed down or reduced their workforce.

Aside from the livelihood kits, she said the program beneficiaries were likewise trained to help them start, develop, innovate, and promote their businesses. (PNA)