Certificate in Entrepreneurship

I. RATIONALE

The successful entrepreneur enjoys a position of prestige in the community because of his many contributions to society especially in terms of providing jobs to people and providing needed goods and services. The provision of these is as important than those performed by lawyers, doctors, teachers, accountants, and other professionals. Aside from material profit, entrepreneurs are rewarded by a sense of accomplishment for having created something out of nothing. For many of them, the psychological rewards far outweigh the materials ones.

Planning is needed to bring together just the right blend of human and natural resources, technology, and capital so as to fill business and consumer needs. The people who undertake this planning and organizing work are called entrepreneurs , and their activities, entrepreneurship . Entrepreneurs are actually the ones who mobilize resources for great national productivity. They are also those who create employment opportunities and enhance backward and forward business linkages that can create enormous multiplier effects within the industry, thus contributing to bigger and stronger industries. The more individuals therefore who are knowledgeable and predisposed to entrepreneurship, the more individuals become more responsive to environmental opportunities, thus boosting the business sector in particular and speeding up the country's economic growth and development in general.

 

II. MAIN THRUST AND OBJECTIVES

Based on the above premise, this certificate program aims to develop more entrepreneurs in the country through the provision of innovative entrepreneurship training in order to harness and develop the entrepreneurial and managerial capabilities of prospective clients. The targeted clients include existing entrepreneurs with no formal tertiary education, would-be entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship teachers, retired employees, and overseas workers.

Specifically, the program aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. To enhance the entrepreneurship and management competencies of would-be entrepreneurs;
2. To offer entrepreneurship training and certificate to existing entrepreneurs who failed to finish their formal tertiary education;
3. To enhance the capability of teachers in handling entrepreneurship courses;
4. To provide techniques and strategies in establishing and managing small and medium scale business enterprises; and
5. To develop and accredit entrepreneurs yearly.

 

III. PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The program is equivalent to 3 units of formal tertiary education and shall be covered within 5 to 6 months. It is composed of 6 modules, which cover a series of inter-related and reinforcing activities from business planning to business implementation and post-evaluation. These activities are scheduled as follows:

Lesson I - Entrepreneurship in Retrospect
Lesson II - Preparing and Assessing the Viability of Business Plan
Lesson III - Packaging and Financing the Business
Lesson IV - Implementation of the Business Plan
Lesson V - Business Monitoring and Control
Lesson VI - Business Documentation and Evaluation

 

IV. ADMISSION AND COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Any person may apply for admission to the Certificate in Entrepreneurship Program provided that he/she is:

1. A bachelor's degree holder or has at least two years post-secondary work experience in entrepreneurship and/or business management; and
2. Computer literate and familiar with the use of internet.

In addition, the applicant must submit duly accomplished application form and pay application fee.

To finish the certificate program, the student has to satisfactorily complete six lessons within five months, submit an implementable business plan and present actual business performance and case study report in a plenary session or seminar.

 

V. METHODOLOGY

The Certificate in Entrepreneurship Program is offered in the distance education mode and delivered in five face-to-face sessions. The F2F meetings can be pre-arranged for convenience and availability of both the assigned tutor and the learner. Interaction between the learner and the tutor is augmented through internet chat.

The Certificate in Entrepreneurship Program is module lesson-based and progressive. The module is easy to understand. The program is also experiential in nature since the learners will do the actual business planning, business viability assessment, business implementation and business documentation activities.

 

VI. FACULTY/TUTORS

During its initial stages, the program will involve the following selected professors from the Department of Agribusiness Management and College of Business Administration and Accountancy:

1. DANILO S. CASTRO, Ph.D. in Management - Polytechnic University of the Philippines
2. ALMA M. DELA CRUZ , Ph.D. in Economics (cand.) - University of the Philippines - Diliman
3. WILFRED E. JAMANDRE, Master in Economics - University of New England , Australia
4. EDUARDO G. MARZAN JR., Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics - Kansas State University , USA
5. MINERVA D. MAYLEM, Doctor of Business Administration - University of the Philippines - Diliman
6. CLODUALDO V. VELASCO, Master of Management - University of the Philippines - Los Baños