San Miguel Corporation’s skills development program has already benefited over 300 families from Sariaya, Quezon, where it is investing in a modern agro-industrial facility.
San Miguel Corporation (SMC), in collaboration with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), is expanding its skills development program to include financial aid to small enterprises in Sariaya, Quezon and other disadvantaged communities.
The program has already benefited over 300 families from Sariaya, Quezon, where it is investing in a modern agro-industrial facility.
“As our economy starts opening up, there is an urgent need to help the poorest and most disadvantaged sectors get back on their feet. Many have lost their jobs or small businesses during this pandemic, and what we aim to do is upskill them, so they can pursue better job opportunities and help them start or restart their small businesses and allow them to participate in the economy’s growth post-pandemic,” SMC president Ramon Ang said.
Ang said that despite rigorous quarantine procedures that limited options for in-person training, close to 1,000 people have already taken advantage of the free training sessions just a year into the pilot implementation of its training program with TESDA.
So far, 922 people have enrolled in courses that ranged from two days to 36 days in length and were held at pilot locations in Sariaya, Quezon; Bulacan; and General Santos City.
Aside from the training programs, they were previously given cash aid to build their own homes on land they now own.
Some 302 households in Sariaya, Quezon, have also benefited from the program, with half of them now residing in free houses and lots provided by SMC within its model sustainable housing community, San Miguel-Christian-Gayeta Homes, in Barangay Castanas.
Sariaya will house SMC's cutting-edge agro-industrial complex, which will include a brewery, grain terminal, feed mill, ready-to-eat food manufacturing plant, high-tech poultry facility, fuel tank farm, and port facilities.
Tags: #OpinYonQuezon, #SariayaQuezon, #SanMiguelCorporation, #skillsdevelopment