New Showroom

i was lucky to be invited by the Microfinance and Entrepreneurial Development Center (MEDC) to display some of my furnitures in their display center for a very small fee. I was even thinking, the fee might not be enough to cover the expenses of displaying my products!
you see, the display center is located within the Landco Business Center (popularly known as Gaisano Mall) in Legazpi City. the display center is beside the activity center of the mall and yes, there's lots of foot traffic, which is great for us.

as far as i know, MEDC's purpose is not to make a profit but to help the bicolanos by lending a hand to small entrepreneurs. in the words of Ms. Jo Macandog, they want to incubate budding entrepreneurs and help them to achieve an initial growth, thus making them more stable. this is a perfect example of a charitable institution that does not give fish to the community but rather teaches and helps the community how to fish.

as far as i'm concerned, i would flatly refuse if i'm given a dole even without strings attached. but since i am being taught how to market my furnitures, then i accepted the invitation with much gratefulness. bicolanos are a proud people, you know.

why help the entrepreneurs? because the entrepreneurs are the engine of growth in any economy! take ME for example, if i can sell one piece of furniture, i'll plow back 40% of that money to my employees because i'll give them new projects, 25% of the money to suppliers of raw materials, 5% to transportation providers and 10% to the hardware stores. the remaining 10%? some will get saved for future expansion, the rest will be spent for the well being of three hyperactive kids. for every sale i make, a lot of families are directly benefited.

MEDC helps other entrepreneurs as well other than furniture makers. there's lots of people displaying abaca handicrafts, processed foods, and a lot more!

p.s.: MEDC is a program of Bicol Consortium for Development Initiatives, Inc. (BCDI) with partners Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo and Manos Unidas in this endeavor.