Fifty micro-entrepreneurs from this city are recipients of sari-sari store kits under the Livelihood Seeding Program-Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay (LSP-NSB) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

DTI Iloilo provincial director Judith Degala said the recipients of sari-sari store kits worth PHP6,000 each were from 50 beneficiary barangays identified by the city government.

“The intention is to help our micro-enterprises in barangays that were affected by the pandemic to recover. So this is a recovery effort of the DTI,” she said in an interview Monday.

Degala said some of those recipients may have used their capital or have consumed their goods during the pandemic since they have no other sources or means of livelihood, except the sari-sari store.

Prior to the turnover on Monday, the recipients underwent an entrepreneurship development seminar to help them run their small businesses.

The fund for the livelihood kits was sourced from the 2021 budget as the DTI is still working with the local government on another batch of beneficiaries for this year.

“Our arrangement is that our LGU (local government unit) will identify the beneficiary of our LSP kits because they know who among their micro-entrepreneurs were affected by the pandemic,” she added.

In a previous interview, Degala said 355 beneficiaries from the city and province of Iloilo will each receive PHP15,000 worth of kit under the 2022 budget.

In other LGUs, recipients are not only sari-sari store owners but also those who have beauty parlors and carinderia and depending on the business of the recipient micro-entrepreneur.

The DTI is still in the process of profiling the target recipients for this year. (PNA)