The Department of Trade and Industry – Negosyo Center (DTI-NC) Kapatid Mentor ME (KMME) graduates in Antique see a bright prospect in 2026 with their newly formed credit cooperative.

Engineer Edwin Eraga, who is a graduate of the KMME and chairperson of the Kami Antique Credit Cooperative, said in an interview on Friday that the coop, formed and operationalized in October 2025, can extend loans to its members.

Eraga said that the KMME graduates of Antique were the first to operationalize a cooperative in Western Visayas, applying the knowledge they acquired from the DTI-NC mentoring sessions they attended.

“We are extending loans or financial assistance as startup or additional capital to our KMME members,” he said.

He mentioned that they had already extended a loan at 7 percent per annum interest to four KMME graduates.

One of them, according to Eraga, had already started a new family business.

Eraga estimated that Antique has 100 KMME graduates, 43 of whom are already members of the cooperative, and that more have manifested interest in joining the cooperative.

He said that other micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) or their workers who have not yet attended the KMME mentoring sessions could also apply to become members of the cooperative.

“We will also have mentoring sessions among the MSMEs that have not yet attended the KMME as part of our corporate social responsibility in education,” Eraga said.

The mentoring sessions cover such topics as financial management, entrepreneurial accounting, and marketing. (PNA)