The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has revealed the winners of the 2025 Likha Global, a business plan competition designed to help active overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) prepare for reintegration by building sustainable enterprises while still working abroad.

The DMW, through its National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), said the winners were announced during the awarding ceremony held Monday night.

NRCO Director Andrea Luisa Anolin, in a radio interview Tuesday, said the program encourages OFWs to begin planning and developing businesses early, allowing them to save capital, gain entrepreneurial skills and ensure a smoother transition back to the Philippines.

“Likha is an acronym for ‘Linangin ang Kakayahan sa Kabuhayan Award’. Ito po ay isang business plan competition, dahil gusto namin na maging, o i-promote ang entrepreneurship among our OFWs sila man ay nakauwi na dito sa Pilipinas o nasa abroad pa (This is a business plan competition, because we want to be, or promote entrepreneurship among our OFWs, whether they are back home in the Philippines or still abroad),” she said.

Anolin said the NRCO received a total of 609 entries from OFWs across the Middle East, Asia, Europe and North America, underscoring strong global interest in entrepreneurship among Filipinos overseas.

She said the positive response has prompted the DMW to institutionalize Likha as an annual core program of the NRCO, with applications processed entirely online to ensure accessibility for OFWs worldwide.

Hailed as the grand winner was Marisol Amihan, an OFW from Qatar and a native of Davao del Sur, who received PHP700,000 for her highly developmental and community-based enterprise goal, Alexel May Farm.

Meanwhile, the 1st runner-up, Catherine Espiriti, an active OFW from Kuwait and a native of Tarlac City, received PHP500,000 for her proposed goat farming enterprise, which integrates meat production, dairy, breeding and fertilizer generation.

She said the project will initially be managed by her family while she continues working abroad.

Named second runner-up was Jimmy Chavez, an OFW based in the Czech Republic and a resident of Infanta, Quezon. He secured PHP400,000 in funding for his organic lambanog business, which he calls Lakbay Kultura Corporation, aimed at supporting small-scale distillers and elevating the local coconut wine industry through improved processing and product innovation.

Anolin emphasized that Likha Global differs from traditional livelihood assistance programs given by the DMW as the initiative targets documented, active OFWs who are planning ahead rather than those already in distress.

She added that the program is backed by a whole-of-government reintegration network, linking OFWs to complementary programs of the Department of Agriculture, Department of Tourism and Department of Science and Technology.

Anolin said they expect the Likha Global initiative to significantly expand in the coming years to become a key platform to help OFWs return home not only as workers, but as entrepreneurs and job creators. (PNA)