Fun way of teaching leadership, entrepreneurship

 About 250 members of  the TC Youth Laboratory Coop take part in the Summer Saya 2012.  Other participants are members of Youth Savers, Aflatoun Program and Power Teens.

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte (PIA):    Teaching leadership and instilling entrepreneurship among young savers was made enjoyable  and less serious  through the Summer Saya that Tagum Cooperative organized in May 18.

Bannering the theme,  “Enhancing the Cooperative Movement through Youth Involvement,” the 2012 sixth Summer Saya of Tagum Cooperative opened three sessions on  art workshop for five to seven years of age, building youth leaders for eight years old to 12 years of age, and building entrepreneurial skills for 13 to 17 years of age coop members.
    

 Paint workshop

The Summer Saya also engaged participants in various games and dance workshop.

It drew 252 young savers who were among the combined 24,199 members of Tagum Coop Youth Laboratory, Power Teens, Youth Savers and Aflatoun Program. 

            Those in  the youngest  age group got  smirched in painting subjects of  their likings while the eight to 12 years of age listened to stories and talks about  the values of “cooperativism” and leadership.

            Loren-Jane Remeisca D. Abangan realized that cooperative means “cooperation”.  “So we have to cooperate for the cooperative to succeed,” she said.

            Impressed on her mind was a message she got in one of the lectures. “Pareho lang pala ang mga tao sa mata ng Diyos.  (People are the same before the eyes of God.),” she said.

            In her talks about entrepreneurship, resource person Necitas Lazaga of the Department of Trade and Industry Davao del Norte Provincial Office, taught participants of 13 to  17 years of age, the need to conquer fear and to examine oneself.

          She encouraged them to draw their own ambitions in life, to believe in oneself, to get in the company with positive people, and to dream  and  act on realizing their ambitions.

            Lazaga opened up their minds to  the possibilities of becoming entrepreneurs, and not just end up as employees after completing academic studies to gain a much financially secure status. 

            “It  would be much better that you have a job, and at the same time, you run a business,”  she said.

            Syvel Condor  who was once a Tagum Coop youth saver  but now a roving teller, appreciated the learning she got from previous Summer Saya sessions as the experience made her understand the relevance of engaging in business.

“No matter how small our business may be, but if we have a positive mindset, this can do good to improve our lives,” she said Syvel Condor

During her college days, Condor used to sell beads accessories that she did herself, earning her income she put into her savings account. “As youth savers, we learn entrepreneurship; we know the importance of saving money, of raising money,” she said.

Tagum Cooperative Chairperson of the Board of Directors Norma Pereyras explained that Summer Saya was not just mere fun-fare  but it was a way of developing leadership and entrepreneurship.

Tagum Cooperative had embraced, as part of its mission, to  develop financially secured leaders who can take on the  principles and values through the cooperative run its operation.

Pereyras said that the cooperative now takes a paradigm shift of instilling savings consciousness so the young members can stay away from getting into so much debts with loans.

“We are encouraging them to save and if they have enough savings, they can go into business. W e are also teaching them financial literacy along with leadership,” she said.  (Jeanevive Duron-Abangan) 

(photos are courtesy of Tagum Cooperative