Teachers are key in developing women entrepreneurs, according to initial results of a survey by an entrepreneurship advocate revealed.

“Professors remain an inspiration to future entrepreneurs among women,” Francisco M. Bernardo III of the nonprofit group Let’s Go Foundation Inc. said of his group’s baseline research on women entrepreneurship in the Philippines.

Bernardo said the survey among women entrepreneurs would help his group scientifically identify which part of the current curricula should be modified.

The survey is part of a project that his group – the acronym of which means Leading Entrepreneurs Towards Global Opportunities – expects to finish and reveal January next year.

“This is our biggest project yet to involve 50 government high schools to put entrepreneurship in our country’s education system, Bernardo told students, faculty and guests during the launch of the Women Entrepreneurship Program of Miriam College.

According to the survey, marketing management is the most helpful subject for women, with 22 percent of the total respondents ranking it as the most important. Next comes financial management (14.63 percent) and environmental analysis (12.1 percent) as the subjects that helped these women begin and grow their business.

Forty four percent of these women said their teachers were their inspiration in opening up their business, while 34.14 percent said workshops and training did the trick. Some 17 percent of Filipino women entrepreneurs said teaching materials also helped.

Bernardo said that results of the survey would be used in producing teaching materials to be taught first among teachers between May to June nest year. “Hopefully, by next year’s start of the schoolyear, the new ideas would already be incorporated in the curriculum,” the Asian Institute of Management professor added.

Bernardo said that the tack to develop entrepreneurship among Filipinos is in line with several studies that entrepreneurs played major roles in developing countries and robust economies.

Back to Top