THE number of beneficiaries under the Go Negosyo’s Kapatid Mentor Me Program has reached more than 13,000 entrepreneurs, its founder Jose Maria “Joey” Concepcion 3rd said Tuesday.

In a statement, Concepcion said that since its inception in 2016, KMME gave small entrepreneurs much-needed training to start or scale up their businesses through THE HELP OF 802 CERTIFIED MENTORS through face-to-face and online sessions that follow the 3Ms Model — Mentorship, Money and Market — advocated by Go Negosyo as the pillar to successful entrepreneurship

“More than 13,000 entrepreneurs from all regions and provinces of the country are now beneficiaries OF GO NEGOSYO’S KAPATID Mentor Me Program (KMME), including entrepreneurs from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM),” Concepcion said.

“The KMME, strengthened through a public-private partnership (PPP) with the Department of Trade and Industry, aims to help MSMEs scale up by offering an MBA crash course for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) using 10 modules, supplemented by coaching and the presentation of a business improvement plan (BIP) for each participant,” he added.

During the pandemic lockdowns, Concepcion said that KMME shifted to online classes and continued to provide advice to entrepreneurs online.

“KMME also adapted its curriculum to include digitalization and the use of online platforms to promote or expand businesses to HELP ENTREPRENEURS FIND NEW WAYS of selling and promoting their products using online platforms,” he said.

Go Negosyo added other supplementary activities such as Go Shopping (Online Selling via Facebook), KMME Summits (2018 and 2021), Website Development Program, and Special Sessions such as the “Digital Shift and the Great Reset.”

Seeing the need to expand the program to other areas, Concepcion said that Go Negosyo has created several spin-offs, including the Rapid KMME Program in 2021 with the support of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The Rapid-KMME program is a 12-module mentorship program that covers all critical aspects of business management and aims to propel agriculture-based processing enterprises and entrepreneurial communities to become innovative, productive and competitive, he said.

Go Negosyo has also launched its tourism-related KMME program in cooperation with the Department of Tourism Region 4A, Concepcion said.

For 2023, it plans to accommodate two batches per region for a total of 32 batches.

As of April 30, Concepcion said that the programs have been launched in 14 regions.

Go Negosyo has since 2017 implemented the Kapatid Agri Mentor ME Program in partnership with the Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Training Institute, using the same KMME modules but tweaked to include modules related to agriculture.

“Go Negosyo plans to ramp up this program by having an initial one batch per region this year and expanding it to focused segments such as the women and the youth, through the help of Aboitiz Foundation and Nestlé,” Concepcion said.

Go Negosyo also seeks to further roll out its Asean Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network program to various parts of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

“Supported by the Asean Japan Integration Fund, the program also carries the same KMME Modules and model implemented in the Asean Region,” Concepcion said. “Phase 1 of the program was implemented in 2019 while Phase 2 is currently being carried out.”