Maasin to put-up more Nego-Kart and starter kits for entrepreneur-driven indigents

By BONG PEDALINO
August 9, 2010

MAASIN CITY  –  Move over, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

DOLE’s program on providing assistance in kind to business-minded indigents here in the city through its Negosyo sa Kariton (Nego-Kart) and the Starter Kits initiatives, in close coordination with the city government, have found a strong supporter from none other than City Mayor Maloney Samaco.

During the turn-over ceremony of a check amounting to P397,273 as start-up capital for basic materials, officially called Starter Kits, to 60 Maasinhon beneficiaries at the city gym Thursday, Mayor Samaco declared that the city government would intensify this livelihood activity by providing more funds so more can avail.

In the same gathering, some twenty beneficiaries of the “Nego-Kart” also joined the ceremonial turn-over, and with this Mayor Samaco also pledged to put up the same number of Nego-Karts.

The simple turn-over rites, which coincided with the Employees’ Night activity, was joined by Fe Norma Valuis, DOLE Provincial Officer, and Fe Sta. Cruz, City Social Welfare Officer, as well as Vice-Mayor Effie Abiera Sabandal and some City Councilors.

Mayor Samaco handed a replica of the check to the beaming beneficiaries, while an actual and operational Nego-Kart was handed onstage to the smiling recipients as well.

Shortly before Samaco gave his inspirational message, a lady leader of the newly organized Nego-Kart association in the city shared how the mobile gadget helped them a lot in lifting their lives a notch higher from abject poverty.

Where before using only baskets, the ambulant vendors can have a gross sales of only P300 to P400 a day, but in a month’s time of using the movable store on a bike, their sales tripled, even quadrupled she was able to pay her children’s school needs.

A Nego-Kart operator among them was even able to hire a maid at P100 a day to take care of a child while the vendor was out doing business, and this shared experience elicited laughter and a pleasant surprise among those who listened, including Mayor Samaco.

Samaco said that with the DOLE’s project, the city government had contributed P97,000 for the Nego-Kart, and P 75,000 for the Starter Kits.

For her part, DOLE provincial head Valuis was grateful to the tedious effort exerted by the city LGU to comply the necessary requirements leading to a relatively fast realization of the partnership undertaking.

She challenged the beneficiaries to do their very best so the assistance they enjoyed can make a real difference in their lives.