TACLOBAN CITY, Sept 7 (PNA) — Leyte’s selling mission this year gave priority to livelihood opportunities in agri-based industry to help rebuild the agriculture sector of the province which suffered considerable losses after Typhoon Yolanda.
The Leyte Tourism and Investment Promotion Center (LTIPC) recently visited eight industries in Manila for its selling mission to attract possible investments in Leyte that would employ skilled laborers in alternative agricultural products and agri-based processing industries.
The eight companies visited by the mission team included New World Makati Hotel, Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC),Global Electric Transportation (GET), Alloy MTD, The Peninsula Hotel, American Data Exchange Corp (ADEC ), American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) and ePerformax.
The selling mission was likewise aimed to establish a tie-up between Leyte schools and industries, particularly on how the current school curriculum could be matched with modern technology and manpower skills requirements.
Representatives from universities and colleges such as Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU), Leyte Normal University (LNU), St. Paul School of Business and Law, as well from the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) joined the mission.
The LTIPC selling mission team reports that Alloy MTD, thru its President Mr. Isaac David, is finalizing the requirements for its proposed Regional Government Center in Leyte.
Alloy MTD, a Malaysian-based infrastructure conglomerate, earlier proposed to build the Leyte Regional Government Center, without cash out from the local government, to pitch in for the reconstruction efforts in areas devastated by Typhoon Yolanda last November. The project will serve as an employment generator since the company will hire locals.
ADEC, for its part, will conduct a Road Show Recruitment in the different colleges and universities in Region 8 this September.
Meanwhile, PMFTC assured that it can give any assistance to the province on agri-based livelihood projects in the Rehabilitation and Restoration Plan of Leyte.
AMCHAM, on the other hand, will provide technical assistance to agri-based business in the area in terms of entrepreneurial skill enhancement.
Hongkong-based Global Electric Transportation, thru its President Mr. Sigfred Tinga, will launch its E-Jeepney in the area anytime soon.
The culmination of this year’s Selling Mission is the conduct of the 7th Industry Forum on September 25 and 26, 2014. Participants of this forum will include deans and officers of the different colleges and universities in Leyte and Biliran, representatives of the private business sectors and concerned national and local government officials.
The selling mission was conceptualized by then governor and now Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla to provide employment among graduates from the different colleges and universities in the province.
This after the provincial government found out that majority of the graduates in the province end up unemployed or are forced to land in jobs not related to their courses. Lack of opportunities and jobs mismatch were the reasons cited why unemployment remain to be high in the province.
The province through the LTIPC has continuously established a tie-up between Leyte schools and industries, particularly on how modern technology requirements of industries can be matched with school curriculum and in upgrading their competency and competitiveness. (PNA)