The General Santos City Business Month also known as “YAMAN GenSan” is a month-long celebration in the Tuna Capital starting at the last week of June and ending on the 3rd week of July.  Yaman GenSan was established in 2003 under then Mayor Pedro “Jun” Acharon, Jr. and was institutionalized through a Sangguniang Panlungsod Resolution.

YAMAN (which directly means “wealth” in Tagalog) is actually an acronym for “Yabong Maliliit na Negosyo!”.

YAMAN GenSan is spearheaded by the GSC Small & Medium Enterprise Development (SMED) Council, a group of industry leaders, fully supported by the local government unit and national government agencies such as DTI, NEDA, DOST, DA, etc.

It is celebrated through a jampacked schedule of activities composed of business fora, entrepreneurship seminars, trainings, trade fairs and exhibits; conferences and business meetings; and entrepreneurship awards which are all envisioned to facilitate access to technology and provide basic information and assistance to current and prospective entrepreneurs, initiate business development and likewise link SMEs to financing resources.

Below is the YAMAN GenSan 2011 logo.

The theme for this year’s GenSan Business Month is “NEGOSYONG LOKAL SA PANANAW NA GLOBAL” which when roughly translated to English means “Local Business in a Global Perspective“.

According to SMED Council Head Tess Pacheco of Planters Bank, more than 20 Training Seminars have been lined in the span for four weeks with most of them requiring no registration fee.

There are Seminars on No Bake Recipes, Food Processing (Food & Vegetables), E-Commerce and E-Marketing (with Digital Filipino’s Ms. Janet Toral), Coco Coir Matting, Advanced ewelry Beadworks, Barcoding, Food Handling & Safety for Small Entrepreneurs, Trends 2012, Understanding Nutrition Label for SMEs, Record Keeping & Accounting for Small Businesses, GMP & HACCP for Food Industry, and Product Pricing & Costing.

Other seminars are on Starting a Business in Mushroom Production, Training on Urban Aqua Culture with Emphasis on Pangasius Production, Achievement Motivation Training, Techno-Training on Meat Processing, Financial Analysis for Non-Accounting exes & managers, Mango Processing, Bayong-Making and Post Harvest Training on Fish Proessing & Valued Added Products with Emphasis in Food Safety.

A major staple of the Yaman GenSan Schedule of Activities is the annual Yaman GenSan Trade Fair and Exhibit on July 1-3, 2011 at Robinsons Place GenSan. This is participated in by various local and national producers, manufacturers, and exporters all on the lookout for distributors and clients; hotel and food establishments who will hawk their promotional packages and offers plus travel agencies who might give out deals on holidays abroad,

There will be exciting events like Panga Fishtahan, 2011 YB Jobs Fair, Young Entrepreneurs Fair, Competency Assesment and Certification Activities (CAC), the Mayor Darlene Antonino Custodio Wushu 1st Yaman GenSan Mindanao Open, Business Plan Competition and the 1st Sun City Suites Night Fun Run.

For the first time also,  a Coffee Congress and Exhibit will be held from July 11-12, 2011.  Other fora are a Coconut Business Opportunities Forum, an Investment Forum, a Business Leadership Conference, the 3rd Mindanao Halal Forum, the 10th Human Reslurce and Skills Development (HRSD) Summit, Globe Negostar, Entrepreneurs Forum and a Banking & Finance Forum.

Opening Yaman GenSan 2011 is the 2nd Lechon Festival and the 2nd Livestock Suppliers Night on June 23, among other events earmarked on that day.  This includes a YG Motorcade starting from the Oval Plaza at 1:30pm and Launching Ceremonies at the Robinsons Place Atrium at 3:00pm.

For the complete Yaman GenSan 2011 Schedule of Activities,  check it out below.

ActivitiesYG2011June15update
 

For details on this 9th YAMAN GENSAN Schedule of Activities, please contact the SMED Council at (083) 553-8448.