‘Aim for entrepreneurship rather than employment’ – Legarda to graduating students

COLLEGE STUDENTS MIGHT DO BETTER AFTER WALKING OFF THE STAGE WITH THEIR DIPLOMAS IF THEY WOULD CONSIDER AIMING FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTEAD OF EMPLOYMENT, NP-NPC-LDP VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE LOREN LEGARDA SAID ON TUSEDAY.
“It’s always sobering to think that you graduate only to join the ranks of the unemployed. That’s why I decided to get part-time jobs even while in school,” Legarda said, recalling her years at the UP Institute of Mass Communication.
Legarda issued the statement in reaction to a a report that unemployment has risen FROM 7.1 percent in October 2009 to 7.3 percent in January this year.
“With millions more graduating this year, that figure may yet rise,” she said. “But new graduates need not always think in terms of working for a boss. In fact, with some help from government, they can become their own boss and even be employers.”
One law aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship is the Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the Senate version of which she was the principal author.
The law requires credit institutions to set aside 8 percent of THEIR funds for lending to micro and small-scale enterprises and 2 percent for lending to medium enterprises.
“SMEs represent real economic might,” she said. “We must start building our own economy right here at home rather than being highly dependent on our relatives working abroad.”