ABS-CBN Bayan Foundation’s goal is to democratize entrepreneurship and management education as a way to uplift the lives of the Filipinos and build the nation from below.  Thus, it inaugurates the Bayan Academy as a venue to offer various entrepreneurship, management, and education training programs for development institutions, cooperatives, banks, educational institutions, and micro and small enterprises.  It will also provide livelihood and skills training courses to equip microfinance clients with the necessary skills to put up micro-enterprises or obtain jobs or employment. 

“More than just a training facility, the Bayan Academy is a learning hub and a laboratory for developing new learning methodologies and technologies for teaching entrepreneurship and management and for developing innovative learning materials that cater to the entrepreneurial poor,” said Dr. Eduardo Morato, ABS-CBN Bayan Foundation president.     

“The Academy provides the opportunity to enhance and propagate the human resource training program for organizations that ABS-CBN Bayan has developed which places emphasis on value formation and accountability. Likewise, we envision Bayan Academy as a center for social entrepreneurship not just in the Philippines but in the whole of Asia,” he added.   

The Bayan Academy will offer various courses and training programs which will be handled by professors from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and other industry practitioners.  The courses will include Entrepreneurship Education Programs (to be coordinated with partner schools) which comprise Basic Education Entrepreneurship (High School Entrepreneurship), Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship (BS Entrepreneurship), Masters in Business Administration Major in Entrepreneurship and Microfinance (MBA-MEM). 

The Professional/Management Certificate Courses for SDMIs include Strategic Planning & Management for SDMIs, Credit Risk Management and Credit Scoring (MFI’s Best Practices), Social Marketing, Service Delivery System for SDMIs, Human Resource Management for SDMIs, Financial Analysis and Management for SDMIs, Internal Audit for SDMIs, Community Development & Organizing. 

“The Academy will serve as Bayan’s in-house training center for the various skills and training courses and for those to be offered to microfinance, and social development institutions. The training facility also serves as the laboratory for developing new learning methodologies and technologies such as whole brain learning and teaching entrepreneurship, and for developing innovative learning materials that cater to the entrepreneurial poor. Likewise, it serves as a facility for symposiums and various forums on social entrepreneurship and corporate philanthropy,” Dr. Morato said.   

The Bayan Academy is located at the 2nd floor, Cinderella Bldg., 825 EDSA, Quezon City. Visit the Web site at www.abs-cbnbayanfoundation.com.