For the youth in Barangay Ermita, Cebu City, dropping out of school did not hinder them from using their talents and working towards their dreams.

Venus Entera was a multimedia arts student at a local university in Cebu City. Unfortunately, the pandemic forced her to momentarily stop her dreams of completing her degree. Finances were tight during these pressing times and with the number of design projects required from the course, Venus knew that she had to drop out of the program.

Her family owns a humble carinderia (food stall) to help make ends meet. Throughout the pandemic, Venus shared her time and helped her mother operate the food stall.

In 2022, Venus heard of a program organized by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) that would put her multimedia arts and photography skills to good use. Intrigued by the program, she and 13 other youth from Barangay Ermita, Cebu City signed up for the Digi-Kabataan para sa Kabuhayan (Out-of-School Youth Bootcamp) program.

“I got curious about the program when I learned I could use my course and what I know in photography and multimedia arts,” shared Venus during the program graduation. “It was a really enjoyable program, I always felt excited to be with the other participants and with our facilitators.”

The RAFI Center for Leaders and RAFI Micro Finance developed Digi-Kabataan para sa Kabuhayan (Out-of-School Youth Bootcamp), a six-month program that allows select out-of-school youth participants to harness their skills and positively contribute to their communities. The program is designed for them to gain new skills and capabilities as future digital entrepreneurs.

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“During the eight months with the program, I’ve learned how to balance my business and finances. I’m really business minded, and the program helped me learn how to start a business and the importance of bringing the right people into the business,” shared Ma. Theresa Reyes, who runs a piso-wifi business (hotspot wifi vending machine) in Bantayan Island. Theresa had to stop her engineering degree once finances were running low for her and her family.

While financial constraints keep some youth from going back to school, the Digi-Kabataan para sa Kabuhayan (Out-of-School Youth Bootcamp), provides the right architecture where participants can get a brief deep-dive on entrepreneurship from seasoned micro-entrepreneurs and webinars on entrepreneurship, product development, financial management, and marketing.

“We wanted to increase the engagement of our youth and really build them to contribute positively to our communities,” shared Jo Ann Ramos, Program Development Senior Officer of RAFI.

This design allows participants to learn and explore opportunities of micro-entrepreneurship and discover the potential of building small businesses for themselves. To test their newfound skills in marketing and entrepreneurship, participants partnered with micro-entrepreneurs from RAFI Micro Finance and helped them develop digital marketing strategies.

“Our partner micro-entrepreneur told us that poverty does not hinder us from fulfilling our dreams,” shared Theresa. Now a graduate of the program, Theresa looks forward to expanding her piso-wifi business and working more towards her business.

Digi-Kabataan para sa Kabuhayan (Out-of-School Youth Bootcamp) is a grant awarded to the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. through the Opportunity 2.0 program, a program by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), supports systems in the Philippines to provide second-chance education to 180,000 out-of-school youth across 15 cities that lead to their successful employment and livelihoods.