A two-day entrepreneurship training program called Pitch Perfect: Next Gen Entrepreneurship Training ran from March 23 to 24, 2026 as part of the Strawberry Festival Trade Fair in La Trinidad, Benguet. Organized by Mikah Ysabel Damla, the program brought together students from Benguet State University and Cordillera Career Development College alongside local residents interested in starting their own businesses — using the trade fair setting as a backdrop for practical, hands-on learning.

Embedding a business training program inside a festival trade fair is a deliberate format choice. The participants were already in a space full of active enterprises, real products, and visible entrepreneurial activity. The learning happened in context, not in a classroom.

What the Training Covered

The program ran under the full title "From Vision to Venture: Basic Entrepreneurship and Business Plan Writing Training," reflecting its core objective: moving participants from idea to structured plan. Sessions covered the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, identifying business opportunities, building marketing strategies, and the basics of financial planning and management.

Resource speaker Juliene Xen S. Cacayuran, a licensed financial adviser, anchored the financial planning sessions — emphasizing that a clear financial plan is not optional for anyone serious about turning a business idea into a functioning enterprise. Participants were also guided through practical exercises including writing out their plans and building vision boards as concrete tools for working toward their goals.

That combination — financial literacy from a licensed professional, entrepreneurship fundamentals, and structured planning exercises — gives participants more than inspiration. It gives them a working document and a framework they can return to after the event ends.

Who Was in the Room

More than 20 entrepreneurship students from BSU attended the first day alone, joined by students from Cordillera Career Development College and local residents from the La Trinidad community. The mix of student participants and community members is worth noting. A training that serves both groups at once connects the academic pipeline to the community it eventually needs to serve — and creates a room where students learn alongside people who are already navigating the realities of starting a business outside of a classroom.

What This Means for Northern Luzon

The Strawberry Festival in La Trinidad is one of Benguet's most visible annual events, drawing visitors from across the Cordillera and beyond. Using that visibility as a platform for entrepreneurship training is an efficient use of the festival's natural convening power — it brings aspiring entrepreneurs into a learning session they might not have sought out on their own, and it does so inside an environment where the economic opportunity of running a local enterprise is immediately visible all around them.

For BSU and other HEIs in the Cordillera, the Pitch Perfect format is a replicable model worth developing further. Pairing student entrepreneurship programs with community events creates a feedback loop between academic learning and real market exposure that regular classroom instruction rarely achieves. The next iteration could go further — bringing in active festival vendors as speakers, adding a live pitch component, or connecting graduates to DOST and DTI programs for follow-on support.

Students and aspiring entrepreneurs in Benguet interested in entrepreneurship training and business development support can connect with DTI Baguio-Benguet's Negosyo Center or their institution's entrepreneurship programs for upcoming opportunities.

Source: Brenalyne Gumihid and Jaycee Mae Belmonte, BSU Interns. We acknowledge their original reporting that brought this event to light.