The Visayas State University (VSU) through its Agri-aqua Business Technology Incubator (VSU-TBI) conducted a 2-Day Entrepreneurial Bootcamp on September 11-12, 2025 at the VSU RDE Hall. With the theme “Tech It to the Next Level: Unlock Your Potential and Elevate Your Business Game!” the activity convened aspiring entrepreneurs, students, innovators to further improve their entrepreneurial mindset and competencies.

This activity is part of the continuing efforts of VSU in institutionalizing a culture of innovation and in supporting the next generation of agri-entrepreneurs through equipping them with the required skills needed to convert ideas to viable businesses.

The first day started with a message from Dr. Santiago T. Peña, Jr., Vice President for Research, Extension and Innovation who highlighted the importance of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in addressing the urgent problems of agriculture and rural development.

A number of workshops were held in the morning that included “Discovering Your Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs)” facilitated by Ms. Maria Louella C. Tambis and Ms. Gracielle Dawn L. Gamotin. The next one included a Business Game which was aimed at applying the lessons on entrepreneurial concepts learned in the previous session in an enjoyable manner.

The afternoon sessions on identifying prospective business opportunities, customer and market behavior was facilitated by Ms. Gamotin and Ms. Doryn Jan Avila which focused on encouraging critical thinking by participants on the existing gaps in the market and needs of consumers where innovative solutions could be developed.

The highlight was the in-depth lecture and workshop on Business Model Canvas (BMC) guided by Dr. Mark C. Ratilla. The participants worked in groups creating and presenting their business models, building on learnings from the bootcamp. They were given an opportunity to polish their concepts and test for feasibility of their ideas in a well-established framework.

The bootcamp concluded with awarding of certificates and of a closing message from Dr. Feliciano G. Sinon, Director for Innovation whose comments on the importance of training for entrepreneurship meant empowerment of youth innovators to become agents of change in uplifting their communities.