From left: Gie Sinaon of Isabel Granada Aneurysm Awareness Foundation; Dexter Villamin, CEO and Founder of DV Boer Farm International; AFREEQ Chairman Joseph Timothy Rivera and Sheikha Thalia Al Thani of StarNET at a conference to announce the Philippine
DOHA: Agricultural and livestock investment opportunities and programmes for overseas Filipinos will be at the core of the Philippine Agricultural Livelihood & Reintegration Conference – Qatar (PALREC) to be held on November 16.
Organised by the Association of Filipino Realtors & Entrepreneur Executives in Qatar (AFREEQ), the event is a rebrand of the annual Philippine Property & Investments Show — Qatar (PPISQ) which began in 2015.
“Now in its fourth successive year, PPISQ will be rebranded as PALREC based on current business trends in the Philippines beyond properties and conventional investments. It will feature enhanced seminars on Philippine agriculture and livestock livelihood opportunities, farm property development, agri-based microfinance, financial literacy and returning OFW reintegration programs amongst others,” AFREEQ Chairman Joseph Timothy Rivera said at a press briefing yesterday at The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa.
Prominent Philippine government officials will be invited as keynote speakers at the event, said Rivera. DV Boer Farm International, a Philippine-based private farming company which is the platinum sponsor of the conference, will be conducting livelihood seminars and job fair at the event. “This is a very good year for DV Boer here in Qatar as our advocacy we established four years ago has grown tremendously. We have developed different ways for Filipinos to enjoy the benefits of agriculture in the Philippines and now, aside from that opportunity of joining our goat and cattle raising ‘Pa-Iwi’ programmes, we are inviting Filipinos to go back home and join us in enriching agriculture in the Philippines,” said Dexter Villamin, CEO and founder of DV Boer Farm International.
There is growing appetite among overseas Filipinos with regard to agricultural investment in their home country. In fact, in just four years since its establishment, DV Boer has generated around Php1.5bn agri-investments and is poised for an estimated 400 percent growth, said Villamin.
He added that there are about 20,000 goats and 6,000 cattle currently being raised in 74 ‘sub-farms’ in the Philippines. “Surprisingly many Filipinos in Qatar supported our agricultural programmes not only the ‘Pa-Iwi’ but also microfinance and Magsasaka Incorporated. And because of this enormous support from our kababayans not only in Qatar but worldwide, we were able to provide more pathways for Filipinos not only to profit but actually go back home, be with their families and enjoy the bountiful agriculture in the Philippines,” he said.
PALREC will also include an open-to-the-public exhibition of Philippine industries and a trade fair for locally-based Filipino Entrepreneurs to be handled by LiQha Creative Arts.
The event will also see the launch of StarNET, which will sponsor the visiting Filipino showbiz personalities, to be hosted by Eric Fructuoso, said Sheikha Thalia Al Thani of StarNET.
PALREC will culminate with a gala dinner marking the first memorial day of Isabel Granada, the main celebrity entrepreneur who graced last year’s Philippine Trade & Tourism Conference – Qatar. The event will also witness the international launch of the Isabel Granada Aneurysm Awareness Foundation Inc (ISA ‘AA’ Foundation).
“On November 7 last year, a group of individuals established the foundation to raise people’s awareness about aneurysm which caused the death of Isabel Granada,” said Gie Sinaon of the ISA ‘AA’ Foundation.
