Villegas upbeat about results of BizGrowth Challenge

The low turnout for the BizGrowth Challenge Launch Symposium yesterday doesn’t make it a failure, according to organizer Rik Villegas.

“I don’t feel like it’s a failure. I think there’s a lot learned, a lot that we’ve done. If there’s a next time, then we’ll definitely be better prepared,” said the business owner, consultant, and instructor.

Only two government agencies and two private organizations showed up at the second day of the BizGrowth Challenge Launch Symposium held at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.

“We didn’t do breakout sessions but we did the training until about 5pm. We still gave them more than their money’s worth because there were tons of materials and a lot of good information,” said Villegas.

With only a few participants, Villegas said he will no longer conduct the “competitive challenge” wherein participating businesses will be evaluated every two weeks based on the BizGrowth Challenge’s six dimensions of innovation and growth, marketing strength, professional development, operational capability, stakeholder relationships, and financial improvement.

The evaluation, Villegas said, was intended to identify the participants’ areas of strengths and weaknesses that they would use to develop a simple game plan to focus on and improve in certain areas.

“However, I will still develop the materials and give that out to those people and they could still do that on their own,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Villegas admitted that the BizGrowth Challenge “was put together pretty fast.” “There’s a lot of things that could’ve been done if there’s more time.”

He said he plans to talk to more people to find out what they like should they do the Challenge again.

Villegas added that the $97 fee for yesterday’s symposium will only be used to cover the cost for the event.

“It wasn’t so much about making money but just to cover costs. It was more of helping the community which I was trying to do,” he said.

If there’s one thing he’s happy about the symposium, Villegas said it was the better participation on the workshop conducted by the Northern Marianas College Cooperative Research Extension and Education Services.

“It generated a lot of interest. People really got thinking about the future of agriculture in the islands,” he added.