MANILA, Philippines?Workers who lost their jobs at the Subic Bay Freeport in Zambales will soon become entrepreneurs courtesy of a program supported by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE).

In a statement, SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said the program would initially benefit 200 former workers in the freeport who want to venture into small business enterprises, particularly those related to the tourism industry.

Under a memorandum of understanding recently signed by SBMA and PCE officials, the displaced workers would be asked to undergo a ?Go Negosyo? seminar series to prepare them for their business ventures.

Arreza said the entrepreneurship program goes beyond offering displaced workers an alternative to their lost jobs.

?These displaced workers will become employers and create more jobs,? he said.

In the same statement, Jose Ma. Concepcion III, PCE founding trustee and president and chief executive officer of RFM Corp., said the SBMA?s move to make businessmen out of displaced workers is a ?step in the right direction.?

?Small enterprises make our economy stronger,? he said.

Concepcion said the training would focus on making a prospective business profitable.

?Technique in putting up the correct business and making them profitable is the core of the education process,? he said.

Arreza and Concepcion said the training is essential to motivate Filipinos ?to think business, become working entrepreneurs and create jobs.?

The PCE, according to the Go Negosyo website (www.go-negosyo.net), is a nonstock and nonprofit organization ?that aims to make the Philippines a thriving entrepreneurial nation.?

?[The PCE] aims to instill among Filipinos a mindset of optimism and a culture of entrepreneurship,? it said.