Update: About 3 weeks after our interview with Mr. Mon Ibrahim, he was appointed as the new Undersecretary of the DICT last March 13, 2017. Congrats USec. Mon!
Freelancing changes lives and perspectives.
Majority of us in the community, that includes all of you Freelance Blend podcast listeners and readers, are lucky enough to have discovered the joys and benefits of working as a freelancer.
While we are reaping the joys of our hard work, the rest of Filipinos have yet to find out about how they can do it too. Mr. Mon Ibrahim, Executive Consultant to the Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), calls on us to help teach Filipinos in the rural areas on how technology can empower them and bring them a source of livelihood. As experienced freelancers, let us help our fellow Filipinos to start changing their lives through online freelancing jobs.
This interview took a long time in the making but it finally pushed through and due technical reasons, the scheduled Skype Session with Sir Mon turned into a highly informative in-person interview. I was ecstatic to find out about the plans of the current administration to spread the word about freelancing to the rural areas under the Rural Impact Sourcing (RIS) project.
In this episode, Sir Mon talks about RIS, the work that has been done, future plans, and his call to us freelancers to extend help. Listen, be inspired, and help to encourage others too!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Knowing about what’s in store for Filipino freelancers throughout the country and the steps that the government is doing to help our community excites me. I hope you’ll find inspiration in this too. Listen to the episode as Sir Mon talks about:
- His early beginnings in the IT industry
- Switching from the private sector to working with the government
- How he found inspiration during an onshore assignment
- Growing the IT and BPO industries since 2006
- Rural areas now with a thriving freelancing community
- How empowered freelancers are now opening more opportunities for others
- Implementing the Tech4ED (Economic Development) project
- The plan for the National WiFi project
- His thoughts on how freelancing will enhance the lives of families
- How we could all help in raising awareness regarding freelancing
QUOTES
On freelancing and how it can help families to stay together:
“This is all about capacitating Filipinos in the rural areas who are otherwise deprived of opportunities. Ngayong meron ng ganito through the internet, they don’t even have to leave their homes.”
Sir Mon’s message to all Filipino freelancers:
“We salute you for showing the way. I hope dumami pa tayo. We are trying to get every Filipino to be aware of these opportunities na inieenjoy nyo ngayon. Baka naman pwede nyo rin kaming tulungan na mag ikot para masabi natin sa mga kababayan natin na this is a very good economic livelihood option for them.”
LINKS AND RESOURCES
- List of RIS Hubs where interested individuals can coordinate with LGUs to avail of trainings
- The Bloomberg TV episode featuring freelancers from Kapatagan – www.facebook.com/BloombergTVPh/videos/1767108530192569
- Learn Business Startup Blueprint from a free video series from J3 Patiño and Bobbit Ebarle.
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