The blind leading the blind is no joke

We have always made fun about the blind leading the blind. RG however alerted me about ATRIEV, a group of "blind" computer enthusiasts leading the way for others. I am honored to include them in Pinoy Seminar's list of seminar and training providers.

"Established in 1994 by a group of blind computer enthusiast, ATRIEV is the Adaptive Technology for Rehabilitation, Integration, and Empowerment of the Visually Impaired, a computer school for the blind that facilitates access by visually impaired persons to post-secondary education, mainstream employment, and similar opportunities especially with the use of adaptive technology.

Adaptive or access technology refers to the range of specialized equipment, hardware and software applications, which are designed or modified to meet the special needs of individuals with visual impairment. Examples of access devices are voice synthesizers and screen access programs which provide text-to-speech output.

In 1999, ATRIEV pioneered and institutionalized a computer literacy program for the blind through Project ATTRAC or the Adaptive Technology for Training, Resource and Access Center. The project was designed to carry out training programs to prepare blind Metro Manila residents in the use of computers either for post-secondary education or for mainstream employment. In 2004, ATRIEV started training programs for trainers of visually impaired persons which include special education teachers, rehabilitation workers, university IT instructors and parents of blind children. In 2007, ATRIEV expanded its program to include college students from the provinces from as far north as the Mountain province to as far south as Cotabato.

To date, ATRIEV has directly trained over 350 blind and visually impaired adults ages 18 to 60. More than 100 blind grade school kids have also been introduced to the wonders of information technology through ATRIEV’s training programs for children. Over 200 special education teachers, rehabilitation workers, university instructors and parents of blind children have also benefited from the trainers’ training programs of ATRIEV. As a result of these trainers’ training, more than 500 visually impaired children and adults from the provinces have also received basic computer literacy instruction."

List of Seminar and Training Providers

As of today, this is our list of seminar and training providers. I will be continuously update this list and will add more providers as soon as I learn about them. If you know of any institution which should be on this list, feel free inform me by posting a comment. Thanks.

• ACE IT Learning Solutions
• AEB Events Management Workshops
• Ariva
• Ating Alamin/Gabayan sa Kabuhayan
• ATRIEV
• BusinessCoach, Inc.
• Businessmaker Academy
• Center for Small Entrepreneurs
• Colayco Foundation
• Computer Networking Career & Training Cntr.
• Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy
• Go Negosyo Training Program
• HarryPound Company
• Industrial Technology Development Institute
• Jomar Hilario
• Jef Menguin Seminars and Workshops
• Management Training - Avinash Narula
• Metal Industry Research and Devt. Center
• Myron Sta. Ana
• National Computer Center
• National Institute of Accounting Technicians
• Negoskwela
• People Management Association of the Phil.
• Philippine Trade Training Center
• PICPA Metro Manila Region
• Porter and Miles
• Sme.Com.Ph Events
• TAV Systems, Inc.
• Tax Accounting Center
• Technology Resource Center
• TESDA Registered TVIs
• TrainingEdge, Inc.
• UP Institute of Small Scale Industries
• TaxAcctngCenter

How to convert photos to pencil sketch free

Photos are great but pencil sketches have their appeal too. This is true for many things, from portraits to landscape to great architecture. Of course, not all people know how to draw or sketch. Or even if they do, not all would have the time to actually draw or sketch something.

But here is something I learned. There are a lot of freewares on the net which allows you to convert photos to images that looks like a pencil sketch. The programs allow you to upload the photos in order to convert them. There are even other programs that turn your photos into caricatures. Now I know how some of those blogs got those nice cartoons of their author.

If you want to play around with this tool, check out Sketch Master v4.7. It is totally free. The "pencil sketch" above is one from my pic of the main building of the University of Santo Tomas.

A very interesting Saturday with Joel Christopher

Thanks to my friend Jeff and some blogs I follow, including www.manuelviloria.com and www.pinoymoneytalk.com, I was able to attend the free seminar conducted yesterday, Saturday, at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center by a successful Filipino netpreneur, Joel Christopher.

I learned a lot yesterday. I learned the story of Joel, a physical therapist who hails from Tabango, Leyte and graduated from the University of Santo Tomas (UST), left the Philippines and went on to practice his profession in the United States (US). By his own account, he was earning big bucks as physical therapist but foresaw problems in health care in the US.

The problems he saw led him to drop his practice and to learn how to do business with the internet which at that time was still very young. He acknowledges that he learned a lot from others and says he has met almost every internet guru you can mention.

Joel has become one of the most successful individuals on the internet and now acknowledged to have created a whole new industry and to be the best in list building. (You can learn more about Joel at www.masterlistbuilder.com) Jay Conrad Levinson of the Guerilla Marketing-fame, and many other respected authors, have nothing but good words about him.

I also learned about Joel's passion, his commitment to help the people in his hometown of Tabango, Leyte, Philippines and his plan to use technology to help us, his fellow Pinoys. Joel also shared quite a bit as to how he has been able to amass wealth through the internet and intends to mentor a few individuals to success in the near future. (Lucky them!)

On the first pic above is Jodjie Azurin of the Business Summaries sucess, the master list buider Joel Christopher, and myself. On the second pic is Manuel Viloria whose blog I follow and who was very friendly and sharing about his knowledge about the internet and blogging. (I even saw there Carl Ocab of the 13-year-old-make-money-online fame but I was too shy to get my picture taken with him too.)

If only Rober Kiyosaki's theory about "your income being the average of the income of the people around you" is true even if I had them people around me only for a few seconds. Check out also my pics of UST, a place I have always loved since my CPA review days.

My thanks to Joel for teaching me and the others who attended great things, Jodjie and Manny (I guess that's his nickname) for being very friendly despite their success, and Jeff for mentioning the free seminar to me. And thank God for Saturdays.

Accounting Trainings and Seminars in the Philippines

One of the foremost skills that an entrepreneur will have to learn is accounting. Even if you have personnel doing the bookkeeping of your business, or if you have hired an accountant to do it for you, it is mandatory that you understand the fundamentals of accounting and taxation.

For, if your objective is to earn profit, it follows that you need to be able to monitor and measure your income and expenses to achieve your objective. The good news is, there are a lot of institutions offering such types of trainings and seminars.

First, check out the website of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA). Although they offer mainly for the continuing professional education of CPAs, they do offer seminars like tax updates once in a while.

Second, the website of PICPA Metro Manila Region Chapter actually provides more options. Aside from their accounting CPE seminars, they also offer seminars like accounting for non-accountants, financial statement analysis, tax updates, and others. So, don't forget to check PICPA MMR's schedule for the month.

Third, if you are interested in getting certification of your accounting skills, you might want to check out the website of the National Institute of Accounting Technicians (NIAT). They have a Certified Bookkeeper Program and a Certified Accounting Technician Program which are recognized in countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

Last but not the least, the Entrepreneurs Accounting Academy offers a range of courses, seminars and trainings designed to equip entrepreneurs with the necessary skills. EAA's courses include bookkeeping, advance bookkeeping, payroll management, micro, small and medium enterprises finance and management.

EAA's seminars and trainings include accounting 101 for employees and managers, accounting for non-accountants, auditing tools and techniques, advanced cost accounting, budgeting and forecasting, cash flow management, compensation and benefits, costing and pricing, payroll management, financial analysis tools and techniques, inventory and warehouse management, etc.

By the way, for your accounting services, consultancy and tutorial needs, you may contact our company, the GEL Accounting Solutions & Consultancy.