10 July 2015, Dubai, UAE. Dubai PCG Consul General Paul Raymund P Cortes hosted today the first ever PINOY WISE financial literacy seminar for Consulate personnel and other leaders of the Filipino Community at the Consulate.

The PINOY Worldwide Initiative for Investment, Savings and Entrepreneurship or PINOY WISE seminar is one of the more popular financial literacy seminar series in the UAE, largely through the promotional efforts of the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Atikha, a non-government organization run by Filipino expatriate entrepreneurs engaged in "addressing the social cost of migration."

PINOY WISE financial literacy seminars are also held in Qatar and in Singapore in Southeast Asia. It is active in Batangas, Laguna, Tarlac, Oriental Mindoro, Ifugao, Agusan del Sur and Misamis Oriental.

The PINOY WISE seminar is also offered in other Emirates through a core group of Filipino speakers/lecturers.

The one-day activity involves self-assessment exercises plus coaching on financial health, savings, investment, mitigating the cost of expatriate life, and analyzing the impact of migration on Filipino families in the Philippines.

Participants may avail for themselves the full two (2) sessions, the introductory session or Level 1 and the advance Level 2 seminar.

As part of its mission to advance the empowerment of overseas Filipinos, the Consulate is also currently hosting the 2015 Ateneo School of Government-sponsored Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (LSE) course in cooperation with its local partner, the Philippine Business Council-Dubai (PBC-Dubai).

There may be effort in the near future to harmonize the LSE courses with the PINOY WISE financial literacy seminars with the other similar courses or modules run by the POLO-OWWA office as part of its own reintegration program for returning Filipino expatriates.

The next round of the PINOY WISE seminar is tentatively scheduled on the first Friday of August in Dubai.