BAGUIO CITY – The local government will be spearheading the conduct of a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Summit on Wednesday, December 12, 2018 at the Pedro Dumol hall, Beneco compound, South Drive, here.
The activity which is one of the programs of the City Council Committee on Market, Trade, Commerce and Agriculture chaired by Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. in coordination with the Baguio-Benguet Provincial Office and the regional office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is geared towards generating inputs from the stakeholders on how to improve the interventions being provided by the local government to MSMEs in the city.
Representatives from regional line agencies, city officials, representatives from the city’s 128 barangays, non-government organizations and the academe are also expected to actively participate in the whole day event.
Yangot said that it has always been the DTI’s priority to help future and budding entrepreneurs in visualizing and expanding their business every step of the way, helping owners of MSMEs start their trade through the conceptualization phase and walk them through the registration process.
Other government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture (DA), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will be present their programs and services to MSMEs.
He said that the MSME summit will be the first gathering of MSMEs operating in the city and that the funds for the conduct of the activity were charged from the research fund of his office.
After the discussions and presentations of the concerned government agency representatives, he added that there will be an open forum to allow organizers to get feedbacks, questions and insights from the participants on how to help in enhancing the MSMEs existing and soon to operate in the different parts of the city.
Part of the summit will be lectures and workshops, one-on-one consultancy services and a platform for exchange of relevant business partnerships and trade opportunities for the city’s MSMEs.
Yangot claimed it appears that access to financial support and low interest rates among the several financial institutions that will provide consultancy are among the most sought after services.
More than 400 MSME domestic entrepreneurs representing sectors like trading, manufacturing, either non-food or food, and service are expected to participate in the said activity.
Based on available statistics, MSMEs account for 99.5 percent of established businesses and employ 62.8 percent of the country’s work force.
By Dexter A. See
