BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Science and Technology under its Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) provided around P22.2 million funding assistance to boost the productivity and competitiveness of Micro, small and Medium Enterprises in the Cordillera last year.
DOST-CAR Regional Director Julius Caesar Sicat reported that the funding assistance were for 52 approved projects with three in Abra, six in Apayao, nine each in Baguio City, Benguet and Kalinga; five in Ifugao and 11 in Mountain Province.
Per sector, 32 of the projects were on food processing, 11 on metals and engineering, four on Gifts, Decors and Handicrafts, three on Horticulture/Agriculture, and two on furniture business.
Sicat bared that through the initiative of DOST Secretary Mario Montejo, the department plans to double the budget for SETUP to reach out to more enterprises.
“Secretary Montejo is very happy with the effect of the SETUP to the economy. Many local enterprises are already graduating from micro to small, from small to medium to large enterprises because of the SET-UP assistance, which is why he is pushing to double the program’s budget for this year, so that we can reach-out to more enterprises”, Sicat said.
SETUP is a nationwide strategy encouraging and assisting MSMEs to adopt technological innovations to improve their products, services, operations and increase their productivity and competitiveness.
Priority MSME industries for the SETUP programs are Food Processing; Furniture; Gifts, Decors and Handicrafts (GDH); Aquatic and Marine; Horticulture/Agriculture; Metals and Engineering; Information, Communication and Technology/Electronics; and Health products and Services/pharmaceuticals.
