DTI-3 preps up for nat’l MSME summit in July

• Source: http://punto.com.ph/dti-3-preps-up-for-natl-msme-summit-in-july/
• Friday, June 22, 2018

By Ashley Manabat

CLARK FREEPORT – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Central Luzon office is now in the thick of preparations for its first ever hosting of the National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Summit here next month.

During the media forum “News@Hues” organized by the Pampanga Press Club in cooperation with Park Inn Hotel Clark by Radisson here on Tuesday, DTI regional information officer Warren Serrano said the National MSME Summit will be held at the ASEAN Convention Center here on July 10 and 11.

Serrano also said President Duterte will be the guest of honor during the summit as well as top businessmen in the country. This is in line with President Duterte’s priority of “inclusive business,” he said.

Serrano said the Central Luzon region has the highest number of MSMEs in the country which means that “the informal economy is moving on to the formal economy.

“And this is what we want to happen and that’s what we are modelling here in Central Luzon. We are helping the small enterprises in the countryside to go to the mainstream,” he added.

Serrano said among the menu of services for MSME includes the “mentoring program” which is called the “Kapatid Mentor Micro Enterprises.” He said under the program, DTI-3 is “getting 20 micro entrepreneurs per province” which translates to 140 for the whole region.

“We will be mentoring them to a 12-course mentoring program which is equivalent to a master’s degree,” Serrano said.

“Parang nag masters kana doon sa 12 module course na ito (As if you have already taken a masters in this 12-module course),” he said.

Serrano said the mentoring program has been in practice since 2015 “and we have very good results, so most of them have levelled up from micro enterprise to small enterprise.”

Serrano said “the mentors are really experts from the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship.”

He said among the teacher-mentors are the owner of Tokyo Tempura Rowena Vallesteros and Sheryll Quintana, owner of Oryspa Spa Solutions, Inc.

Some of the mentors also come from the academe and the business sector, he said. “It’s like an intensive training,” he added.

Serrano said DTI-3 also has a “one-town, one-product (OTOP ) Next Generation Project which is essentially a mark exposure program for MSMEs.”

He said among the participating entrepreneurs are peanut butter and banana chips makers.

“But now we are levelling that up and the OTOP next gen project is expanding,” he noted.

Serrano said last year, DTI-3 had more than 700 entrepreneurs which means that every entrepreneur that was enrolled in the OTOP project got a good brand and design experts that were paid by DTI to help MSMEs with their branding, logo, packaging and design as well as all the services that made their products saleable.

“We will also help them with their trademark and registration with the Intellectual Property Office which is an attached agency of the DTI,” he said.

Serrano said this is important because it is a requirement for exporters.

“So you have a trademark ,brand name and business name so we will help our micro entrepreneurs to complete these requirements,” he said. Serrano said DTI-3 is also training MSMEs with good manufacturing practices by acquiring proper certifications “because more than 50 percent of those that we help for the OTOP next generation project are food processors.”

Serrano said when local products are brought to other countries or hotels here with international guests, they easily get qualified because they have certifications like “Halal” which refers to food certified and permissible under Islamic law.

There is also the hazard, analysis and critical control points (HACCP) certification for local products to be accepted as safe abroad, he said.

Serrano said another project that DTI-3 had last year for marketing exposure was twice attending the Tokyo International Trade Fair in Japan with 10 MSMEs.

He said among the MSMEs that went to Japan were furniture makers, but most of the saleable items in the trade fair were fashion jewelries.

“We sold about Y1 million for the two days fair,” he said. Serrano said also last year, DTI-3 had the biggest five-day trade fair for 2017 at the SM Mega Mall Trade Hall where around 110 exhibitors from the seven provinces joined.

It was dubbed “Likha Ning Central Luzon” which was able to raise P14 million, he said. Among them was the popular “Evelyns’ Homemade Nuts” which was able to generate a sales of P2 million, he said.