ILOILO City – Micro, small and medium enterprises affected by the temporary closure of Boracay want to give visitors to the exhibit of their products in a mall in Mandurriao district an experience in the island– without the white sand and the beaches.
Fifty-two exhibitors joined the at SM City Iloilo Even Centre that began Monday.
Aside from their products, the exhibitors brought with them a caricature maker, a tattoo artist, a hair braider, and a massage therapist based in the island.
The seven-day Product Showcase is an initiative led by the Department of Trade and Industry in helping market products of MSMEs displaced by the closure of the island, said Roselita C. Sauza, president of the Hugod Aklanon Producers Association, Inc., one of the organizers.
The Product Showcase aims to generate some P72 million in sales.
Exhibitors include nine indigenous peoples, nine gifts and house ware producers, four Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program beneficiaries, 13 processed food business owners, two cacao-based entrepreneurs, 10 coconut-based entrepreneurs, one horticulture entrepreneur, and four Boracay-based entrepreneurs.
The closure caught small businesses off-guard, Sauza said in a speech.
It affected “not just the (Aklan) province and the island of Panay but the entire country,” she said. “Many international tourists cancelled their booked trips to Boracay.”
“Fifty to ninety percent” of their products are marketed to Boracay Island, Sauza said.
But the closure taught them that they need to diversify, she said.
“Now we know Boracay is not the only market for us. We have the whole world … yet we have not explored [that],” said Sauza.
Aside from Hugod Aklanon and the DTI, others that organized the exhibit are the Aklan provincial government and the Aklan Provincial Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council.
In a message delivered by DTI regional director Rebecca M. Rascon, Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya commended the resilience of Aklanon MSMEs.
The showroom at the DTI central office already generated P250,000 in sales of Aklan products from May to August, said Maglaya.
In addition, the DTI brought 15 MSMEs to the Sandugo Festival in Bohol and another 15 to the SM Makati Kultura on Aug. 24.
“We also have lined up several activities for the rest of the year, bringing Boracay to Bonifacio Global (City) and other parts of Manila,” she said.
Moreover, the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship is helping the MSMEs look for a wider market, Maglaya added. (With a report from PNA/PN)
