ILOILO City – To go online has been the option left for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Western Visayas in order to continue their business amid the pandemic.
Felisa Judith Degala, OIC Provincial Director of DTI, said it is a challenge for the office to onboard these MSMEs into digital marketing since they could no longer rely on physical marketing.
“We have several trainings conducted to make them ready for e-commerce. Asta packaging and labeling, upgrading and product development were conducted online,” said Degala.
Among the activities conducted by DTI Iloilo were ‘Onboarding of MSMEs to ECFULFILL,’ a platform which lists products in international e-commerce platforms such as eBay, Amazon and ETSY; Kapatid Mentor Me Online 2020 Program; 4th DTI-DOST Packaging and Labelling Consultancy Program; Workshop Cum Webinar on the basics of Digital Marketing, among others.
She added that they have also made available the Negosyo Centers and the DTI Iloilo Provincial Office to accommodate those who have no access to technology so they could join the online seminars.
To note, mostly of the MSMEs, since the pandemic, resorted into online selling especially via Facebook.
DTI has also introduced the cashless payment system.
Jane Russell Prudente, Trade and Industry Dev’t Specialist and Trade Promotion Officer of DTI Iloilo, said they have so far assisted 40 MSMEs in the region to be on boarded to the e-commerce platform.
For MSME adopting e-commerce, the DTI is targeting to assist 1,300 MSMEs.
Meanwhile, Kurt Maurice Tugaff, Trade and Industry Development Specialist of DTI Iloilo, said they have recorded around 5,300 registered MSMEs.
He noted that the DTI Iloilo issues 300 to 400 business names every month, but there were fewer registrants from March to April this year due to community lockdowns.
Moreover, in a month, Tugaff noted that there is an average of 10 cancellations of business names probably due to change of ownership or change of line of business while others have temporarily halted due to the pandemic./PN
