PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assured micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that the government will continue to support their growth.
In his message delivered by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin during the National MSME Summit 2023 at the Manila Hotel in Pasay City, the president said that his administration will help MSMEs.
“The government remains committed to provide MSMEs with valuable digital literacy training and offering support for diverse e-commerce platforms, all aimed at boosting their efficiency, productivity and competitiveness,” Marcos said.
“We will sustain our support to enterprises engaged in agribusiness and provide financial aid for further research and development. We will help in expanding access to financing MSMEs, including the expansion of loan programs, credit guarantee schemes and the establishment of credit scoring system to facilitate lending decisions,” he added.
The President noted that MSMEs make up 99 percent of all registered businesses in the country and employ at least 5.4 million Filipinos.
“If we want to truly transform the Philippine economy and society, we must not only take care of our MSMEs, but also make sure they are able to grow, flourish and compete globally,” Marcos said in his message.
With this year’s theme “Upgrade, Upskill and Upsize MSMEs,” the summit also featured strategic plans and initiatives led by the MSME Development Council to digitalize MSMEs and help them expand online.
These include the launching of the Philippine E-Commerce Platform (PEP), a new feature incorporated within the eGov PH Super app, which is created to help MSMEs tap online markets to promote their products and services.
The program prioritizes locally made products from businesses that are officially registered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and other government agencies.
To further promote digitalization of MSMEs, the DTI also announced it has partnered with the SOMAGO online shopping platform to provide One Town, One Product (OTOP)-assisted MSMEs — another avenue to sell their products.
The 2024 Presidential Awards for Outstanding MSMEs was also officially launched during the summit.
This is to provide recognition to small and medium enterprises that have “consistently shown remarkable achievements in business management and financial performance.”
The awarding ceremony will take place in the next year’s National MSMEs Summit. (ABS-CBN News)
