Following the recent approval of the Implementing Guidelines of the 2017-2019 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) has started cascading the details of the guidelines specifically on Inclusive Business (IB) to the concerned government agencies and stakeholders involved in the evaluation and approval of IB investment projects applying with the BOI.

BOI, through its Investments Promotion Services, recently conducted an inter-agency meeting with the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Tourism (DOT), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and PH Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture to discuss the IPP guidelines and the process of evaluating and approving IB projects.

Further to the government’s thrust to alleviate poverty through an inclusive growth approach that pushes for more IB models and social enterprises to sustainably link small community enterprises into the value chain of big businesses, BOI has taken IB under its wing through the new IPP to encourage more businesses to develop inclusive business models.

BOI will create an IB-Program Management Office (IB-PMO) responsible for evaluating investment projects applying for registration with potential IB models.

Under the General Policies and Specific Guidelines of the 2017-2019 IPP, IB Projects in the agribusiness and tourism sectors may qualify for investment incentives such as pioneer status and eligibility for income tax holiday of five years, subject to the provisions of Executive Order No. 226 or the Omnibus Investments Code.

A qualified agribusiness and tourism project may opt to undertake IB models by submitting a duly notarized IB plan in the required BOI format upon application for registration which includes targets and timetable based on specific qualifications and conditions.

The participants of the Inter-Agency Meeting from the BOI led by Assistant Secretary Felicitas Agoncillo-Reyes (middle).

IBs are innovative models where companies engage the poor and low-income communities as partners, customers, suppliers, and employees in their supply chains not out of charity, but because it makes good business sense. The integration of these communities into global value chains improves their quality of life and makes offer businesses diversified supply and distribution systems. BOI adopted such innovative business model or approach for investment projects planning register with the agency with the aim of achieving developmental outcomes by integrating the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the value chain of medium and large enterprises (MLEs).

“The inclusion of IB in the new IPP is our proactive response to the call of the administration’s 10-Point Socioeconomic Agenda, particularly in promoting rural and value chain development, by expanding economic opportunities and providing incentives to qualified business activities based on actual results of MSEs involvement in the global value chain” said Assistant Secretary Fe Agoncillo-Reyes.

IB models for agribusiness and tourism are seen to generate more income and business opportunities for the poor or low-earners of the society particularly small farm holders. “This is an innovation in itself as we integrate MSEs into the supply chain of the MLEs. This model will also increase the capacity of farmers to improve their productivity and quality of life,” she said.