The Department of Trade and Industry emphasized the role played by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as providers of employment and drivers of the country’s economic growth that will alleviate poverty in the country.
DTI-Regional Operations Group Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said so important the role of MSMEs that they ensure the promotion of equitable and inclusive growth, especially throughout the countryside.
“MSMEs are substantial contributors to our country’s economic growth, trade, employment, innovation, and poverty alleviation,” Maglaya explained during the first MSME Conference organized by the University of the Philippines – Institute for Small-Scale Industries (UP ISSI) at the UP – Bonifacio Global City (UP-BGC) Campus in Taguig.
Philippine MSMEs account for 99.5% of the total number of established businesses and employ 62.8% of the country’s workforce, contributing substantially to the country’s manufacturing output and total employment, making it critical engines of economic growth and development.
To ensure the growth and advancement of the MSME sector, the MSME Development Council approved the MSME Development Plan 2017-2022, which presents improved and innovative development strategies to achieve the target outcomes called Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan, in the next five years. The Plan envisions for “more globally competitive MSMEs that are regionally integrated, resilient, sustainable, and innovative thereby performing as key drivers of inclusive Philippine economic growth.”
Maglaya said the MSMED Plan “envisions more globally competitive MSMEs that are regionally integrated, resilient, sustainable, and innovative—thereby performing as key drivers of inclusive Philippine economic growth.”
The trade executive explained that there are five (5) strategic goals under the MSMED Plan 2017-2022, namely, improved business climate, improved access to finance, enhanced management and labor capacities, improved access to technology and innovation, and improve access to market.
Currently, according to Maglaya, the Department has been actively advocating the seven-point strategy called “7Ms of Successful Entrepreneurship” as guide for MSME growth. The 7Ms are Mindset Change, Mastery, Mentoring, Money, Machine, Market Access, and Models of Negosyo.
The 7Ms will provide MSMEs with assistance ranging from infusing aspiring entrepreneurs with the proper entrepreneurial mindset; helping MSMEs master the know-how and how-tos of entrepreneurship; business guidance from DTI and the business sector; access to funding; acquisition of the right tools and equipment; access to market; and suggestions of different business ideas.
Maglaya also stressed the importance of 7Ms in the “Manila Call to Action for MSME Development” (MCA) which was the synthesized outcomes of the ASEAN 2017 MSME Development Summit last July 2017 that called for region-wide affirmative action to foster MSME development.
The Department calls for the support from the private sector, academe and non-government organizations, corporations, and business associations to put forward the MCA recommendations into actions.
“Making growth felt by everyone can only happen if we are successful in empowering the bottom of the pyramid. By effectively tapping our MSMEs, we can ensure that we can attain our goal of creating inclusive growth and shared prosperity for all,” Maglaya said.♦
Date of release: 21 March 2018