Taking off from the agency’s initiative on developing new product innovations and pre-processed institutionally packed products, an orientation activity on the product development assessment, consultation, and triage (ACT) session for institutional products was held on March 10 with the DTI-Product Development Officers for Food and the region’s select pilot MSME beneficiaries.
This undertaking is in line with the goal to achieve the region’s positioning as a significant institutional supplier not only for processed products but also for toll packaging and private labeling, pre-processed, primary processed, and minimally processed products.
With a total of 10 MSME beneficiaries, the orientation activity was conducted in preparation for the succeeding phases of the product development for this year, which are the one-on-one consultation, product design execution, and monitoring.
During the activity, the implementation of the project as well as the timeline, components, and expected outputs were elaborated. Moreover, the benefits of the activity to the beneficiaries, such as bigger marketing platforms and linkages, improved packaging and labeling, and upgraded product certifications, were detailed by Mr. John Edward Iringan, Regional Product Development Officer for the Food Sector.
DTI R2-SME Development Division Chief, Mr. Ramil Garcia, in his message, emphasized the big plan and vision of DTI in maximizing the competitive advantage of the region as the primary source of abundant agricultural produce or commodities. “We took a little step back and rethought our unique selling proposition and competitive advantage as a region in the value chain. And we came up with this project, which is a big shift in our paradigm and game-changing. It’s time for us to harness and maximize our strength as a region and become the primary supplier of minimally or primary processed raw materials for industrial and institutional use,” DC Garcia said.
Further, Assistant Chief Attorney Michael Paggabao urged the MSMEs to take the sessions seriously and to sustain their commitment and cooperation through all the sessions.
“This time, we’d really like to live by the branding that we want for Region 2 as a supplier of institutional packs. We should be talking here about sacks of flour, gallons of purees, and concentrates. I assure you that the DTI will give you the sufficient support that you will need to be able to make this venture successful. Let’s help one another, and we hope to bring you to places that you never have imagined,” ADC Atty. Paggabao added.
Last year, the agency jumpstarted this effort, and among the products developed are ube powder, corn flour, tomato powder, calamansi concentrate, and fruit purees. With this year’s aim of developing larger and upgraded packaging, DTI R2 is optimistic that the result of this intervention will meet the needs of major manufacturing companies. *
Date of release: 16 March 2023
