TUGUEGARAO CITY — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region 02 recently conducted a two (2) day product assessment and consultation during the OTOP Next Generation Assessment, Consultation and Triage (A.C.T) session held on April 5-6, 2018 at the DTI Regional Office No. 02 Negosyo Center Building, Carig Sur, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.
The A.C.T session is part of the One Town One Product (OTOP) Program which aims to level up and scale up the services and assistances provided for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
For Region 02, a total of 50 MSMEs from the different provinces participated in the activity and underwent one-on-one consultation for branding, packaging and labeling with sought after consultants and experts for the food and non-food sector. A Food/ packaging and technology expert from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) was also present during the activity.
Participating MSMEs brought with them their top 3 product lines subject for assessment and consultation. During the session, comments and recommendations were also provided to MSMEs on how they can improve their products to become more competitive and market adaptive.
In his message, DTI Region 02 OIC Regional Director, Mr. Ruben B. Diciano said that DTI will continue its commitment in nurturing MSMEs to become more competitive with strong brands that will significantly drive inclusive local economic growth.
Mr Leon Flores III, OTOP National Program Manager said that OTOP now shifts to more than just one product per place. According to him, a municipality can have 2 to 5 products under OTOP or none at all. For municipalities that do not have OTOP, they can provide support or complement to other municipalities as suppliers of raw materials and/or provide skills and labor.
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary Demphna Du-Naga of DTI Regional Operations Group encouraged the MSMEs to open their minds to innovations and continuously seek on ways to scale up their business. She also made emphasis on the presence of various market access opportunities that the DTI provides to help MSMEs promote their products such as trade fairs, Go Lokal! and OTOP Philippines Hub. According to her there will be cross-regional exchange of best products from different regions to further promote the local products in the country.
DTI Region 02 Provincial Directors, Provincial Trade Promotion Officers and some media partners were also present during the activity.
The session was conducted in two batches. For the first batch, it was conducted for the MSMEs coming from the provinces of Quirino, Batanes and Nueva Vizcaya. Meanwhile, for the second batch, it was participated in by MSMEs from the province of Cagayan and Isabela.♦
Date of release: 17 April 2018