Lawmaker says MSMEs to fuel Phl's growth

MANILA, Philippines - Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will continue to fuel the country’s growth in 2011 as they did this year despite the global economic crisis that hit mostly big businesses, a party-list lawmaker said yesterday.

Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodorico Haresco said MSMEs were the backbone of the economies of China, South Korea, Japan and India in the past that made them powerhouses of the region today.

“Entrepreneurship is a shaper of destinies. We only need to look at our first world and tiger economy neighbors to see this,” Haresco, whose party- list group advocates support for MSMEs, said.

He said about 98 of all registered companies in the country are MSMEs and account for some 70 percent of employment nationwide.

He said MSMEs are also “not too sensitive to external economic shocks” unlike large corporations.

“Simply put, entrepreneurial activity is a primary, cost-effective economic growth accelerator,” Haresco said.

He said entrepreneurial activity, particularly those made by MSMEs, creates jobs, trains employees and raises their living standard.

MSMEs utilize idle manpower-and resources-both in traditional and new ways, creates new markets, and develop old ones, he said.

He added the sector also stimulates trade with other (local and international) sectors; promotes technology transfer and innovation towards the creation of new products; and generates allied entrepreneurial efforts.

“Entrepreneurship creates a favorable environment for investors. It establishes

brand Philippines,” Haresco said.

“It is doubly potent because the opportunities lie directly in the hands of the individual, and as such, they are literally, unlimited...In truth the question is not why entrepreneurship is key to national development. It is how,” he said.