SRP lot allocated for MSME incubation facility

CEBU, Philippines - An incubation center for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), a first of its kind in the country, will soon be constructed at the South Road Properties (SRP).

This after Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña reserved a 2,000 square-meter lot at the SRP for the MSME incubation building. The center will serve as a venue where qualified starting MSMEs will hold office. It will provide them the needed facilities, technology, knowledge and expertise for MSMEs to take off.

Rey Calooy, president of the Filipino Cebuano Business Club Inc. (FCBC), lauded Mayor Osmeña for directly heeding the call of MSMEs in Cebu.

“We are very happy for the quick response of the Mayor. There is really a need for a center that will serve the needs, especially technological, of start-up MSMEs. (If pushed through) this will be the first in the country and even in the whole world,” he said.

He told The Freeman that it was during FCBC’s courtesy call to the Mayor during the MSME Development week in July 2009 that they articulated the need for a support facility for MSMEs, which basically supports the local economy. MSMEs comprise 99-percent of the country’s economy.

Calooy said the City is in the process of creating a council, which will be composed of representatives from government agencies and various business sectors. The city council will run the center as well as choose the MSME-beneficiaries. The construction of the building will break ground on May 8, 2010.

Cebu City’s MSME center will serve as its counterpart to the program of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ surety credit fund, a financial assistance intended for MSMEs.

While the credit window is collateral-free, Calooy said the local government unit and the MSME involved are expected to put in its counterpart.        

Calooy earlier said credit remains elusive to MSMEs despite credit provisions of laws such as the Magna Carta for Small Enterprises and the Barangay Micro Business Enterprises Law.

The Magna Carta for Small Enterprises promotes entrepreneurship strengthening development and assistance programs to MSMEs while the BMBE Law aims to encourage micro enterprises especially in the countryside to register their businesses with the local government for them to gain access to government funds, among others.

MSMEs are more labor-intensive due to the lack of machinery. The sector employs 70 percent of the country’s labor force. In 2008, MSME generated 3.3 million jobs while large companies generated only 1.6 million jobs.

Micro enterprises are those with not more than P3-million in asset. Small companies on the other hand are those with P3-million to P15-million in asset while medium enterprises are those with P15-million to P100-million in asset. —Jessica B. Natad