MSME industry targets 40% contribution growth, 2M jobs

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry’s Bureau of MSMEs (Micro, small and medium enterprises) vowed to strengthen efforts to protect the sector by targeting to increase contribution growth by 40 percent and create at least two million employment in the next five years.

DTI’s Bureau of MSME Development director Rhodora M. Leaño made a commitment that her office will hit the goal of making the Philippine MSME sector at par with the share of the MSME sector to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of other countries in the Asian region.

Based on the MSME Development Plan 2011-2016, the roadmap listed some challenges that the sector is facing, these include providing conducive business environment, providing access to finance and access to market and improving productivity and efficiency (P&E).

According to Leaño, in order to address these issues, the Philippine government will gear efforts towards bringing down the cost of doing business, specifically taxes and fees, to make these affordable to the MSMEs.

It will establish soft and hard infrastructure for MSME development. The institutional and support structures for the development of start-up and existing MSMEs will be also in placed.

In the finance side, she said the government will make access to finance sustainably available, including the easy access service and support programs that include support for start-up business, and those operating the countryside areas.

By 2016 or the end of the Plan's implementation, she said the cost of obtaining MSMEs loans is reasonable and affordable. The requirements that MSMEs need to comply with to obtain loans are reasonable and manageable.

Meanwhile, access to markets will be also improved to make the MSMEs competitive in selling their products and services to existing and new markets here and abroad, she added.

“MSMEs will implement the value chain approach to benefit it. They will likewise utilize the information technology and intellectual property system to develop a sustainable market share and gain competitive advantage for their products and services,” she said.

Likewise, she added that the government programs like the One Town, One Product Program (OTOP) to help MSMEs access local and global markets shall be coordinated.

Leaño further expressed her belief that through the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme, the private sector can be an answer to the business development services required by the MSME sector.

She said to improve the productivity and efficiency of the local companies--government programs and policies on productivity enhancement would be coordinated and be made effective and highly satisfactory.

Measures are also designed to help these companies become compliant with international quality standards, she added.

On the other hand, Cebuano MSMEs expressed their disappointments over the government’s weak implementation to support the sector.

“We are still suffering from unavailability of funding support from the government. If there is any, micro or small entrepreneurs obviously can not avail of it because of high standard for requirements that can only be complied by medium to large companies, not the small businesses,” said Alfred R. Awe vice chairman for Filipino Cebuano Business Club, a group of small and micro entrepreneurs in Metro Cebu.

The group suggested that the Magna Carta for MSMEs should be implemented seriously, so that legitimate players or the supposed target beneficiaries will be able to avail of the funding. (FREEMAN)