Get people involved, and shared prosperity will follow

This is it. In a week, the region’s most important meetings will take place here in Manila: the 49th ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings. A few days earlier, on Nov. 14 and 15, the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) and ASEAN Business Awards (ABA) will bring regional public- and private-sector leaders together to discuss cooperation.

The principle underpinning almost all the meetings held over the past year since the Philippines assumed the ASEAN chairship is inclusivity. For too long, our economic and social hierarchies have unintentionally created exclusion. We must address these disparities if everyone is to have a fair chance to share in the opportunities and benefits of regional integration. Growth is important, but so is ensuring that people have a genuine opportunity to participate in it.

That begins with examining our own blind spots. Do we exclude people because we fail to recognize their potential to contribute? Do we assume their contributions are limited because of who they are, where they live or the circumstances they face? It is good to question our beliefs and challenge our perceptions. We should also resist the temptation to make ourselves sound important, especially when discussing abstract concepts that seem to require a long preamble. Even high-level policy and investment decisions shape daily life, local jobs and the future of every citizen of Southeast Asia.

Consider micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). They make up a large part of ASEAN economies, employ millions of people and drive local economies. They are part of conversations across the region, whether the subject is agriculture and food security or gender. Food security is connected to trade and energy policy, supply chains, climate change and geopolitics. Employment generation is central to discussions about digital technology, workforce upskilling and artificial intelligence. And when we consider how to make the most of the region’s creative industries, we soon turn to intellectual property and licensing, enterprise building and entrepreneurship mentoring.

ABIS and ABA are intended not only as platforms for dialogue and recognition, but also as ways to connect businesses, open markets, empower entrepreneurs and advance inclusive economic growth across ASEAN. They reflect the Philippines’ and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council’s 2026 chairship theme: “Navigating Our Future Together: Advancing Prosperity for All.”

These events will help prepare participants for ASEAN’s future – and you do not have to be a company CEO to benefit. Whether you are a small business owner, an employee or simply curious about how the region works, ABIS can help you better understand the dynamics of our ASEAN neighborhood. Regional discussions may seem distant, but the issues they address affect businesses, workers and communities. Understanding those dynamics can help people see where opportunities are emerging and how they might take part.

ABIS and ABA are also where the next big ASEAN businesses can make their first appearances. At the ASEAN Business Awards, businesses with the potential to grow across the region are recognized. Past winners include Malaysia’s Mr. D.I.Y., the Philippines’ own Potato Corner and the innovative coconut-farming company Lionheart Farms Phils. Their stories can inspire entrepreneurs and small business owners looking for ideas to grow their ventures. They show how businesses that begin with a clear idea and strong local roots can become part of a wider regional story.

This year’s ABA will introduce a new category: the ASEAN Gender Equality & Economic Empowerment Award. It will highlight how women’s leadership, entrepreneurship and economic participation are essential to ASEAN’s long-term competitiveness and inclusive growth.

Most notably, Go Negosyo will hold three Trabaho at Negosyo events across Metro Manila at the same time as ABIS. This popular program brings together job seekers and aspiring entrepreneurs looking for opportunities in employment and enterprise. I am particularly proud of it because it connects jobs and MSMEs as engines of development. Together, they can create a virtuous cycle: thriving enterprises generate jobs, while people with jobs and incomes support local businesses. That cycle can help create shared, inclusive prosperity where it is needed most.

Several local chambers of commerce will also host mini-ABIS events. Local business leaders will reflect on and respond to discussions streamed live from Manila in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique; Iligan City, Lanao del Norte and Tarlac City and its surrounding municipalities. These gatherings extend the conversation beyond the capital and give local leaders a chance to connect regional discussions with the realities and priorities of their own communities.

Making all this possible will require teamwork among government agencies focused on trade and employment, local government units and the private sector. This whole-of-community approach is also essential to the success of the Philippine-originated ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network (AMEN), a legacy project created to commemorate ASEAN in 2017, when I first chaired the ASEAN-BAC.

AMEN is based on KMME, a collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry that has helped produce tens of thousands of “MSMEs with MBAs.” It is a classic example of public-private collaboration: government organizes MSMEs at the local level, while the private sector contributes the practical knowledge of successful entrepreneurs and professional business coaches. AMEN took that model to the ASEAN level. Now, in 2026, it will bring it into a new arena: the digital world, through AMEN 2.0.

Inclusivity cannot happen without the necessary roads and open gates that make access possible. We must connect ASEAN businesses to global markets and give MSMEs opportunities to meet international buyers, investors and business partners. We must also enable women entrepreneurs and young people to take an active role in addressing urgent and growing challenges – not only for small enterprises, but for big business as well. This takes sustained cooperation and a willingness to include people who might otherwise be left out.

We will move in the right direction only if we navigate together.