Enterprises' council targets 20,000 job openings in Bohol

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines  — At least 20,000 job openings have been targeted by the Micro-Small-Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Council to be available in Bohol as it wanted to make the province a pilot site for its development planning and management plans in Central Visayas.

Regional director Aster Caberte, of the Department of Trade and Industry-7, said there are over 41,000 employment opportunities in the region and the council wanted half of these be made available in Bohol.

Caberte, in a press conference here after the Bohol Provincial MSME Planning Workshop, said the council will primarily extend assistance to 3,500 SMEs in the region, and half of these will be in Bohol.

Director Rhodora Leano, bureau director of the MSME Council, said they chose Bohol as pilot area of the council's development thrust because of the province's "dynamism of public-private partnership, and that Bohol is "quite ready" for this.

With Leano and Caberte in the workshop were DTI-Bohol provincial director Maria Elena Arbon and Marietta Gasatan, president of the Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).

The workshop was prompted due to some difficulties encountered by MSMEs, such as lack of enabling environment, access to finance, maintaining access in the market and the implementation of MSMEs plans.

These has been an increase of MSMEs in the region, from 32 percent to 35.7 percent, according to the business industry and government authorities. MSMEs, comprising about 94 percent of all businesss, also played a pivotal role in the country's economy as they employ about 61 percent of the country's manpower. (FREEMAN)