Entrepreneurs urged: Back P-Noy’s ‘big push agenda’

Micro, small and medium enterprise entrepreneurs are encouraged to support President Benigno Aquino III’s “big push” agenda to uplift the poor.

Undersecretary Merly M. Cruz of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) told participants of the MSME  Development Council national conference at the Marco Polo Plaza yesterday of the government’s aim to achieve “inclusive growth” by developing  the MSME sector.

Cruz said the  administration’s “Big Push” Agenda aims to ensure  that growth emanates from the grassroots or  MSMEs instead of waiting for the growth to trickle down.

“Recently we  coined a new holistic approach in assisting MSMEs called the SMEplus Development for Inclusive Growth that calls for the creation of an enabling business environment and provision of government assistance that is felt at the grassroots,” said Cruz.

Another aim is to increase employment from the MSME sector to two million by 2016 and to contribute 40 percent to the gross value added.

“The MSMEs comprise  99.6 percent of all business establishments and contribute two-thirds  of total employment and 36 percent of gross value added. The target, we think, is very doable through the help of the (MSMEDC) council,” said Cruz.

The council was created by Republic Act No. 9501 otherwise known as the Magna Carta of MSME.

It aims to spur the growth and development of the sector by facilitating and coordinating the national efforts to promote the sector.

The council is  headed by the DTI Secretary, a private sector representative as its vice chairman and members which include the Tourism Secretary, Agriculture Secretary, private sector representatives from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The DTI said that the council would  coordinate with provincial counterparts.

At present, the government is working to converge assistance from the different agencies like DTI, Department of Labor, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Social Welfare and Development, Tourism and more as de`fined through the supply chain approach or National Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Project (NICCEP).

“Under NICCEP high potential industries are identified like agri-based products, support to tourism and environment, ICT-enabled services along with other support industries,” she said.

Cruz added that they recently signed a memorandum of agreement for a revitalized financing program with other government agencies and financial institutions.

“The challenge is to improve the access to small enterprise finance. This (MOA) is intended to address the unique needs of MSMEs for access to credits while cutting  red tape and making them gain access to short and long term funds,” said Cruz.

The financial executives institute (FINEX) also launched their web portal  to help  entrepreneurs  access financing.

According to Cruz, the agency is willing to work with MSMEDC to implement programs for the development of the sector.

Jose Ng, MSMEDC representative for Visayas, said that the council’s target was doable if they  work together.

“This is very ambitious but possible. This is MSMEDC’s role to help reach that goal and we will have to work with government to succeed,” said Ng.

About a hundred delegates attended the  conference which ends today.

The program includes sessions for the councils to learn about policy formulation, program advocacy and coordination and integration as well as tours in DTI d projects like the Tindahang Pinoy and key MSMEs in Cebu.

Global trends for MSMEs will also be discussed including  ‘greening the value chain’ which is the trend in the future,” said DTI Regional Director Asteria Caberte.