INCLUDE SMES IN VALUE CHAIN -ABAC

Asean Business Advisory Council chair Joey Concepcion says conglomerates can help address poverty by including small businesses in the supply chain.

How can micro and small businesses benefit from a regional meeting as large as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit?

Joey Concepcion, Asean Business Advisory Council chair, in a press conference yesterday in Metro Manila, reiterated the government’s call for large companies to embrace micro and small businesses in their value chain.

“Large companies (are) where inclusivity has to be practiced,” said Concepcion, reminding the 0.4 percent businesses in the Philippines composed of conglomerates and big-ticket corporations about their role in helping build an inclusive economy.

Concepcion, who is also the presidential adviser on entrepre- neurship, particularly cited the micro and small-scale farmers who need help from large companies so they can become part of the value chain. Poverty incidence in the Philippines is mostly felt by those in the agri-fishery sector, he added.

Another opportunity for micro and small players during Asean meetings are discussions on retail platforms that benefit micro and small entrepreneurs, especially in e-commerce.

At this year’s Asean Summit in Pasay City, Concepcion said trade leaders in the 10-Asean member states will share their prosperity roadmap. This way, Concepcion said the Philippines can learn about fellow Asean’s strategies on inclusive growth and vice versa.

On the part of the Philippines, one of the prosperity measures of the current administration is the rollout of the P1-billion fund for mi- cro and small enterprises.

The Department of Trade and Industy (DTI), which oversees the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3), will distribute the funds through the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.) and micro finance institutions so that microenterprises and entrepreneurs, like market vendors, farmers and cooperative members, will have easy access to credit at low interest rates.

DTI earlier promised that it will roll out the program in the country’s top 30 poorest provinces “anytime soon.” Access to finance under the P3 program will be easy since it will only require minimal documentation requirements, one-day processing of applications; and low interest at 2.5 percent per month.

Loan amounts to borrowers will range between P5,000 and P100,000, with no collateral requirements.