by Jan Michael Carpo, Reporter
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced recently that it has partnered with P.J. Lhuillier Inc. (PJLI), the parent company of the Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop, to create a digital platform that would help enhance business advocacy and information for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
The creation of this digital platform will be handled by the DTI’s Regional Operations Group under the Negosyo Center Program Management Unit (NC-PMU), which is responsible for promoting ease of doing business and for facilitating access to services for small and medium-scale enterprises in the country.
The project also falls under Republic Act No. 10644, otherwise known as the “Go Negosyo Act,” which aims to strengthen MSMEs by creating job opportunities in the country. It also gives Filipinos a chance to establish their own business that will help sustain their everyday needs and provide for their family’s upkeep.
Under the partnership, the DTI will put up a website called “MSME Business and Shared Services Center,” which will function as a database of information to support the business needs of MSMEs. It will also be utilized to complement the DTI Negosyo Centers’ role by giving small business enterprises access to the trade and industry department’s services like business registration, financing, marketing and promotion, human resource development, micro-insurance, micro-investments, counselling, as well as payments and settlements, among other services.
In a press statement, the DTI said that the aforementioned portal will be made available through any web browser and kiosks to be placed in select branches of PJLI’s subsidiary, Cebuana Lhuillier Services Corp., which runs the chain of Cebuana Lhuillier pawnshops throughout the country.
Blesila A. Lantayona, Undersecretary of the DTI-Regional Operations Group, voiced out her support to PJLI in assisting MSME development through this digital effort, saying, “This project will contribute to inclusive growth for MSMEs and will aid the government in digitizing its public services and processes.”
Resolving the “gaps” in existing MSME laws
During one of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development (MSMED) Council events that DTI Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual headed in December last year, the group acknowledged that there is now a need to prepare for an Omnibus MSME Code in 2023 “to resolve current gaps” in existing MSME laws and regulations.
In order for MSMEs to continue to expand their expertise further, level up their digital capabilities, and enhance their company’s operations, the trade department noted that there are still gaps in the market, technology, and access to funding.
The DTI secretary also provided a summary of another trade department effort aimed at empowering small business owners in the nation, with the development of MSMEs as one of its strategic measures.
“Filipinos can really see and focus on what’s offered from Philippine firms across different locations,” said Pascual, who sees this platform as being set up. The DTI secretary added that he plans to introduce this e-commerce platform in the second quarter of this year.
The trade secretary compared the entire procedure, which entails onboarding, training, and connecting people to the e-commerce network, to that of a supermarket. “The portal will include an e-catalogue of goods from the Philippines,” he explained.
In addition to these upcoming MSME programs, the DTI is also hopeful that a US Agency for International Development (USAID) program called “Strengthening Private Enterprise for the Digital Economy” will also support the DTI’s electronic commerce-related goals to help spur the growth of small and medium-scale enterprises in the country.