Thursday, November 26, 2009

E-Commerce for Bicol MSMEs

Bicol MSMEs Attend Training on DOING BUSINESS IN THE WEB:
The E-Commerce Challenge Made Easy
for Filipino SMEs









The Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the key components in the chain of institutions contributing to national economic growth. Enhancing them is of pivotal importance in maintaining Philippine dynamism in the 21st century. They are the major vehicles in the growth and sustainable development of a globally competitive Philippine economy. Currently, SMEs constitute 99.6% of all business establishments in the country, employ 69.9% of the country’s labor force and contribute to some 32% of value-added (The Philippine National SME Development agenda booklet).

With the significant role the MSMEs play in shaping the country’s economy, the DTI and the OK Bicol Foundation, in partnership with the Albay ICT Association, Inc. have initiated the conduct of the above training as one mechanism to further enhance the competitiveness of the sector both in the domestic and international markets through e-commerce.

The training was conducted last July 16-18, 2009 as one of the major activities during the celebration of the Annual SMED Week in the Province of Albay. It was held at the Southern Luzon Technological College Foundation, Inc, (SLTCFI) Computer Laboratory at Orosite, Legazpi City and was attended by 18 MSMEs from the provinces of Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon.

Acting as resource persons were Ms. Rosalie Buenaagua, a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist of the SLTCFI-BPO Incubation Center, Mr. Jay-R Redita, a Web Developer of the same company and Mr. Gabriel Libacao also an SEO Specialist and IT Consultant from Manila. They alternately discussed the program’s four major modules, namely:

Module 1: E-Commerce and the Filipino SMEs. – This module aims to stimulate
SMEs to venture into using ICT in their businesses. Thus, this module
is consists of Fundamental e-commerce, the Philippines’ e-Commerce
Law, relevant internet statistics and presentation of websites.

Module 2: Putting “E” to Business Processes – This module aims to elevate SMEs
knowledge on how ICT can improve their businesses. It consists of
the following: Showcasing to the online world, business processes
and e-marketplaces. Success stories are included to inspire SMEs in
their journey in the online environment.

Module 3: Online Payment. This module aims to update SMEs about the possible
payment methods that they can choose from as supply chain player, as
customer or as supplier.

Module 4: Technical and Marketing Aspects. This module aims to provide SME
Decision makers the basics in setting up and management of website
As an e-commerce technique.

At the end of the three-day training, the participants were appreciative of their learning and started creating their own simple websites availing the services of free web hosting companies provided by the trainers. As an additional incentive to the participants, the management of SLTCFI offered the facilities of its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)Incubation Center at the Embarcadero for a very minimal rate to incubate their websites using the services of the center’s search engine optimizers and web marketing specialists.

1 comment:

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