ALBAY SME CARAVAN 2012

SME CARAVAN GOES TO ALBAY

Out-of-the box business ideas, eco-sense/eco-profit innovation, are just some of the new concepts and ideas introduced during the SME Caravan in Albay held last May 10-11, 2012 at the Concourse Convention Center in Legazpi City and attended by a total of five hundred and ninety-five participants from Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate and Catanduanes. The caravan seeks to promote entrepreneurship and introduce new business ideas to address SMEs’ common concerns relative to access and cost of business development services, access to finance, access to markets and productivity and efficiency. Spearheaded by the Bureau of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development (BMSMED) and the Department of Trade and Industry Provincial Office, the activity brought together national government agencies and private sector institutions whose mandates and programs address the above issues. Several highly interesting and practical business topics were discussed by professional expert lecturers invited by the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) which co-partnered with BMSMED in facilitating the event. Credit Brokering Sessions participated in by four Financing Institutions namely: Small Business Corporation (SBC), Landbank of the Philippines (LBP), Camalig Bank and Rural Bank of Guinobatan (RBGI) were also simultaneously conducted during the two-day event. Among the topics presented on day one were on “Promoting Innovation: Guiding SME Clients on New and Out of the Box Solutions” and “Building Brand Value for Market Positioning” which were presented by Mr. Ricardo de Vera, a well-known international marketing guru; “Ecosense/Eco-Profit Workshop” facilitated by Dr. Delfin Mauricio and “Build Your Own Online Store” by Ms. Jonnadeth Coja of PLDT SME. Ms. Sarah de Leoz of IPO-Legazpi also made a presentation on Branding and Intellectual Property as part of the active advocacy/campaign of the IPO to encourage local businessmen to avail of the services of the office. On day two, the participants had a hands-on training on new novelty item designs as demonstrated by Ms. Lilia Agulto of the DTI-Cottage Industry Training Center (CITC). In the afternoon of the same day, the invited local financing institutions (FIs) presented their respective lending programs available for MSMEs. A total of 30 MSMEs were provided financing consultancy by the said FIs. At least two SMEs were able to submit their documentary requirements and were initially processed by concerned FIs on the same day. Apart from the presentation of topics and the credit brokering sessions, the participants also engaged in business networking among themselves. To mention a few results of the networking activity: one participant will supply his empty pili shells to Juboken Enterprises for the latter’s charcoal briquetting business, Canon Marketing Philippines will supply Noveno’s Pilinut Candy with Photocopying Machine on term-basis and other minor negotiations between and among the participants. As an additional incentive, the corporate sponsors Canon Marketing Philippines and Sun Cellular provided corporate give-aways that were raffled off to the participants. Major prize included two Canon printers.