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MSME sa Luneta 03 June 2008 |
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The Luneta grounds will
be the virtual center of frontline services of government, starting June
10, 2008, up to Independence Day, on June 12. Veering away from the traditional socio-civic parade, Kalayaan 2008 will be a three-day celebration of our independence by bringing government services ever closer to the people. The Department of Labor and Employment will have a job fair, but with a novel twist. Aside from posting vacancies and facilitating placement, pre-employment requirements like the usual clearances will also be processed on-site. The Department of Trade and Industry will have a huge area for its One Town One Product (OTOP) project, where the items from all the regions will be offered at discounted prices. OTOP showcases the best products of our countryside entrepreneurs. Alternative health care, herbal medicine, first aid and CPR, will be featured at the Department of Health booths, with a Botika sa Barangay to boot. For the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises or MSME sector, under the oversight of our Inter-agency Coordination Committee, and with our private partners, the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship, we will provide the whole range of services for starting a business, funding it and making it grow. At the product development end, the Department of Science and Technology, with its full basket of commercially viable products, can point an aspiring entrepreneur in the right direction. You will be surprised at the items you can produce, many of them made out of indigenous materials you may have taken for granted. A good number of them will be at the OTOP exhibit. But if you have your own product ideas, DOST can still help you develop that idea. We will have the financing desks -- for the micro, small and medium scale levels. The People’s Credit and Finance Corporation, our wholesaler at the microfinance level, will be there with its MFI partners or retail lenders, to accept and process loans. For the small and medium enterprises, the lead funders are the Small Business Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines. Of course, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will also be there. The pioneering bank in small and medium enterprise financing for the private sector will also be joining us, but I will give more of this later. The combined expertise and experience of the Departments of Trade and Industry, and Science and Technology in marketing, packaging and label design, including training will also be made available to prospective entrepreneurs. And to bolster the confidence of those who may be faint of heart, celebrity entrepreneurs from PCE will be there for mentoring sessions and to share their experiences. If you plan to go into business and have not quite set your mind to it, come visit the MSME Booths at the Luneta grounds. More on this in the next column. |
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