Go Negosyo
founder Joey Concepcion
announced recently that
the non-profit will intensify
its partnerships with the
country’s largest business
groups to align with government’s push to drive
development through micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
“The MSME sector is one of the platforms
being pushed aggressively as a driver for the country’s growth, and as we
roll out more mentoring of
the MSMEs, we will need
mentors coming from
the respected business
groups,” said Concepcion
at a meeting last February
12, 2024 with the heads
of the Philippine Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) chapters in the
National Capital Region.
Leading the group were
PCCI National Chairman
George Barcelon, PCCI
National President Nina
Mangio, PCCI NCR Area
Vice President Hernando
Delizo, and PCCI NCR Immediate Past Vice President Tess Ngan Tian.
Also at the meeting was Undersecretary
Cristina Roque, who is
heading the newly formed
Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises Group. Usec
Roque said that if the
country manages to uplift
only ten percent of MSMEs, “it will uplift the economy and this will be the
success of the country.”
Members of top
business organizations
such as the PCCI, the
Philippine Franchise Association, the Philippine
Retailers Association,
the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of
Commerce and Industry,
and many more form the
pool of volunteers who
mentor small and aspiring
entrepreneurs during the
various free public entrepreneurship mentoring
events held regularly by
Go Negosyo.
“Mentoring is
helping MSMEs; our members see this whenever
they attend the events and
we feel proud that we have
a platform to help them,”
said PCCI National President Nina Mangio.
Go Negosyo announced at the beginning
of the year that it plans
to help at least 200,000
MSMEs by 2028 by giving
them access to the three
M’s of entrepreneurship –
namely money (capital),
markets, and mentoring
– through its own programs, as well as in partnership with government
and other members of the
private sector. The programs include public entrepreneurship mentoring
events, structured learning courses, online seminars, national summits,
and programs focused
on youth, women, OFWs,
tourism, and digital technology. It also has programs held in cooperation
with outreach programs of
the government, such as
its Youthpreneur and agri
education projects with
Department of Education,
and its entrepreneurship
mentoring during First
Lady Liza Araneta Marcos’s LAB for All caravans.
The meeting with
PCCI became an opportunity to align with the DTI
the private sector’s efforts to scale up MSMEs.
The PCCI officers in attendance also brought to
Usec Roque’s attention
the opportunities presented by the tourism sector,
the trillion-dollar potentials and challenges of the
country’s halal industry,
and the need for industry
data monitoring and evaluation to aid mapping and
impact analysis, especially
for the MSME sector.
U s e c .
Roque said that under her
watch, there will be smooth
coordination and cooperation with crucial agencies
in her charge, such as the
Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development and Small Business
Corporation.
Usec. Roque
thanked Concepcion and
the PCCI heads for consistently pushing for the
development of the MSME
sector. “Your dedication to
MSMEs is very admirable,
that someone could go
this far for MSMEs, and
do so consistently … is to
be commended,” she said.
PR
