The rapid growth of digital adoption in the ASEAN
bodes well for the region’s
economies, but its growth
must be inclusive, with
micro, small and medium
enterprises (MSMEs) being crucial to a sustainable
growth, to fully realize the
expanding opportunities
presented by digital transformation.
A S E A N – B A C
Philippines Chairman Joey
Concepcion expressed
this opinion during a panel discussion on ASEAN’s
Digital Powerhouse at the
Nexus of Connectivity and
Transformation. The session was held on the first
day of the ASEAN Business Investment Summit
in Jakarta, Indonesia last
September 3, 2023. The
session gathered some of
the region‘s biggest tech
players, as well as key
stakeholders from leading
multinational companies,
global financial institutions, and government organizations. The session
delved into the development of strategic policies – including financial
technology, e-Trade, and
cross-border trade facilitation.
“All of these tools
are important to uplift the
lives of our people. That’s
why we are here: how do
we solve big problems especially for those who are
at the bottom of the pyramid,” he said, as he pointed out that four of the ten
countries in the ASEAN
have nearly a fifth of their
populations still living in
poverty.
“The power of
digital has to be used. Crisis pushed people to use
these tools and this is one
of the reasons we in the
ASEAN BAC Philippines
proposed to sign an MOU
with each ASEAN country
to focus on sectors that
will bring development,
specifically agriculture and
MSMEs,” he said. He also
pointed out that digitalization will stand to benefit
even the one-man businesses–also known as
nanopreneurs–who now
have a better chance at
succeeding because they
have access to marketing
tools and digital payment
solutions.
“We are the big
brothers … Unless we embrace the MSMEs in our
value chain this is going
to take a long time … That
is our mission as ASEAN
BAC heads, to see to it
that greater prosperity is
achieved,” he said. The
ASEAN BAC was organized to provide private
sector feedback and guidance to boost ASEAN’s
efforts towards economic
integration.
“The power of
digitalization is there; we
just have to use it,” he
said. “It’s time that we really focus on the objective of
greater prosperity, especially for those at the bottom of the pyramid, using
whatever tools we have,”
he said.
The ASEAN has
emerged as the world’s
fastest-growing internet
market, with a 40 percent
annual growth in the value
of e-commerce between
2016 and 2021. Further,
it is set to become the
world’s fastest growing
digital market driven by a
growing consumer market
and the rapid adoption
of social commerce platforms by its population.
This growth must
be inclusive in order to
unlock the benefits, said
Concepcion, and emphasized that it must be used
to enable MSMEs. He cited the Philippines case as
an example of how digital
technology has helped
MSMEs compete with big
corporations, and gave
birth to a thriving digital
economy that was further
hastened by the pandemic
lockdowns.
“We must enable
MSMEs to use digitalization to their advantage,”
he said. Digital growth is
seen to boost cross-border e-commerce by providing MSMEs with access
to new markets, and is
hoped to promote financial
inclusion to underserved
populations.
With Concepcion
during the sessions were
Sam Myers, Deputy Trade
Commissioner for Asia
Pacific (Southeast Asia)
at the UK Department for
Business and Trade; Haslina Taib, CEO of Dynamic
Technologies; Yuem Kuan
Moon, CEO of Singtel; and
Kok Ping Soon, CEO of
Singapore Business Federation.
Bank of Indonesia Governor Dr. Perry
Warijjyo, Temasek Holdings CEO Dilhan Pillay
Sandrasegara; and Japan
External Trade Organization Chairman Ishiguro Norihiko delivered
keynote remarks, while
ASEAN-BAC Indonesia
Policy Manager for Digital
Transformation Yohanes
Lukiman gave a p
