DTI’s outstanding small scale businesses receive first-ever ‘Kapatid Awards’

By DTI-OSEC-PRU
November 24, 2016

TAGUIG CITY – DTI’s shared service facilities (SSF) beneficiaries on coffee processing, native bag making, and fiber marketing were the recipients of the first-ever Kapatid Awards at PLDT’s MVP Bossing Awards 2016 on November 23.

SSFs on coffee processing from Mountain Province, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), on pandan and bariw bag making from Leyte, Region VIII and on fiber marketing expansion from Agusan del Norte, CARAGA received awards for exhibiting sustainable and inclusive growth models that contribute to the improvement of the quality of lives in said communities.

Receiving the awards were representatives from SSF cooperators Dangdang-ay di Ibila Cooperative from CAR, Sto. Niño de Plaridel Parish Multi-Purpose Cooperative from Region VIII and San Isidro Upland Farmers Multi-purpose Cooperative from CARAGA.

The SSF Project is a key component of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)'s initiative to capacitate micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by providing them appropriate machinery, equipment, tools, systems, skills and knowledge under a shared system.

As backbone of the Philippine economic growth, composed of 99.6% of locally registered businesses, generating over one million job a year, MSMEs have become the government’s current priority, with the DTI placing MSME development at the forefront of regional development and at the front and center of the trade agenda.

“Aside from keeping the country moving towards a more strategic direction at the backdrop of regional development, the government, through the DTI, vows to pursue meaningful growth that is truly inclusive, the one that reaches the bottom of the pyramid,” said DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez, who was also one of the recipient of the MVP Bossing Awards in government service.

DTI’s thrust towards MSME development is anchored on President Rodrigo Duterte’s 10-point socio-economic agenda to attain a quality of growth that will result in shared prosperity among Filipinos, according to the trade chief.

As of October 2016, a total of 2,099 SSFs have already been established across the country.

In partnership with Go Negosyo and DTI, the Kapatid Awards is an offshoot of the Kapatid Program, which has advocated MSME development through training and partnering with big businesses to mainstream and integrate MSMEs and their products and services into the bigger value chains.