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SME SUMMIT - Thu • 07 July 2011

FREE Entrepreneurship Training Programs 

Fri • 08 July 2011 & Sat • 09 July 2011

Philippine Trade Training Center, Roxas Boulevard, Manila

SME Summit 2011

SME Week is celebrated every second week of July to promote entrepreneurship among micro, small and medium enterprises.

For this year's celebration, there will be an SME Summit to be held on THURSDAY, 07 JULY 2011, at the Philippine Trade Training Center.

The SME Summit will be attended by entrepreneurs, national government agencies, LGUs, trade and industry associations, business development services providers, and international donor institutions, and other SME advocates.

The programme for the SME Summit is attached for your reference.

In celebration of SME Week, an SME Summit will be held on Thursday, 07 July 2011, at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Manila. The summit—themed Pinoy SME: Business Tayo! —will be accessible to all interested entrepreneurs and other SME stakeholders through live video streaming.

With Globe Business as the official communication provider for the event, the entire day's proceedings will be broadcast live on http://justin.tv/smesummit.

The morning session opens with an overview on the importance of SME Development by DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo, who is also chairman of the MSMED Council. This is followed by a more detailed presentation on the SME Development Plan for 2011-2016 by Usec. Merly Cruz of the Regional Operations Group.

To discuss the Four Outcome Areas of SME Development, the organizers invited resource persons consisting of a successful entrepreneur, a government agency representative, and a private sector enabler to share their success stories and experiences in the areas of business environment, access to finance, access to markets, and productivity and efficiency. The presentations are expected to highlight the commitments made with regard to specific programs and policies, while demonstrating how public-private partnerships can strengthen the SME development agenda.

The post-luncheon panel discussion hosted by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship brings together a powerhouse cast of SME advocates to serve as role models for Pinoy SMEs. With ABS-CBN's Karen Davila serving as moderator, the panelists include Jose Ma. Concepcion III, chairman & CEO of RFM Corporation and MSMED Council vice-chairman; Gov. Luis Raymond Villafuerte of Camarines Sur; Dr. Victoria Belo of the Belo Medical Group; Prudencio Garcia of Mekeni Foods; and Manny Aligada of Globe Business.

For the culmination of the Summit, the keynote speech is expected to outline the critical role of SMEs in the Philippine Development Plan, particularly in the area of employment generation and poverty alleviation.

Various institutions will present an SME Pledge Book containing the specific programs and action plans that they commit to implement to propel the SME development agenda. There will also be a symbolic turnover of production equipment to deserving SME beneficiaries, as well as the launching of the SME Star Presidential Award and the Tindahang Pinoy brand.

All Pinoy SMEs interested in growing their businesses to be globally competitive will surely find the program interesting and are welcome to view the live feed on http://justin.tv/smesummit. The SME Summit is scheduled to start at 9:00 am and will end at around 4:30 pm on 07 July 2011.

To highlight the value of public-private partnership in SME promotion, Globe Negostar will hook up live to the SME Summit, with a two-way video chat from an ongoing Globe Negostar event in Cauayan, Isabela.

Through a Globe mobile broadband connection, the SMEs in Cauayan, Isabela, are expected to send in their greetings and participate in the main programme being held in Metro Manila.

Globe Negostar is an SME outreach campaign of Globe Business. It focuses on the specific business requirements that can be addressed through superior yet affordable communications solutions designed specially for small and medium enterprises.

Some of the Globe Negostar business innovations that can help improve productivity and efficiency of SME operations are Tracker GPS, WebEye, Inventory Ordering System, and TxtConnect.

Streaming is now off-line. You may find the video here.

As part of the celebrations of SME Development Week, DTI Secretary Gregory L. Domingo recently announced that budding entrepreneurs can avail of free entrepreneurship training programs to be offered on 8-9 July 2011, at the Philippine Trade Training Center. This is in keeping with the drive to encourage more Filipinos to participate in the SME sector, with the call to action “Pinoy SME: Business Tayo!”

The free entrepreneurship programs will consist of Business Development Briefing Sessions offered by DTI-Bureau of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development (BMSMED) as part of its mandate to provide start-up enterprises with a knowledge base on a wide range of topics relevant to SME development.

Scheduled in the morning of Friday, 8 July 2011 are the following briefings: How to be an Entrepreneur; Barangay Micro Business Enterprise (BMBE) Law; Awareness on Product Standards Law; Consumer Rights and Protection; How to Acquire a BFAD Certificate.

The afternoon session for Friday, 8 July 2011 will offer: Integrated Business Licensing; Orientation on HALAL Certification; Orientation on the Cleaner Production for Small Business; Packaging Design and Labeling; Product Design Awareness; Orientation on Registering for Patents, Trademarks and Trade Names.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC), which specializes in training programs intended to strengthen the Filipino export sector’s competitive advantage in the world market will also be offering free business management and demo skills sessions.

The course offerings on Friday, 8 July 2011 consist of: Basic Hilot; E-marketing – Setting up a Webstore; How to Set up a Laundry Business; Perfume and Cologne Making; Exploring Business Opportunities in Kosher Markets; Herbal Soap Making; Meat Processing 1 & 2; Basic Beadworks; Laundry and Cleaning Aids; and Gift-wrapping.

On Saturday, 9 July 2011, the free training will cover: Basic photography; Flip-flops Making; Managing a Money Changer Shop; Financing and Lending Programs; How to Start a Business; Food Safety; Siopao and Dimsum Making; No-bake Cakes; Polvoron and Pastillas Making; Buying a Franchise; Apartment/Commercial Stall Rental Business; Perfume and Cologne Making; Advanced Beadworks; Cleaning Aids 2; Flowers and Balloon Arrangement; and Empanada, Pizza Rolls.

Participants to the free entrepreneurship training programs will be accepted on a first come, first served basis, with registrations starting at 7:30AM. For more information, please call DTI-BMSMED at telephone numbers 897 1693 or 751 5076, and PTTC at telephone numbers 468 8962 to 70 or visit http://www.dti.gov.ph/uploads/DownloadableForms/SME_Bulletin_Final.pdf.

In the run-up to SME Week, which will be celebrated on the second week of July this year, the provincial MSMED Councils have started announcing the winners of the SME Rising Star Award in their respective provinces.

With government statistics indicating that 99.6% of registered businesses belong to the micro, small and medium enterprise segments, the government’s SME Star Program was formulated as an important framework for SME development and promotion.

According to DTI Secretary Gregory L. Domingo, “The SME Star Program is a competency program that supports the growth and sustainability of SMEs through the business development stages. In cooperation with other SME stakeholders, we offer a package of services and interventions in such key areas as marketing, production, financial management, and management and technical skills development, in order to nurture the enterprise’s growth to the next stage.”

The SME Star Program identifies three stages of business development, with a corresponding recognition or award for each level. Stage 1 is the start-up or capability-building phase, and is recognized through the SME Rising Star Award given at the provincial level. Each province awards three SME Rising Stars — one winner each for the micro, small, and medium enterprise categories. A total of 249 start-up businesses are recognized as SME Rising Stars annually. Stage 2, identified as the market penetration or export awareness stage, is the next step in successful enterprise development. At this stage, outstanding businesses are recognized at the regional level with the SME Star Elite Award. Per region, one micro, one small and one medium enterprise is conferred the SME Star Elite Award; a total of 48 deserving SMEs will receive the recognition annually.

Nueva Ecija recently announced the province’s first-ever nominees to the SME Star Elite Awards, as follows: Kababaihang Masigla ng Nueva Ecija, Nueva Cabanatuan Meat Products, and Philnor Aqua, Inc. for the micro, small and medium enterprise categories, respectively. At the awarding ceremonies, Dr. Reynato C. Arimbuyutan, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Nueva Ecija chapter noted that, “The awards might be the key needed to open the interest of businessmen to improve the competitiveness of the province.”

The SME Star Program is seen as an important component in MSME development and promotion, as it recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs that have shown remarkable achievements in growing their businesses to become globally competitive enterprises.

As part of the SME Week celebration in July, President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino is expected to launch the search for the national SME Star Presidential Awardees from among the top SMEs in the country, particularly those that have successfully expanded operations in the domestic market or become globally competitive. One SME Star Presidential Award winner will be announced in 2012.