The Small Business Corporation (SB Corporation) expressed continued support to the Cebu People’s Multi-Purpose Cooperative (CPMPC) as its Credit Delivery Partner (CDP) for the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) Program. CPMPC reported a total P2.56 million loans released to 124 microenterprise beneficiaries in just three months (November 2019 to January 2020). SB Corporation through CPMPC aims to generate P2 million P3 loan portfolio per month for each of the cooperative’s 16 satellite offices.
Present during the update meeting are (seated L-R) SB Corporation South Luzon Group Head Ronald Inciong, Financing Sector Head Ma. Lourdes Baula, SB Corporation President and CEO Ma. Luna Cacanando, CPMPC CEO Macario Quevedo, CPMPC COO Brian Yap, SB Corporation MIS Department Manager Marc Quincy Talagtag and SB Corporation Corporate Support Sector Head Rowena Betia (Standing L-R) SB Corporation Information Technology Group Head Evelyn Felias, CPMPC Financial Officer Eric Abistado, Training Dept Manager Jacob Layan, Credit Dept Manager Melanie Baclayon, Manila Branch Operator Ulysses Mar Josef, and Executive Secretary Nelson Rabaja.
Under the P3 Program, a micro enterprise can borrow between P5,000 up to P200,000 depending on its business need and repayment capacity with no collateral requirement with an effective interest rate of not more than 2.5% per month (based on diminishing balance). The P3 Program serves as an alternative to the P30 billion “5-6” money lending industry that charges 20% interest rate to microenterprises.
As of January 2020 the P3 program has extended a total of P5.1 billion in loans to 124,374 micro enterprises and has partnered with 418 partner financial institutions nationwide.
PASAY - Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said that the tax reform bill endorsed by the Senate Ways and Means Committee is a well-balanced approach to the corporate tax reform and helps remove the uncertainty of foreign investors.
On 19 February, Senator Pia Cayetano sponsored Senate Bill No. 1357 also known as the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives rationalization (CITIRA). Senator Cayetano, who heads the committee, is optimistic that the Senate would approve the bill on final reading by March 13.
“DTI would like to thank Senator Pia for sponsoring a bill that could create a better investment climate for the greater majority. We think that this is a well-balanced bill that enhances the incentives but will ensure investment performance and efficiencies, with a systematic way of rationalizing incentives,” said Sec. Lopez in a press conference.
“We appreciate this version of the bill, and we hope for the immediate passing of the bill to remove uncertainties and the wait-and-see attitude of investors. We are now pushing for the passage of the bill to resume the growth momentum of the country,” he added.
The CITIRA Bill, which seeks to lower income tax rate from 30% to 20%, and modernize the tax incentive system, is a priority bill of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Since a bill on rationalizing tax incentives was first proposed in 1995, the Department of Finance (DOF) and DTI have urged Congress to finally make this crucial reform happen.
“After a series of consultations and meetings with various members of the government, business community, and academe, and thorough consideration of the sensitivities of key stakeholders, the new bill offers a more reasonable transition period and one that gives recognition to high performing investments such as being 100% exportation, or 10,000 jobs created or being in a highly competitive footloose industries”, said Sec. Lopez.
Through the CITIRA, the Philippines’ corporate income tax rate will be gradually reduced from 30% to 20% over the next ten years, not far from the 17 to 25% of its neighboring ASEAN countries.
The bill prioritizes incentives of business activities that generate local employment, promote development, innovation, high technology projects and agribusiness, as well as those that invest in less developed areas or communities recovering from disasters and conflicts.
The incentives provided will be in accordance with the principles based on international good practices to make it performance-based, targeted, time-bound, and transparent.
BBDO Guerrero has won the bid to develop the multi-media marketing communications for the Philippine participation in the Expo 2020 Dubai, this October. The agency is tasked to project the country as a highly connected global nation.
BBDO Guerrero will also inform, persuade, and motivate global audiences to visit the Philippines Pavilion at the Expo – dubbed the bangkóta – for the full experience of design, art, and culture, combined with shopping and tasting authentic Filipino food.
Partnering with PR firm FleishmanHillard, the agency is also tasked to build and maintain DTI’s relationships with primary stakeholders in UAE and Manila.
The Philippine participation in Expo 2020 Dubai is led by the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under the leadership of Secretary Ramon Lopez, with the guidance of Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Hjayceelyn Quintana and Consul General Paul Cortez, including the support from member agencies comprising the Philippine Organizing Committee.
The bangkóta, inspired by the ancient Filipino word for coral reef, is designed by the architecture firm Budji+Royal Architecture+Design, with the exhibition content being developed and curated by Marian Pastor-Roces.
DTI Assistant Secretary for the Trade Promotions Group and PH Expo 2020 Dubai, Alternate Commissioner-General Rosvi C. Gaetos says: “We are happy to have BBDO Guerrero and FleishmanHillard as part of the Philippine team that will ensure a successful participation in the Expo. This gives us confidence as we promote our business interest in this region and aim to achieve our trade, tourism and investment objectives”.
BBDO Guerrero Creative Chairman, David Guerrero shares: “It is our privilege to be involved in this country-branding campaign that positions the Philippines as a global force, through the strength of its people that are highly connected, creative, and compassionate”.
MAKATI – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is partnering with USAID, Lead-More, and Havas Ortega to train women entrepreneurs on using digital tools to grow their business. The three-month program will be piloted in Region 4A in April, Iloilo in July, and Cagayan de Oro in October.
“In DTI we always say that for every job or business opportunity, we lift one Filipino family out of poverty. If we give these opportunities to women, we also empower them and help them become an inspiration for their families and their communities,” said Secretary Lopez.
The program, called Women Entreps-Digitally Enhanced Ventures (WE-DEV), is a three-month lecture and mentoring series to open opportunities for growth and sustainability among selected businesses owned or managed by women entrepreneurs.
USAID will fund the project and link entrepreneurs to online platforms Lazada and Shopee. Lead-More, led by Dean Pax Lapid and Jorge Wieneke, will provide training modules and mentor the women entrepreneurs.
Under the program, DTI will select 50 women entrepreneurs from the One Town, One Product program to be part of WE-DEV. These entrepreneurs will undergo the program that will begin with a two-day boot camp from Socialyse, a social media pure player from Havas Ortega.
In the boot camp, the mentees will learn how to create content and use analytics tools to track their growth. After the program, Socialyse will offer assisted campaigns by prepaid packages. Socialyse Executive Director Peter Juan said that sustainability in campaigns is important because in most seminars, mentees get excited after the first few days, but burn out when they run out of ideas.
WE-DEV will also offer lessons on basic business concepts like entrepreneurial mindset, marketing, product development, and finance. Afterwards, mentees will learn how to use digital platforms to sell their products, build their online presence, and establish payment methods.
The Philippines has the 2nd highest percentage of entrepreneurially-active females, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2015-2016. We Are Social’s report also named the Philippines as the top country in terms of time spent on the internet in 2019. Filipinos, on average, spend 10 hours a day online. The global average is 6 hours and 49 minutes.
In an effort to diversify markets for PH exporters, the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB), in coordination with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center-Middle East and Africa, is conducting an Outbound Business Matching Mission (OBMM) to the Middle East on February 12-24, 2020. The OBMM is in conjunction with Gulfood 2020 in Dubai World Trade Centre.
"We hope that through this OBMM, the Philippines will be able to explore business environment and possible prospects in the Middle East markets and sustain networking and follow-up activities in the UAE as part of the mission legs last 2019,” DTI-Trade Promotions Group (TPG) Undersecretary Abdulgani M. Macatoman said.
The OBMM also targets to develop and expand relationships with business, government, and multiplier organizations in Middle East countries and enhance local understanding of the current economic conditions and business opportunities.
The mission is also anchored on EMB’s aspiration to engage with high-level promotion, targeted market intelligence and business matching, and focused training and capacity building for both large companies and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which also echoes the thrust of the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Act (PHEDP) and the Expo 2020 Dubai campaign.
Moreover, this project supports the Export Promotion for PH Food Sector which endeavors to bring Philippine cuisine, ingredients, and beverages overseas. The program’s strategy will build on Strategy No. 3 of PEDP 2018-2022 which is to design comprehensive packages of support that will be able to mainstream the Philippine food, food ingredients, and beverages sectors and encourage innovations on major Philippine commodities and niche products.
Led by Usec. Macatoman, the business delegation is composed of representatives from 11 Philippine business companies, namely: Fitrite, Inc; Fruits of Life, Inc; HDR Foods Corporation; Jocker’s Food Industries; Magic Melt Food, Inc; Marigold Manufacturing Corp; Marikina Food Corp; Pinesvill Trading FZE LTE; Pixcel Transglobal; Sagrex Food, and LBC. Also included in the delegation are Philippine Commercial Attaché for the Middle East and Africa Charmaine Mignon S. Yalong, DTI-EMB’s Senior Trade and Industry Development Specialist Myrtle Faye L. Solina, and Trade and Industry Development Specialist Al-Mahdi I. Jul-Ahmad.
The featured products for this mission are food items, sauces, spices, mixes, and condiments as well as cargo and logistics for the services.
Macatoman reiterated the need for more Philippine brands to enter the Middle East markets to cater the demand of Filipinos living there, and to a larger extent, to penetrate the mainstream market. This mission also endeavors to deliberately promote Philippine bananas in the Middle East market, among others.
The delegation is set to have business matching events, market scanning, store visits, meetings with government authorities and a visit to Gulfood 2020.
“As part of the OBMM’s activities, the PH exporters will be engaged in B2B meetings with prospective buyers which will give them knowledge of the market requirements in terms of volume, quality, and price. It will bolster and increase exports of food and non-food products and services to GCC countries,” DTI-EMB Director Senen M. Perlada said.
Gulfood is the world's largest annual food, beverage, and hospitality exhibition which attracts F&B professionals from all over the world to Dubai - a hub for international trade and commerce. It is also celebrating its 24th edition this year.
In January - November 2019, the Philippines exported USD 720.1M worth of goods to the Middle East and imported USD 3,298.8M of goods. Among the top products exported by the country were bananas, including plantains, fresh or dried (USD 211.9M), Input or output units, whether or not containing storage units in the same housing (USD 64.0M), other bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits and other baker's wares, whether or not containing cocoa (USD 41.3M), pineapples, fresh or dried (USD 38.1M), and video projectors (USD 22.1M).
On the other hand, the country’s top imported products from the Middle East in the same period were petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude (USD 2,112.6M), light petroleum oils and preparations thereof (USD 225.9M), propane, liquified (USD 126.6M), butanes, liquified (USD 120.9M), and aeroplanes and other aircraft, of an unladen weight not exceeding 2,000 kg.
To know more about of the Philippine Delegation, you may scan the QR Code below.
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