The Department of Trade and Industry Regional Office III (DTI-3) is implementing more new training sessions for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the region, as it prepares them to compete in the local and international markets.
For 2015, DTI-3 is implementing 152 training sessions in 116 towns of Central Luzon. These training expect to benefit 3,800 MSMEs in the region. Bulacan and Pampanga have the most number of training sessions for the year with 36 and 31 sessions respectively, while Tarlac has 22, Nueva Ecija and Bataan have 20 each, Zambales has 14 and Aurora has 9 sessions.
In the past, the SME Roving Academy (SMERA) program of DTI-3 focused on the productivity aspect of SMEs by conducting training sessions on product improvement, packaging and labeling, basic entrepreneurship and hand skills development. For this year, SMERA is geared towards capacitating SMEs on how to prepare themselves for bigger and more complex markets, free trade and the development of climate-smart industries in the context of climate change and the global value chain.
The menu of training programs include Business Continuity Planning, Financial Management, Compliance with Tax Regulations, Understanding Trademarks and Copyrights, ASEAN Economic Integration, Pro Green Economic Development and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point for food processors.
These training programs were designed by DTI-3 to complement the strengths and competitiveness of industry clusters and products in the different areas of Central Luzon. Provinces with significant fishery resources are provided orientation sessions on export opportunities for sea products while areas with significant coconut resources are trained on export opportunities for the growing Coco Coir market.
In response to changes in markets for their products, MSMEs now require more responsive training programs. “The complexity of the environment in which MSMEs operate now require that their preparation in competing and surviving at the present level of competition should be responsive to the needs of the times.
The entrepreneur now do not just need skills to produce products but also need strategic orientation to compete with quality products from abroad in the face of ASEAN integration and removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers in international trade,” thus said DTI-3 Director Judith P. Angeles.
Posted By: Edrillan Pasion
