The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has set training sessions for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Central Luzon (CL) this year to increase the competitiveness of the sector outside Metro Manila.
Under the SME Roving Academy (SMERA), the DTI Region 3 is holding 152 training sessions benefiting some 3,800 MSMEs in 116 towns in the region in 2015.
Thirty-six training sessions have been prepared for the province of Bulacan for the whole year; Pampanga has 31 sessions; Tarlac, 22 sessions; Nueva Ecija, 20 sessions; Bataan, 20 sessions; Zambales, 14 sessions; and Aurora, nine sessions.
Training programs under the SMERA 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.
āThe entrepreneurs 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,ā said DTI-3 Director Judith P. Angeles.
For the past years, DTI Region 3ās trainings for MSMEs only included product improvement, packaging and labeling, basic entrepreneurship and hand-skills development.
DTI said the training programs complement the strength and competitiveness of industry clusters and products in different areas in CL to prepare themselves for more complex market, free trade with different countries brought by various economic integration and trade deals, among others.