TIMELY to the economy’s reopening with the easing pandemic curbs in the country, the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Go Lokal! program has opened its second in-line store at Ayala Malls UP Town Center in Quezon City.
Together with Common Room PH, it carries within its more than a hundred-square meter retail area over 200 homegrown micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) products, including 28 Go Lokal! food, home and wellness, and arts and crafts brands, as well as the former’s 22 brands that offer collections from the latter.
The store was two years in the making, after the first outlet in Katipunan was affected when Covid-19 hit the country in 2020, recalled Ma. Roma Agsunod, owner of Common Room PH and Go Lokal! store operator.
“And the only reason we were able to return [was] because we know that we don’t have to do it alone. We did it because of the help of DTI’s Go Lokal! and UP Town Center who gave us this home,” she said during the kick off event held last October 19.
Introduced by the trade agency in collaboration with select retail partners, Go Lokal! is a free-market access platform for small-scale entrepreneurs. Since its launch in December 2016, this program has tied up with 24 retailers, rolled out 156 stores nationwide, and assisted 863 MSMEs, of which 414 were already mainstreamed and have become regular suppliers of partner retailers. It has so far generated P457 million in sales as of April 2022.
“Our partnerships with the private sector have been instrumental in promoting the products of local MSMEs and helping them recover amidst the Covid-19 pandemic,” noted DTI-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) Supervising Assistant Secretary Glenn G. Peñaranda. “The opening of Go Lokal’s second in-line store here at UP Town Center allows us to continue our mandate in giving equal market access and sustainable business models to our local MSMEs.”
According to Ayala Malls Cluster Head Pivi Diaz, it has always been their advocacy to nurture and back up local social enterprises.
“Under our Alagang Ayala Land program, we provide promising start-up businesses with critical market access and support through our malls,” she said, while citing their allocation of free spaces to them within their establishments is one of the company’s many initiatives in stimulating the growth of small businesses. “This is aligned with Go Lokal’s vision to help expand market access to MSMEs and create livelihood opportunities to our fellow Filipinos.”
To date, Ayala Malls has been a home to five Go Lokal! outlets. They are located in Glorietta 2, Ayala Center Cebu, and Abreeza Mall in Davao City. The first in-line store with Common Room PH is in Ayala Malls Manila Bay, followed by the newest sophomore branch in Ayala Malls UP Town Center.
“I’m happy to hear that Ayala continued its efforts to promote the Filipino products to the local mainstream market. This partnership with Ayala Land Inc. is definitely helping the DTI’s advocacy for MSME development and inclusive economic growth,” Senator Mark Villar said in a recorded message.
“To Common Room PH, partner of in-line store and operator for Go Lokal in Ayala Malls in Manila Bay and here in Ayala Malls UP Town Center, thank you for being one with the DTI in supporting Philippine MSMEs and promoting the works of local artists and makers in the mainstream local market,” he added.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship filed last August 11 Senate Bill 1124, an act providing for an enhanced market access, mainstreaming, and promotion platform for Philippine MSMEs through the institutionalization of the Go Lokal! program.
“We hope that in the coming years, Go Lokal! will have more opportunities to build lasting relationships with the private sector and unlock new markets for our local MSMEs. I hope that this milestone event serves as an inspiration for both the government and private sector to continuously work together to support local small businesses for the betterment of the Filipino people,” Villar stressed.
Expansion amid pandemic
GO Lokal! keeps on reaching a wider market in spite of the ensuing health crisis.
“We look forward to [opening] three more soon,” Diaz told the BusinessMirror in a sideline interview, while declining to elaborate further details on their planned expansion, except for their locations being in Trinoma, Quezon City; Alabang Town Center, Muntinlupa; and Market! Market! in Taguig City.
Hoping to maintain and strengthen their partnership with the upcoming Go Lokal! stores in Ayala Malls, Peñaranda bared their plan to establish such in hotels, airports, and tourist centers.
Per the DTI-EMB supervising assistant secretary, who also serves as the officer-in-charge of the Trade Promotions Group, this will complement the Department of Tourism’s program.
“As we open up the economy, there are a lot of people who want to travel. So we want to partner with them. As they promote the destinations, it’s a good opportunity to also promote the products from these destinations,” he said.
Apart from the Go Lokal!, he also revealed their expansion of the One Town, One Product (OTOP) project to provincial in scope. OTOP is a priority stimulus initiative where products rooted in local culture, resources and competitive advantage are determined, curated, developed, supported and marketed.
“Maybe the province can think of the products they can highlight [as a] starting point. Once the products improve [and become] acceptable to the mainstream [market], then it will go up to Go Lokal! and, then, in other programs of DTI like the national trade fairs and later on international trade fairs. What we want is for entrepreneurs with good products, as they grow, they can graduate from being small to medium and their market reach from local to national and, hopefully, global,” Peñaranda explained.