DAVAO CITY—The Department of Trade and Industry of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DTI-ARMM) pitched for the larger role of small businesses in the region, urging them to take more community assistance by providing employment and livelihood.
ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman urged the leaders and members of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council (MSMEDC) to help their respective communities and assured them the ARMM has taken up a fresh focus on the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the region.
“The regional government is now ready to help the small businesses, but we are requesting you to engage in business not only for yourself, but to help your community, the society, our region and the entire country,” he said.
He added one of the major economic strategies in the ARMM’s Regional Development Plan 2017-2022 is concentrating on the promotion and development of MSMEs.
The DTI-ARMM held on Tuesday its first ARMM MSME summit.
During the summit, the organizer granted P100,000 seed fund to each of the five winners of its first Social Enterprise Ideation Camp. The five winners were Langkit Weaving, Halal Organic Agricrops Production, and Anaya Solutions, all from the province of Lanao del Sur; Center for Integrated Organic Farming System from Maguindanao; and There is Hope in Daing from Basilan province.
The ideation camp was held in partnership with the Strengthening Civil Society Participation in Social Enterprise Education Development.
The five winners were granted mentoring MSMEs.
The DTI-ARMM also awarded the 10 most-promising MSMEs in the ARMM with plaques of recognition.
ARMM organized the event to enliven anew its MSME sector and to assure them of the regional government’s intention to empower local entrepreneurs by “providing them with information on the latest trends in the local and global markets.”
The summit’s participants come from MSMEs, local government units, academe, business-support organizations, partner government agencies, chambers of commerce and industry and MSMED councils.
The DTI-ARMM said it would assist the MSMEs “overcome issues and challenges they face in the region through the summit.” The summit carried the theme “Moving Forward through Peso-PRIDE, or People Empowerment through Social Enterprise-Poverty Reduction by Industry Development and Entrepreneurship.”
The participants came from the ARMM’s five provinces—Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi—and other neighboring areas.
The organizer wanted also to project its avowed assistance to the participants by bringing in Regional Vice Gov. Haroun Alrashid Lucman, Office of the Regional Governor ARMM Chief of Staff Rasol Mitmug Jr., DTI-ARMM Secretary Anwar Malang and Director Jerry Clavesillas of the Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development.