The Philippine Retailers Association, Department of Trade and Industry – Region 6 and Globe Business recently conducted the 3rd Regional Virtual Learning Series for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). The MSME Action for Business Resilience and Innovation Building is one of the advocacy arm of the organization specifically for MSMEs that provides educational programs and support knowledge to know about trends, effective solutions and proper plans to start a business and maintain its stronger presence in the business community. This event was moderated by JT Solis, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mayani PH.
DTI Region 6 Regional Director Rebbeca Rascon welcomed the attendees and in her presentation, she emphasized the importance of innovation. “This is very timely as we realized that our micro, small and medium enterprises are just recovering from the backlash of COVID-19 and the challenge is very great as everybody seems to have shifted from physical to online purchase” she said. She mentioned that the MSMEs or even the consuming public need to know more about online transactions.
The recent PRA 3rd Regional Virtual Learning Series were graced by our learning partners, Ton Ton Balictar (Industry Lead for Supply Chain Vertical Lead of Globe Business), Reese Fernandez-Ruiz (President and Founding Partner of Rags2Riches) and Angelica Nepomuceno (Chief Marketing Officer of 1Export).
Ton Ton Balictar, Globe Business Supply Chain Vertical Lead explained the importance of Supply Chain in the Next Normal. “The next normal for businesses challenge them to keep up not just with their competition but with the challenging consumer behavior.”
He also provided some tips for MSMEs to thrive in this new normal – First, Expansion of e-Commerce. According to Global Web shows that 48% of Filipinos are planning to do more online shopping even after the pandemic. Second, Leveraging on omnichannel. Filipinos continuously adapt their channel repertoire depending on the needs. This has reinforced omnichannel shopping; keeping the pulse of channel choices is critical as behavior has become more volatile. Lastly, On demand delivery. With the continuous growth of ecommerce, on-demand delivery will continue to grow. With the pandemic ramping up digitalization in every corner of the industry, businesses in supply chain need to keep to stay in operation to help future-proof MSMEs.
On the other hand, Reese Fernandez-Ruiz’s Rags2Riches – a fashion and design houses empowering community artisans from the Philippines, their collaborative, market-driven and artisan-considerate design approach created ways to innovate in this pandemic. As the President and Founding Partner, Reese emphasized three things for MSME’s inspiration for their business. She said that capacity for innovation means new normal is where people are more conscious about the effects of their actions in the world, create more opportunities for artisans and keep livelihood going. In her last presentation, she reminded the attendees to start somewhere right now, share valuable insights and consistency is better than creativity (though with practice, your creativity will also get better!)
1Export’s Chief Marketing Officer Angelica Nepomuceno’s presentation explained the benefits and why exporting in business for MSMEs is essential. “The world is reopening” she said. “MSMEs need to think when a product is in demand and its best to choose a market where you want to stand out and meet an existing need”.
Dried Mangoes and coconut products are the most exported Philippine products globally. These products served as an inspiration to locals to market globally. Nepomuceno highlighted two tips: First, serve local, go global. Create a good local product that will create a loyal following and eventually set opportunities for export, and second, take advantage of underlying global opportunities. Create products based on known benefits and global opportunities.
The 3rd PRA Regional Virtual Learning Series is in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry Region 6, proudly co-presented by Globe Business – the corporate arm of Globe Telecom, program partner MAYANI PH and media partner Megamobile, Inc.
For more details about PRA Activities, email the PRA Executive Secretariat at specialprojects@philretailers.com.