January 2017

7 & 18
Performance Magazine of DTI Regions

KALAMPUSAN

Kalampusan January 2017

INSIDE:

anuary saw around 80 micro, small and medium

enterprises participating in the Sinulog Fiesta Fair, which
ran from January 5 to 16.

DTI Sinulog Fiesta Fair

opens in SM City
Cebu

Participants in the 2017 trade expo included entrepreneurs

who are selling home decors, processed food, wearables,
health and wellness products.

DTI launches Negosyo

Centers in Bohol

The trade event successfully attracted both local and foreign visitors who came to witness the Sinulog festival and
buy locally made products sold at the fair.
Since its establishment 14 years ago, the trade event has
been expanding in terms of sales and number of participating MSMEs. In 2017, sales are expected to increase because participants have been strengthened in terms of marketing, skills upgrading and product quality training.
The trade fair has been a good opportunity for local MSMEs
to link with potential buyers, suppliers and producers.

http://kalampusan.weebly.com/

Mentor Me graduate
aims to duplicate
Thirstys success
Chitangs Torta goes
beyond Argao
Slingshot PH: Maker
Edition in Cebu

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SME Services/Trade Fairs

By: Victor Anthony V. Silva, Cebu Daily News

The influx of tourists and balikbayans during Sinulog festivities is seen to boost the business of micro, small, and medium-scale entrepreneurs
(MSME), according to Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI) Cebu director Ma. Elena Arbon.
To take advantage of this opportunity, DTI Cebu
on Thursday launched a trade fair at SM City Cebu
that ran from Jan. 5 to Jan. 16, although there may
be an extension.
This is an opportunity for them to sell their products to tourists who will be coming for Sinulog, to
touch base with their market and test for new products, Arbon said during the launching.
There are a total of 83 booths at the fair with 75 exhibitors.
The booths are located at SMs Atrium A, D, and Mosaic E and F.
Participants include businesses from Cebu, Bohol,
and some coming all the way from Mindanao and Luzon.

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Arbon said gifts, home decor, fashion accessories, processed food, and health and wellness
products will be displayed at the fair.
Elias Tecson, head of the business development
division at DTI Cebu, said they target to generate
P7.5 million in revenue this year, higher than last
years P7.27 million.
Source: http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net

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Kapatid Mentor Me / Trade Fair

By: Dominic D. Yasay, Cebu Daily News

Mentorship training
Padrique and the other 25 entrepreneurs underwent
a 12-week mentorship program under established
and successful business owners from Cebu and Manila since October 7.
Majority of the participants are into the food and beverage businesses, with products ranging from processed foods, baked products to healthy drinks and
condiments. Most of them are operating in Metro Cebu. They started with fear. They lacked the confidence in running their businesses. Others thought
they were already equipped with the right knowledge
(but while going through the program), they realized
they still lacked more, said CCCI vice president for
business development Virgilio Espeleta at the sidelines of the Kapatid Mentor Me program graduation
ceremony at the Grand Convention Center of Cebu
on Dec. 9, 2016.

A local entrepreneur is aiming to duplicate what Cebuano

businessman Bunny Pages fruit shake business, Thirsty,
has attained.
Terence Neil Padrique, 38, is the owner of The Lemon Co., a
one-year-old business venture he started in May 2015. He
now has six stalls in three different malls in Cebu and Mandaue cities, producing and selling fresh, manually-pressed
lemonades. Padrique said he aims to expand his business
further by penetrating big universities and business centers
in Cebu where his business is sure to thrive.
Padrique was one of the 26 owners of micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) who successfully completed the first Cebu leg of the Kapatid Mentor Me program
spearheaded by the Department of Trade and Industry in
Central Visayas (DTI-7), Cebu Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (CCCI) and Go Negosyo last December 9.
He said he had greatly benefited from the mentoring program, having had the opportunity to be mentored by Cebuano businessman Pages. He said having been mentored by
Pages himself who is also into the same business venture as
him and is successfully operating the fruit shake business,
Thirsty, is one of the privileges that the mentorship program
had offered him.
He (Pages) jested about me being his competitor, but I believe his brand is too big to be our competition. I look at
Thirsty as our big brother and Pages as my mentor, Padrique said.

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Meeting every week during Fridays, the participants

had also gone through 13 different learning modules
and business interventions aimed at equipping them
with the sound mindset and best practices to scale up
their businesses.
They were also taught about business taxation and
laws, two essential aspects of running a business
which most of the participants held little to no
knowledge about prior to undergoing the mentorship
program, said DTI provincial director Maria Elena Arbon.
Most of them ran their businesses without knowing
all the laws and legal environment that operate
around their businesses. Now they are more aware of
all these, Arbon said.
To gather expert advises from the mentors, each participant were given the opportunity to present their
business models to a panel of mentors composed of
the big businessmen themselves. DTI-7 also intended
the Kapatid Mentor Me program to be an avenue for
MSMEs to network with their fellow participants and
forge possible business partnerships to help up the
revenues and brand health of one another.
DTI-7 also encouraged the big businessmen to tap
the fledgling enterprises into their value chains by
trading supplies and resources with them. We wanted the big ones (established businessmen) to consider the small ones (MSMEs) in their value chains so
that the small ones can move from survival to sustainability, Arbon said. #

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Activities in Photos

(Photos above and below) Launching of Negosyo Centers in Bohol (Ubay, Loboc, Carmen and Tubigon) late last
year. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has set up Negosyo Centers to provide services to support
the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). To make it easier and faster for entrepreneurs to
start and register their businesses at the local level, the facilities are linked to a government project integrating all
services of agencies involved in business registration or the Philippine Business Registry System. Aside from
making business registration easier, Negosyo Centers provide other services to MSMEs such as technology
transfer, production and management training programs, as well as marketing assistance. The Centers are responsible for promoting 'ease of doing business and facilitating access to services for MSMEs within its jurisdiction', such as: Business Registration Assistance, Business Advisory Services, Business Information and Advocacy, and Monitoring and Evaluation (of business-process improvement for MSMEs).

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Activities in Photos

(Photos above and below) Launching of Negosyo Centers in Bohol (Jagna and Talibon) late last year. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has set up Negosyo Centers to provide services to support the growth of
micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). To make it easier and faster for entrepreneurs to start and register their businesses at the local level, the facilities are linked to a government project integrating all services of
agencies involved in business registration or the Philippine Business Registry System. Aside from making business registration easier, Negosyo Centers provide other services to MSMEs such as technology transfer, production and management training programs, as well as marketing assistance. The Centers are responsible for promoting 'ease of doing business and facilitating access to services for MSMEs within its jurisdiction', such as: Business Registration Assistance, Business Advisory Services, Business Information and Advocacy, and Monitoring
and Evaluation (of business-process improvement for MSMEs).

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Activities in Photos

(Photo above and below) DTI Bohol participated in the LGU Annual Business One Stop Shop in Trinidad, Bohol on January 12, 2017. STIDS Mary Lou P. Torreon and TIDS Miguel C. Abuyabor of DTI Bohol conducted a mobile business name registration.

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Kapatid Mentor Me / E-Commerce Mentorship / Trade Fairs

By: Jeandie O. Galolo , Sun Star Cebu

In the past, a small bakery was only good where it

was located. Today, going digital is breaking that
mould. The story of Chitangs Torta, a household
name in the town of Argao, is one of the many success stories.

The late Anecita Chitang Camello started it in the

1980s, being the first to commercialize the family
tradition of torta-making. But Chitang died in 2007 at
the age of 70, and so her son Irvin, an electronics
and communications (ECE) engineer, decided to
continue her legacy.
It was an informal enterprise when it started, recalled Irvin, who was one of the graduates of the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Cebus fiveweek E-Commerce and Digital Marketing Mentoring
Program on Tuesday. The people of Argao, according to Irvin, have been making torta for many years,
usually a week before the towns fiesta, which is celebrated every 28th of September. But over the
years, torta became the towns delicacy, popular
among locals and balikbayans.
To formalize the business, Irvin decided to register it
with DTI and obtain a business permit from the local
government of Argao in 2007. More than the legal
documents, he improved the foods packaging and
created a logo for Chitangs to separate itself from
the rest of Argaos torta makers. He also crafted
Chitangs tagline magkabahaw, magkalami.

Irvin maintains a bakery beside his house in Argao,

where locals and passersby grab their favorite
bread, torta, and other pastries. Sometimes, he
joins trade fairs to boost sales, including the Sinulog
Fiesta Fair currently held at the SM City Cebu. On
regular days, he sells about 200 torta pies per day,
or about 6,000 pieces a month. One piece is sold at
P45. It was only recently when sales have been
more pronounced with the help of digital marketing.
Our sales have increased. We adopted ecommerce where I did some postings. I was overwhelmed with the response. We ran short in our
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production, said Irvin. Gross sales of Chitangs Torta in December 2015 was P140,000. This grew to
P180,000 in December 2016, when Irvin started using Chitangs website and Facebook to promote and
sell torta.
In December last year, Irvin said he received
P30,000 worth of torta from online orders, with reservations from customers as far as Canada and California in the US. The torta entrepreneur said he is
grateful for the opportunity to learn the concept of
digital marketing and how powerful it is to gain customers. DTIs E-Commerce and Digital Marketing
Mentoring Program under the guidance of digital
marketer Janette Toral aims to help entrepreneurs
scale up their enterprises by keeping up with the
trends such as the Internet and other web-based
technologies.
The e-commerce mentorship program adopts a
hands-on methodology where selected participants
are guided through the various steps of setting up an
e-commerce presence. The first batch included Irvin
and 15 other local entrepreneurs from various sectors. Irvin also joined the first batch of the Kapatid
Mentor Me program of the local trade agency where
he was mentored by business owners from the Cebu
Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Through these two mentorship programs, Chitangs Torta is up for more business opportunities. Irvin said they hope to have a display inside
large supermarkets within the year, while boosting their digital presence. (source: SunStar Cebu)
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Activities in Photos

(Photo above ) DTI Undersecretary Nora Terrrado meets with the Association of Negros Producers (ANP) in Negros Occidental to discuss on Go Lokal.
(Photo below) Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Maraon showing the plan of an investment project in Negros Occidental during the Dec. 29 meeting with DTI Usec. Nora Terrado

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Activities in Photos

(Photo s above and below) DTI turns over Bamboo Processing Shared Service Facility n Negros Oriental in December 2016.

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Activities in Photos

(Photos above and below) Slingshot PH: Maker Edition, the Philippine FabLabs and Makerspaces conference, was conducted on January 25-27 in Cebu City. The FabLab is a global
concept that gives students, professionals, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), and
the public access to advance prototyping, printing, and related equipment as well as training or
workshop facilities.

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News Bites

Following President Rodrigo Dutertes directive to

replace the 5-6 money lending system and provide an affordable micro-financing for the countrys
micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the
governments Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso
(P3) program pilots this month in Mindoro, Sarangani and Leyte, among the top 30 poorest provinces, to represent Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the
countrys trade chief said.
The P3 is designed to bring down the interest rate
at which micro-finance is made available to micro
enterprises, said Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez.
The 2017 General Appropriations Act has included
an initial funding of P1 billion for financial assistance, a part of the planned P19 billion financing
initiative for micro and small businesses in the next
five years.

Helping the poorest

The programs fund will be lent out in the business
centers of the poorest provinces (based on poverty
incidence), where the participating microfinance
institutions (MFIs) and the Small Business Corporation (SB Corp.) can operate.
An attached agency of DTI, SB Corp. shall administer the P3 Program, including the creation of a Program Management Office (PMO), which will open a
separate back account for the P3 Program, to oversee the management and monitoring of fund.

Fund delivery to microenterprises shall be carried

out in either by wholesale lending to non-bank financial institutions like MFI-NGOs, and cooperatives which shall on-lend the fund to beneficiaries or
by direct lending by SB Corp, Sec. Lopez said.
Beneficiaries
Priority beneficiaries include microenterprises and
entrepreneurs that do not have easy access to
credit, or are accessing credit at very high cost,
such as, micro-entrepreneurs, market vendors, agri
-businessmen and members of cooperatives, industry associations and co-operators.
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Loanable amount per end-borrower can range from

P5,000.00 for start-ups to P300,000.00, with maximum interest rate of 26% per annum with no collateral requirement. This rate is significantly below the
20% per day/ week/ month charged by 5-6 lenders. It is also lower than what is charged by most
MFIs.
MFIs may opt for portfolio guarantee cover of up to
15% of their P3 loan portfolio from SB Corp at a
guarantee fee of 0.4%. The guarantee feature is
seen to help MFIs address the P3 Programs inherent risk. The guarantee fund will be sourced from
the P3 fund.
P3 allocates PhP 100 million for direct lending by
SB Corp. Target loan beneficiaries are the small
enterprises in priority and emerging industries, start
-up businesses and technology innovators.
Minimum loan amount will be Php 300,000.00 with
interest rate capped at 10% p.a., with or without
collateral cover.
This alternative funding dedicated for micro and
small enterprises is meant to discourage the 5-6
money lending system in our country, said Sec.
Lopez, adding that through the established MFIs,
the government will reach even the smallest of entrepreneurs in the country.

For more information on the services of the

DTI, log-on to http://www.dti.gov.ph

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Philippines

KALAMPUSAN
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EDITORIAL BOARD

Executive Editor
Asteria Caberte
DTI 7 Regional Director

Writer / Editor
Lay-out Artist
Jojisilia Villamor

I.T. Support
Jerome Elarcosa &
Bernard Cabasisi

Contributors
Mary Grace Cutin
Vierna Teresa Ligan
Lea Gonzales
Miguel Abuyabor
Olivet Somido

REGIONAL OFFICE
Regional Director ASTERIA C. CABERTE
Assistant Regional Director NELIA F. NAVARRO
3rd Flr, WDC Bldg.,Osmena Boulevard, cor. P.Burgos, Cebu City
Tel. # (63)(032) 255-0036 / 255-0037
Fax # (63)(032) 253-7465
email: dti_7@yahoo.com / dticentralvisayas@gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/dtiregion7
http://dti7updates.tumblr.com/
BOHOL PROVINCIAL OFFICE
OIC - PD MARIA SOLEDAD LAXA BALISTOY
2F FCB Bldg., CPG Ave., Tagbilaran City
Tel. # (63) 038-501-8260
Fax # (63) 038-412-3533
email: dtibohol@yahoo.com
CEBU PROVINCIAL OFFICE
Provincial Director: MA ELENA C. ARBON
DTI Building, Osmena Boulevard, corner Lapulapu Street, Cebu City
Tel. # (63)(032) 255-6971 / 255-3926
(63)(032) 412-1944 / 412-1945
email: dticebuphil@yahoo.com / dticebuphil@gmail.com
SIQUIJOR PROVINCIAL OFFICE
Provincial Director NIMFA M. VIRTUCIO
CF Bldg., Legaspi St., Siquijor, Siquijor
Tel. # (63)035-480-9065
Fax # (63) 035-344-2238
Email: dtisiquijor@yahoo.com
NEGROS ORIENTAL PROVINCIAL OFFICE
Provincial Director JAVIER FORTUNATO, JR
2F Uymatiao Bldg., San Jose Street. Dumaguete City
Tel. # (63)(035) 422-2764
Fax # (63)(035) 225-7211
Email: dtinegor@gmail.com
NEGROS OCCIDENTAL PROVINCIAL OFFICE
Provincial Director LEA T. GONZALES
3F Prudential Life Building,
San Juan & Luzurriaga Streets, Bacolod City
Tel # (63) (034) 396-9084
Telefax # (63) (034) 433-0250 / 704-2203
Email : RO6.NegrosOccidental@dti.gov.ph

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