IN AN aim to highlight the importance of product packaging to entrepreneurs, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Northern Mindanao has invited experts to assist micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through innovative packaging and branding.
Some 50 private packaging experts and government agencies were invited for the two-day trade fair, from May 16 to 17, at Limketkai Luxe Hotel which marks as the Mindanao leg for DTI's newest initiative called “Pack! Pinas, an MSME Packaging Roadshow.”
DTI Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said Pack! Pinas is a free event where MSMEs will be taught the latest market trends and emerging opportunities in product enhancement, as well as packaging solutions.
"For MSMEs, improving package becomes a disadvantage because it can be too costly, but we are here to tell them ways for affordable but great packaging. We will make their products stand out from the shelf, make it more competitive and marketable," Maglaya said in a press conference on Wednesday, May 16.
Clarke Nebrao of the Packaging Institute of the Philippines said there's so much to be done for the country's products to be more competitive especially in the international market.
Nebrao said Filipino entrepreneurs also need to change their mindset and make packaging a priority.
At least 30 Manila-based and local suppliers of packaging materials and services will be attending the 2-day trade fair to discuss MSMEs the importance of packaging to sales, food trends and latest packaging, packaging technology, safety and quality requirements of packaged food products, among others. They will also be taught green and eco-friendly packaging, designs and trends, and even design tool workshop.
"We in DTI will assist out MSMEs for free when it comes to technology, we have artists who can help them design, and we have suppliers here who can address the gap of the supply materials," DTI Regional Director Linda Boniao said.
This the second leg of the series of road shows held by the DTI. It already conducted the same event to Visayas last May 3 and 4 at the Summit Hotel Tacloban, and the last one in Luzon on May 29 and 30 at San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.