Sun.Star Economic Forum

ACCESS to finance by the small medium enterprises (SMEs) is not due to lack of funds but reluctance of private banks to lend to SMEs,  said Rafaelita M. Aldaba of Philippine Institute for Development Studies.

Speaking before the Sun.Star Economic Forum Wednesday, Aldaba said the government lending programs are directed mainly to micro-enterprises and livelihood programs. Read the rest of this entry »

GOVERNMENT should look after the basics like infrastructure, institutions, goods market effeciency than give subsidies to small medium enterprises (SMEs), a German expert said.

Siegfried Herzog of Friedrich Naumann Foundation shared Germany’s SME experience during the Sun.Star Economic Forum Wednesday at the Casino Espanol. Read the rest of this entry »

CEBU is the most promising city worldwide in terms of hosting Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) investments, a study from a strategic advisory firm said.

Dr. Cayetano Paderanga, UP School of Economics professor quoting a report from the Cebu Investment and Promotions Center (CIPC) said BPO companies based in Cebu employ 50,000 people and there have been no reports of retrenchments in the industry. Read the rest of this entry »

COMPARED to large industrialized nations, the Philippines was able to hold on to positive GDP growth rate of 0.4 percent for the first quarter of 2009 at a time of global recession, said Dr. Cayetano Paderanga, UP School of Economics professor.

Paderanga speaking before the Sun.Star Economic Forum at Casino Espanol on Wednesday said the credit slowdown in the US resulted in economy slowdown, affecting Philippine exports and OFW employment. Read the rest of this entry »

AN EXECUTIVE of a business process outsourcing (BPO) company admitted that the companies in the industry are partly to blame for misconceptions about the kind of work in a BPO company.

Yogesh Malhotra, lead for Accenture’s Philippine Delivery Center Network for BPO, said “glamorizing” the work of a BPO employee is one of the reasons that many leave the industry.

Most of the recruitment advertisements posted by BPO companies usually highlight “fun at work.” (more)

AMID the lack of qualified people who meet the labor demands of business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, an official of a Cebu-based foundation remains bullish about Cebu’s potential to be a Silicon Valley or an “innovation island” and contribute to the country’s economic growth through technological entrepreneurship.

Bonifacio Belen, executive director of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-it), explained that Cebuanos possess the creativity and entrepreneurship skills that are waiting to be tapped by industry players. (more)

Next to the National Capital Region, Cebu has the biggest concentration of outsourcing and off-shoring workers, said a business processing group official.

Oscar Sanez, Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) chief executive officer, said aside from major outsourcing players putting up branches in Cebu, there are companies that have chosen to set up their first Philippine operations in the province.

He said that of the 15,066 business process outsourcing workers in Cebu, 10,013 are “voice-based” while 3,943 are “non-voice.” This figure is about the same as Clark and a third of that of Quezon City, he added. Sanez is one of the speakers of the ongoing Sun.Star Economic Forum on “Business Process Outsourcing: Prospects and Challenges for Cebu’s Economy.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Available workforce, a good business environment, and available sites for expansion, which drive the growth of the outsourcing and off-shoring industry, are also the factors posing problems to the sector.

Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) chief executive officer Oscar Sanez said that if the country fails to address these issues in the next few years, outsourcing and off-shoring investments will go to other emerging markets. Read the rest of this entry »

STAKEHOLDERS in the business process outsour-cing industry in Cebu are expected to participate in the Sun.Star Economic Forum to be held tomorrow at the Parklane International Hotel.

The forum, set to begin at 8 a.m. with the registration of participants, will feature prominent local, national and international figures in the business process outsourcing (BPO).

In the first part of the forum, Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (CEDF-IT) president Bonifacio Belen will present the future of BPOs in Cebu and in the country. (more)

SABAH’S top tourist market is its domestic visitors unlike in other countries like the Philippines where foreign visitors are the top travelers.

Data from Tourism Malaysia presented by Datuk Karim Bujang, assistant minister of Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment, during Thursday’s Sun.Star Economic Forum 2007, showed that domestic visitors continued to be its top traveler from 2004 to early 2007.

Bujang said in 2006, Sabah’s visitor arrivals reached the two million mark – this represents a staggering increase of 460 percent from 373,180 arrivals in 1997. Read the rest of this entry »