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Thursday, August 31, 2006
CCCI website gets ‘facelift’ under foreign-funded project
The German Government-funded Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable Employment program (Smedsep) is helping the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) enhance its website to make it “user friendly and beneficial,” and help promote Cebu to the rest of the world.
Carl Krug, Smedsep consultant, said the Web portal, called Cebu Business Portal (CBP), is designed to contribute to the local and regional economic development in Cebu Province.
It serves as a free and efficient marketing channel for products and services in Cebu and guides potential investors to business opportunities in Cebu, among others.
Krug said the Web portal provides information on members of the CCCI as well as all other relevant businesses and institutions in the province. The scope of the information may extend to the region, depending on the outcome and results of the web portal.
In a debriefing session with the CCCI at the Casino Espanol de Cebu last Monday, German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) program manager Martina Valhaus expressed hope on the success of the CBP.
Launch
“We have had on and off discussion on this web portal since 2004. We began talks again last year. Hopefully, we will be able to launch (the web portal) on Nov. 15,” she said.
GTZ is the implementing organization of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development for its public-private partnership program.
Smedsep, on the other hand, is a joint project of the Federal Republic of Germany, through GTZ, and the Philippines, through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
During the debriefing, CCCI vice president for external affairs Ted Locson raised the need to train companies, especially the SMEs, to become computer literate so they would know how to input company data in the web portal.
The database of the Web portal is based on the principle of “passive consent.” This allows for initial basic data entry, provision of coded access to the businesses for permanent individual data maintenance and possibility of individual deletion, Krug said.
Training
DTI Cebu Province Director Nelia Navarro said the computer literacy training for SMEs can be conducted at DTI-Cebu office.
“We have received computer donations from Intel. We can use thoe to train our SMEs,” she said.
Navarro also committed to provide CCCI with necessary data needed by SMEs in Cebu.
“DTI-Cebu has been passive in providing information to SMEs due to the absence of a website. They have to go to the office to get information, which is not good service,” she said.
DTI 7 Director Aster Caberte confirmed DTI’s support to the CBP in terms of information, saying the web portal is one of the means to speed up DTI’s support to the Arroyo administration’s plan to harmonize SMEs.
For Smedsep’s part, Krug said the CBP fulfills the program’s market development paradigm,such as its approach in pursuing private sector development.
The CBP helps CCCI become a strong and united organization that is committed to initiate and influence the development plans of the government affecting business, among others. (JBN)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 31, 2006 issue)
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