THE Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) may tap the expertise of the Project Uitzending Managers (PUM) in the Netherlands in the bid to further boost local startups ecosystem.

In a meeting at the Negros First Negosyo Center in Bacolod City on Thursday, October 4, BNEFIT officials led by their president John Dave Dueñas and executive director Jocelle Batapa-Sigue briefed representatives of PUM Netherlands on how the ICT industry started in the city and province.

Dueñas, at the sidelines of the two-day Freelance Fair and Digital Careers Expo held at The District North Point mall in Talisay City which started on Friday, pointed out that startup companies co-located in an area will benefit from “external economies of scale.”

He said that emerging organizations need certain common inputs like infrastructure, specialized legal and accounting services, suppliers, and labor pools with a specialized knowledge base that reside outside of the company.

“Locators in the same area share the fixed costs of these resources external to the company. In other words, companies are not alone trying to survive in the desert,” Dueñas said, adding that “this by itself puts the development of startup ecosystem deemed to be critical for our young technopreneurs to survive.”

PUM is a Dutch non-government organization (NGO) providing expert advice on a voluntary basis especially to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) all over the world.

It is an organization composed of about 2,000 senior experts offering knowledge and expertise in 50 sectors of the economy.

PUM Netherlands has been working on assisting people in developing countries like Philippines for more than 30 years already.

Its country coordinator for the Philippines Maria de Guia, during the organization’s country team meeting at Sugarland Hotel in Bacolod City on Friday, said it was an “interesting discussion” with the officials of the local ICT federation.

De Guia said they hope that PUM representative in Negros Occidental Mary Ann Colmenares, also the president of the Provincial Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council, can encourage BNEFIT to submit a proposal.

“We will see, but we have already seen some possibilities of providing some experts for them,” she said, adding that PUM can actually help them through giving of marketing guidance and inviting businesses to further expand here.