THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Davao Region is targeting to establish 15 more Negosyo Centers throughout the region this year.
DTI Davao del Sur Provincial Director Delia Ayano said Wednesday, February 16, four will be established in Davao del Norte, three in Davao del Sur, three in Davao Oriental, three in Compostela Valley, one in Davao City, and one in Davao Occidental.
“The Negosyo Centers are responsible for promoting ease of doing business and facilitating access to services to MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) like business name registration, business advisory services, and business information,” Ayano said.
At present there are 21 Negosyo Centers that are operating in Davao Region wherein six were established in 2015 and 15 in 2016.
There are six centers in Davao Oriental, four each in Davao del Sur, Compostela Valley, and Davao del Norte, two in Davao City, and one in Davao Occidental.
DTI Regional Director Maria Belenda Ambi said, in an interview with SunStar Davao, the centers are there to provide assistance to the MSMEs.
The Negosyo Center is a one-stop business center which is responsible in promoting various DTI services, business consultancy and credit facilitation, monitoring and recommending business process improvement for MSMEs, establishing feedback mechanism among MSMEs, and conducting skills and entrepreneurial training, and other SME development services.
Ambi said the Negosyo Centers mainly target micro enterprises, businesses that have an asset size of below P3 million or have less than 10 employees.
“Usually sila man gud ning wala'y access to services kaayo. Given their capacity, very limited [ang services]. (Usually they (micro enterprises) do not have access to certain services. Given their capacity, the services they can avail of are limited),” she said.
However, Ambi clarified they will still cater to small, medium, and large enterprises who are seeking for assistance from the center.
In 2016, the Negosyo Centers in Davao Region have assisted a total of 29,002 clients and rendered a total of 39,804 different services. The centers also organized a total of 477 trainings, which benefitted 16,863 participants.