DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said she will focus on assisting the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) because it is one of the major economic drivers of the city.
“Our focus really is the micro, small and medium enterprises. Though looking at them individually they seem small but combined they’re big. Multi-million investments of one firm is small against the combined MSMEs, they really can spur development in our local economy,” Duterte said at the sidelines of the opening of Emilio's Grill in Tionko Ave., Saturday, April 8.
She said the city is now in partnership with the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) in making Davao more business-friendly to businesses especially the MSMEs.
“We want their businesses to be sustained, not just for short-term,” Duterte-Carpio said, adding that ease of doing business will be her administration’s top priorities.
She also said that most of the entrepreneurs prefer the upbeat and healthy business climate in the city and make capital available to small and start-up entrepreneurs.
“With the influx of investments here, we are filtering those that are not aligned with our direction but definitely we welcome investments, both from big firms and MSMEs,” she said.
In a previous interview, DCCCII president Captain Ronald Go said espousing entrepreneurship can build a better Davao, better economy.
“Entrepreneurs dream of impossible dream; builds an entity for government. I believe in our society we should espouse entrepreneurship to create more jobs, thus creating a strong economy,” he said.
Duterte-Carpio said there is an upward trend in the number of MSMEs in Davao City, an indicator of a robust interest in investing in the city.
The Davao City Investment and Promotion Center (DCIPC) showed businesses in Davao City went up by 7.71 percent to 39,800 in the third quarter of 2016 from 36,950 of the same period in 2015.
Earlier, DCIPC head Lemuel Ortonio told SunStar Davao the increased number of new and renewed business establishments in Davao City last year showed increased capitalization and good economic situation for 2016 in comparison with the performance in 2015.
DCIPC expects with the release of the fourth quarter data, the number would increase way more than 40,000 new and renewed business establishments.
“Generally, last year, we are getting a lot of business inquiries from different foreign investors. Mostly are from China, Japan, and Korea.
They are coming from varied business industries. They inquire whether the city is open to light manufacturing, agribusiness, and a few tourism facilities,” said Ontorio.
The regional office of the Department of Trade and Industry bared that more than half of the 9,835 MSMEs they assisted last year are new businesses.
With this, DTI Davao is preparing to assist 10,500 MSMEs in the region in 2017, an increase of about 1,000 from 2016’s projection.