MICRO, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) owners in Mindanao need to invest in other products as well aside from the products they are originally investing in to gain higher profit, a government trade official said.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Davao del Sur provincial director Delia Ayano said that micro, small and medium enterprises as a business sector is a huge contributor in providing employment and export revenues for the country.
Based from DTI’s records in 2016, in terms of employment generation MSMEs provided a total of 4,879,179 jobs or 63.3 percent of the total jobs generated by all types of business establishments. For value-adding, the MSME sector contributed 35.7 percent of the total value-added.
Ayano said through mechanization, MSMEs can have an option to earn more. Through the machines DTI is providing through the Shared System Facility (SSF) project, Mindanawon entrepreneurs can have an access in creating varieties of products.
The SSF projects implemented range from heavy duty sewing machine for bayong to coco sugar processing, coco beads production, kakanin production, jewelry production, coco twining and weaving, garments-making, shellcraft production, coffee processing, meat processing, organic fertilizer production, muscovado sugar production, and banana powder processing, among others.
MSMEs also account for 25 percent of the country’s total exports revenue. It is also estimated that 60 percent of all exporters in the country belong to the MSME sector.
The top five industries in terms of the number of MSMEs are wholesale and retail trade specifically on repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; accommodation and food service; manufacturing; finance and insurance; and other services.
Based from the Philippine Statistics Authority records in 2016, a total of 915,276 business enterprises are in the country. MSMEs account for 99.57 percent of the total establishments.