WHETHER you are one of those who are considering to go into business for reasons of your own, a young person who wants a job after rejection from job application or an employee who is tired of the fixed work routine and is now looking forward to a time when you would be able to work according to your own time and be your own boss, my office, the Department of Trade and Industry has answers and most of the information are available online through our website.
This also applies to a housewife who needs to help your husband earn in order to add to the family earnings for the sake of your children’s future, a retiree who is still full of ideas and energy and wise from years of experience but still looks for a second career.
There is a downloadable guide on how to start a small business but first let me help you define what it is.
Broadly speaking, a small business according to www.dti.gov.ph is one wherein most functions of a business enterprise like production, marketing, finance, and management are essentially organized around the owner-manager who makes most of the major decisions and runs the day-to-day affairs of the enterprise. The small business owner has very few or no specialized staff or managers helping him in marketing, production, finance, and personnel management decisions. Rather, he tries to do most of these tasks himself.
There are other characteristics commonly associated with a small business like single proprietorships and family-based operation, single product line or very limited product range for light consumer products such as food, beverage, and clothing.
Small businesses are categorized as those that only produces small volumes with limited markets and are usually local.
It engages in labor-intensive production methods and does not heavy machineries, it has few employees other than family members and other workers are on part-time basis.
In the course of my work as media specialist of an agency that assists the so called MSMEs, I often hear our facilitators and lecturers ask participants in our trainings... ”before you rush in, pause for a while and ask yourself, do you know where you are going to?” In the first place, a prospecting entrepreneur must already have the necessary information that they need in order to arrive at a decision. The so-called “informed decision-making” according to our lecturers helps a lot especially in starting a small business in areas where the entrepreneur have not tried before. They say that going into business can be likened to taking a risk because you are venturing into something whose outcome still remains uncertain.
The micro, small and medium enterprise development plan was developed in consultation with national, regional, and provincial stakeholders. A participatory approach was adopted involving a series of stakeholder consultation, validation, and recalibration workshops participated in by representatives from the private sector, local government units (LGUs), national government agencies (NGAs), the academe, and civil society.
One of our major interventions is enterprise development where we assist MSMEs in the product design, packaging, promotion and market matching up to the point where our clients get to join national trade fairs such as the Manila Fame, National Trade Fair and the recent IMPAKABSAT.
As of this writing, I learned from our SME Development Division Chief Felicitas Bandonill that our fair in Alabang, Muntinlupa generated P35.6 million in cash and booked sales. I am also happy to note that Cordillera traders have not only diversified and expanded their line of products but they have also complied with the standards like registration with the Bureau of Food and Drug Administration and compliance to environmental laws.