THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Cebu targets to open four Negosyo Centers for 2018.
Last year, the agency opened 12 Negosyo Centers, spread across the province—Moalboal, Balamban, Medellin, Tabuelan, Tabogon, Sogod, Borbon, Poro, Tudela, Pilar, Bantayan, and Madridejos.
The towns of San Francisco and Oslob and the cities of Talisay and Naga will have their own Negosyo Centers this year. However, DTI Cebu said it still has to reach out to the local government units (LGU) of Talisay, Naga and Oslob if they are willing to host the centers.
According to DTI Cebu Director Ma. Elena Arbon, the thrust of the agency is still to empower micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to scale up and become more competitive.
“The thrust for this year is still more on business development programs, leveling up our MSMEs in terms of the 7Ms (mindsets, mastery, mentoring, money, machine, market, (business) models,” said Arbon.
She added that they will continue to push for digital transformation in the business sector, support tech startups and do more consumer education, especially with the influx of new tech-based business models and disruptions.
According to the 2017 Negosyo Center yearend performance monitoring report of the DTI, a total of 614,417 entrepreneurs have been assisted by these centers, up from the June 2017 performance report of 595,573 clients assisted since the inception of Negosyo Centers in 2014.
DTI Regional Operations Group Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya stressed that the huge surge of entrepreneurs assisted was due to the government’s support for MSMEs and the advancing of MSMEs as economic movers of the country.