Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion revealed that the Private Sector Advisory Council that discussed how more jobs can be generated in the country, proposed the scaling up of micro, small and medium enterprises for the creation of more jobs, prioritizing the upskilling of workers, and making sure the country is ready for both local and international investments.
During the meeting, Concepcion emphasized the importance of helping agri-mircoentrepreneurs as this would help address food security. He added that helping that sector grow is a more challenging task than providing support for those in the retail sector as it would require the participation of large companies.
An example of a large company helping small farmers is Palawan-based Lionheart Farms, which specializes in organic farming and offers a form of contract farming where big companies provide the initial investments and resources for the operations and work with small farmers or cooperatives.
Other companies that have seen the benefits of getting small businesses involved in their value chain are Universal Leaf Phils., Bounty Fresh Food, Nestlé and SL Agritech Corp.
Concpecion also said he intends to have the Kapatid Angat Lahat (KAL) program, which started in 2016 and is being implemented to encourage medium and large corporations to help micro and small enterprises by including them in their value chain, focus on agri-microentrepreneurs.
He also cited the importance of getting local government units involved.
The task of coordinating and integrating microentrepreneurs, big business, local governments and national government is going to be an ambitious one, but if it can be pulled off, the benefits are obvious and potentially great.
The agri-microentrepreneurs and big businesses are already there. All they need is for government, both national and local, to give them the gentle push in the right direction. There are already examples of it being done successfully. What we need at this point is for those partnerships to become the rule rather than the exception.*
