Members of the business sector of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have committed to work together to provide faster, easier, and cheaper mentorship to micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs) who were hardly hit by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
During a stakeholders meeting on July 17, ASEAN Business Advisory Council Philippines chairman Joey Concepcion said different countries in the region have thrown their support for the implementation of the ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network (AMEN) project.
Concepcion said that mentorship programs in the Philippines, led by Go Negosyo, have been widely accepted by entrepreneurs that were able to participate actively online.
“We were able to find ways to make sure that they can easily access our platforms. I think access to mentors now is much easier and cheaper. Many mentors are available. I believe this pandemic, while it’s hurting many of our MSMEs, is also giving a lot of opportunities for other MSMEs to move towards digital. I think the opportunity to accelerate the programs is there because of online. We can mirror that in other ASEAN countries to help our MSMEs. This will make it faster, easier, and cheaper for access,” he said.
ASEAN BAC Singapore chairman Dr. Robert Yap pledged his support for the project and committed to accelerate assistance for MSMEs.
“We’re looking at how to bring this to other countries or all the countries in ASEAN itself,” he said.
“The time of COVID has actually made everyone realize the importance of digitalization. The COVID situation has accelerated that. We have to help businesses drive digital transformation faster than normal,” he added.
ASEAN BAC Thailand chairman Arin Jira called for unity and strength among ASEAN countries to face economic and business challenges.
“We must help to ensure that the backbone of our economies is able to have access to financing, necessary management and marketing skills, access to digital technologies,” Jira said.
“Many mentorship programs of AMEN have proven useful and effective in the Philippines and around ASEAN. We are encouraged by the end results we have seen. We will continue to support the progress of AMEN,” Jira added.
ASEAN BAC Malaysia chairman Tam Sri Dr. Munir Majid said AMEN shows how much it is needed and essential at the moment.
“The support from the top to the bottom, the linkages, this chain of linkages is so important. The AMEN program is a superb way of ensuring this help,” Majid said.
AMEN Project Management Office executive director Merly Cruz said the first phase of the project has been a success.
“Those already online grew tremendously and the displaced brick-and-mortar businesses pivoted from offline to online. We have also successfully piloted an online mentorship for 50 MSEs – a fusion of mentorship with money and market and enhanced their Business Improvement Plans through coaching,” Cruz said.