If you're a Filipino who supports small-to-medium-sized entrepreneurs, patronizes and promotes regional products, then consider yourself a Certified Lokalista.

And if you're an entrepreneur who promotes your local art, culture, heritage be it in whatever form, then you rightfully deserve a Certified Lokalista badge.

Together, you are now part of the Certified Lokalista Campaign, an initiative that encourages micro and small business owners from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to bring their products to the open, and showcase Filipinos' distinct ingenuity by tapping into the latest innovations and services of the booming e-commerce in the Philippines.  

Dynamic courier service J&T Express Philippines, known for efficiently delivering parcels even to far-flung and hard-to-reach locations in the country, highlighted its Certified Lokalista Campaign  in a recent webinar.

The campaign, which started on Oct. 16, 2020 and will run up to January 14, 2021 encourages people to ‘buy local’, patronize, and support small-to-medium-sized entrepreneurs, and thus promote regional products to a larger national audience.

According to Zoe Chi, Vice President of J&T Express Philippines, the Certified Lokalista campaign celebrates the hard work, creativity, and nationalism of the online sellers. “Filipino entrepreneurs, especially those who went above and beyond amid the mobility restrictions brought about by the pandemic, deserve to be supported and recognized for their creativity and tenacity.”

Panel moderator Amor Maclang, the Co-founder of GeiserMaclang Communications Inc., added that the increasingly popular digital double-day sales, launched on the same day of the same month by different online marketplaces, can be a long-overdue opportunity where shoppers can support regional entrepreneurs. She said, “It is because of these men and women that our local products are finally getting the recognition they deserve! Generations-old family recipes, regional specialties, and other proudly Filipino wares are becoming stars on these e-commerce platforms.”

J&T’s Certified Lokalista campaign has already attracted entrepreneurs from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, many of whom are promoting and distributing their wares in other islands and regions outside their own for the very first time and onboard the fast-running e-commerce trend.

Officer-in-Charge Executive Director Nelly T. Dillera of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Philippine Trade Training Center (DTI-PTTC), said.  “Culture is the basis of how we can and should develop products, from food to wearables. What is important is preserving them while adapting to the new global economy. E-logistics has made it possible for local products and crafts to be brought to the homes of the people.”

With 75,000 online entrepreneurs now active on digital marketplaces, DTI itself, which is focused on exports, “did a backward integration on helping people to start their own business and onboard e-commerce.” DTI-PTTC will be providing these new entrepreneurs training in vital areas like the digitization of their processes; business finance and operations; business marketing; business human resources and organization; and working in the logistics and supply chain.

The Certified Lokalista campaign kickstarted in 2020 by awarding Filipino entrepreneurs with a Certified Lokalista badge that will recognize them as J&T trusted sellers. These Certified Lokalistas, whose inspiring work has paved the way for the promotion of Filipino goods, will be awarded P20,000 worth of free shipping by J&T Express. These citations are also designed to influence more sellers to represent their own regional products online.

In addition, J&T Express Philippines has been continuously responding to social needs of our fellow countrymen. Recently, they answered the call for help of the thousands of Filipino families who, while coping with the pandemic, got severely affected by the series of typhoons that hit the country recently.

So far, they have spent over 10 million for the CSR efforts, including the free mobilization for frontliners in which they called ‘Bayanihan’ this initiative was arranged to help win the fight against COVID-19 and they have also provided relief goods to Bicol where they donated sacks of rice and bottled water to affected communities in partnership with the different local government units, Philippine National Red Cross, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (NDRMMO) and the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary Squadron-Albay. 

Meanwhile, Ms. Chi described how the challenges brought about by the coronavirus crisis and its lockdowns became instead an opportunity for businesses to discover the advantages of e-commerce and e-logistics. She looked back, saying, “After the pandemic greatly reduced mobility, both old and new entrepreneurs without any previous e-commerce interest or experience joined the platform in droves."

She emphasized that J&T Express Philippines is passionate about supporting Filipino entrepreneurs and the whole local e-commerce landscape considering the wide reach of their courier service. She said, “Community can be vital in the promotion and expansion of entrepreneurship as we have heard from our guests. Lokalistas or local entrepreneurs are the best ones to reach out to their fellow entrepreneurs, and J&T will support them in that endeavour.”

Ms. Chi the called for a full support to Certified Lokalistas in the coming double-day 12.12 sale. "Remember to shop for you and your loved ones, and extend some love and support, too, to our Certified Lokalistas on 12.12.