Buying 'lokal' & the multiplier effect
Published Jan 31, 2021 12:23 am
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL
Philip Cu Unjieng
No matter what your political persuasion may be, if there’s something I think we can all agree upon, it’s that anything we can do to help speed up national recovery is an action plan worth its weight in gold. As a parent, I’m doubly concerned about the kind of future we’ll be leaving our children. If anything, this ongoing pandemic has opened our eyes to the stark necessity of reassessing our priorities and economic behavior. After all, we don’t want our kids to inherit some broken-down, bankrupt system that didn’t know how to face and cope with the realities of what’s happening right in front of our collective eyes. That’s on us!
While the big, giant steps may have to forged by national policy and a concrete recovery program – whether for a post-pandemic world, or for the here and now – we can’t just idly stand by as passive observers. We need to take on a mantle of individual responsibility for helping this recovery come about, and do our own share, no matter how small it seems in the big scheme of things.
I say this in light of the multiplier effect that we can all play a part in making happen. In economic theory, the term multiplier effect refers to how an increase in spending produces an increase in national income greater than the initial amount spent. The classic, oft-quoted example is how, if a corporation builds a factory, it will employ construction workers and their suppliers, as well as those who will eventually work in the factory itself. Indirectly, the new factory will even stimulate employment in restaurants, laundries, and service industries in the factory’s locality.
DTI Sec. Mon Lopez needs you to do your share in supporting Buy Local, Go Lokal. (Photo taken during the launch of a DTI-SM Retail Buy Local, Go Lokal initiative in late 2020, with Chito Manalo of SM Retail and Steven Tan of SM Supermalls.)
A second classic case is that of a foreign tourist. Here, the multiplier effect goes beyond his stay in a hotel, but extends to the souvenirs he buys to take home, the restaurants he’ll patronize, the tourist buses he’ll board, and so on. But unfortunately, the reality is that we can’t expect too much this year from tourism.
The above examples are much more than a description of a trickle-down effect. It’s about linkages and connections that all have ramifications for additional economic output and corresponding spending. This multiplier effect can actually be expressed quantitatively, with the effect being given a numerical value. But I’ll be talking about how this notion of a multiplier can also be applied qualitatively in our everyday lives.
Our DTI has long been espousing a Buy Local, Go Lokal advocacy, accrediting several MSMEs - who collectively form the real backbone of our economy (50% of GDP, and 70% of total employment). It’s easy enough for us to identify the big players, think of corporations listed in our stock exchange; but let’s face it, more often than not, they’re more than capable of taking care of themselves, and charting a course that will take them through this rough period. It’s the still-existing, surviving MSME’s who are engaged in an uneasy, fragile truce with the pandemic – some of them hovering on the brink of extinction. It’s they who need our support, now more than ever.
I’m talking about entrepreneurs, about farmers and fisherman, about fruit and produce growers – and the merchandise and products that come out of this business community. To date, DTI has ably assisted and accredited more than 1,000 MSME’s. And in partnership with various retailers, DTI has also launched more than 125 Go Lokal stores carrying the product lines of these MSME’s. It’s how our shopping behavior and consumer mentality can change that will help these MSME’s survive.
So many of us are now into Health & Wellness; but as just one example, as we think of our diet and food intake in healthier terms, do we have to be influenced by foreign publications and go kale or quinoa, when there are so many local vegetables that are fresher, and provide the same nutritional benefits? We can make more of an effort in supporting local farmers, and thereby also support those who handle the packaging, the transporting, and the local retail establishments. There’s the multiplier effect at a micro-level.
When Miss Universe Catriona Gray visited a Yakan village and dropped by Angie’s Yakan Handloom-Weaving, her post on her FB page, of her wearing a Yakan weave face-mask, turned the mask into a best seller at the time. Angie’s is a local business that used to attend trade fairs in Manila. But with the ongoing travel restrictions, they’ve had to rely on being aided by the DTI and other orgs in gaining support from local customers.
DTI has been instrumental in helping such cottage industries as Angie’s survive the pandemic – supporting the family business, the artisan community of weavers, and their families. By using the hashtags #buylokal and #supportlokal, we all have the opportunity to help keep these small businesses afloat. Angie’s now depends on social media presence to stay on the radar. Recently, they processed orders from Cebu, Bohol, Manila, and even Canada; and they attribute this in no small part to how social media offers them a medium via which their market presence is maintained. Angie’s is one of the exhibitors of DTI’s first ever Virtual National Trade Fair (January 27 to February 2), and you can log in at [email protected] to get your unique access link.
Build, Build, Build is the multiplier effect in action; and kudos to them for fast-tracking so many projects that will have beneficial, long-term results. This program hinged on infrastructure is deservedly part of the national conversation, and I’m happy to see how quickly they got back on track in spite of the pandemic. But of course, there is the qualifier that it can’t be just a case of building for building’s sake - it’s got to be wise choices, projects that will stand the test of time.
But I’d like to see the national conversation about a multiplier effect go beyond these infra projects, tourism, housing, or opening new factories. The conversation has to be inclusive, and make the everyday you and me be part of the picture. From what I’ve written above, I’m sure you can see what role the everyday you can take on. Are you ready and willing to play the part?
Philip Cu Unjieng
No matter what your political persuasion may be, if there’s something I think we can all agree upon, it’s that anything we can do to help speed up national recovery is an action plan worth its weight in gold. As a parent, I’m doubly concerned about the kind of future we’ll be leaving our children. If anything, this ongoing pandemic has opened our eyes to the stark necessity of reassessing our priorities and economic behavior. After all, we don’t want our kids to inherit some broken-down, bankrupt system that didn’t know how to face and cope with the realities of what’s happening right in front of our collective eyes. That’s on us!
While the big, giant steps may have to forged by national policy and a concrete recovery program – whether for a post-pandemic world, or for the here and now – we can’t just idly stand by as passive observers. We need to take on a mantle of individual responsibility for helping this recovery come about, and do our own share, no matter how small it seems in the big scheme of things.
I say this in light of the multiplier effect that we can all play a part in making happen. In economic theory, the term multiplier effect refers to how an increase in spending produces an increase in national income greater than the initial amount spent. The classic, oft-quoted example is how, if a corporation builds a factory, it will employ construction workers and their suppliers, as well as those who will eventually work in the factory itself. Indirectly, the new factory will even stimulate employment in restaurants, laundries, and service industries in the factory’s locality.
DTI Sec. Mon Lopez needs you to do your share in supporting Buy Local, Go Lokal. (Photo taken during the launch of a DTI-SM Retail Buy Local, Go Lokal initiative in late 2020, with Chito Manalo of SM Retail and Steven Tan of SM Supermalls.)
A second classic case is that of a foreign tourist. Here, the multiplier effect goes beyond his stay in a hotel, but extends to the souvenirs he buys to take home, the restaurants he’ll patronize, the tourist buses he’ll board, and so on. But unfortunately, the reality is that we can’t expect too much this year from tourism.
The above examples are much more than a description of a trickle-down effect. It’s about linkages and connections that all have ramifications for additional economic output and corresponding spending. This multiplier effect can actually be expressed quantitatively, with the effect being given a numerical value. But I’ll be talking about how this notion of a multiplier can also be applied qualitatively in our everyday lives.
Our DTI has long been espousing a Buy Local, Go Lokal advocacy, accrediting several MSMEs - who collectively form the real backbone of our economy (50% of GDP, and 70% of total employment). It’s easy enough for us to identify the big players, think of corporations listed in our stock exchange; but let’s face it, more often than not, they’re more than capable of taking care of themselves, and charting a course that will take them through this rough period. It’s the still-existing, surviving MSME’s who are engaged in an uneasy, fragile truce with the pandemic – some of them hovering on the brink of extinction. It’s they who need our support, now more than ever.
I’m talking about entrepreneurs, about farmers and fisherman, about fruit and produce growers – and the merchandise and products that come out of this business community. To date, DTI has ably assisted and accredited more than 1,000 MSME’s. And in partnership with various retailers, DTI has also launched more than 125 Go Lokal stores carrying the product lines of these MSME’s. It’s how our shopping behavior and consumer mentality can change that will help these MSME’s survive.
So many of us are now into Health & Wellness; but as just one example, as we think of our diet and food intake in healthier terms, do we have to be influenced by foreign publications and go kale or quinoa, when there are so many local vegetables that are fresher, and provide the same nutritional benefits? We can make more of an effort in supporting local farmers, and thereby also support those who handle the packaging, the transporting, and the local retail establishments. There’s the multiplier effect at a micro-level.
When Miss Universe Catriona Gray visited a Yakan village and dropped by Angie’s Yakan Handloom-Weaving, her post on her FB page, of her wearing a Yakan weave face-mask, turned the mask into a best seller at the time. Angie’s is a local business that used to attend trade fairs in Manila. But with the ongoing travel restrictions, they’ve had to rely on being aided by the DTI and other orgs in gaining support from local customers.
DTI has been instrumental in helping such cottage industries as Angie’s survive the pandemic – supporting the family business, the artisan community of weavers, and their families. By using the hashtags #buylokal and #supportlokal, we all have the opportunity to help keep these small businesses afloat. Angie’s now depends on social media presence to stay on the radar. Recently, they processed orders from Cebu, Bohol, Manila, and even Canada; and they attribute this in no small part to how social media offers them a medium via which their market presence is maintained. Angie’s is one of the exhibitors of DTI’s first ever Virtual National Trade Fair (January 27 to February 2), and you can log in at [email protected] to get your unique access link.
Build, Build, Build is the multiplier effect in action; and kudos to them for fast-tracking so many projects that will have beneficial, long-term results. This program hinged on infrastructure is deservedly part of the national conversation, and I’m happy to see how quickly they got back on track in spite of the pandemic. But of course, there is the qualifier that it can’t be just a case of building for building’s sake - it’s got to be wise choices, projects that will stand the test of time.
But I’d like to see the national conversation about a multiplier effect go beyond these infra projects, tourism, housing, or opening new factories. The conversation has to be inclusive, and make the everyday you and me be part of the picture. From what I’ve written above, I’m sure you can see what role the everyday you can take on. Are you ready and willing to play the part?