President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Wednesday asked his fellow leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) to support "nano businesses" or businesses that are informal and are still unrecognized as they too have impact on people's everyday lives.
In his intervention at ASEAN Leaders' Interface with Representatives of the ASEAN-Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC), Marcos made his call as he said such businesses are being ignored.
“These nano businesses are also described as ‘solopreneurs’ and they are home-based businesses, among whom are make-up artists, vulcanizers, independent dispatch riders, vendors, repairers, and market women and men in the various open markets," he said.
The President said that while they "play a very important (role)," they often, by classification, "do not meet the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) micro-business criteria"—a category for the smallest businesses.
"They are largely unaccounted for, but these informal business settings constitute a large portion of all our economies," he said.
The President appealed on the regional bloc not to forget the nano businesses, as they are just as viable as MSMEs.
He said by supporting the informal business enterprise, they will contribute to the region’s overall economic growth and narrow the development gap.
ASEAN Chairman Mohammad Arsjad Rasjid Prabu Mangkuningrat supported Marcos' call.