#MINDANAO

As we look ahead to the next months, we scan the business and economic environment for concerns that can impact our businesses and local economies. While we cannot control many of these variables, we can at least find ways to ensure our competitiveness to assure our investors and stakeholders that growth will continue.

One of the things that will make us grow is increasing productivity. That’s what makes a business, a farm, and an economy competitive. Typically, productive businesses are characterized by a corporate culture that wants to keep getting better and better, with costs being reduced over time. As a result, these businesses can provide high-quality goods and services at competitive prices, bearing the confidence to bring their goods and services to wider markets because they have achieved higher value and can compete.

As individual businesses, there are productivity tools we can deploy in our organizations which can include quality management systems, just-in-time production arrangements, and other useful methods that are simple to deploy in any organization.  The end in mind is to produce and achieve more while using less resources, time, and effort. Such tools also allow us to manage risks and identify opportunities for the growth of our enterprises.

This is why encouraging more manufacturing is key to sustaining growth since adding value will allow our materials to obtain better value and bring higher income for those who make them. It will also encourage more MSMEs to improve productivity so that they can better participate in manufacturing supply chains.

The good news is that engaging productivity does not have to cost too much. It only involves leadership and management commitment to sustain the necessary initiatives until they are well established within the organization.
 
PCCI- KADIN meeting is a significant development

A significant development is the recent meeting between the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry alongside the recent state visit of Indonesian president Joko Widodo. You can read more about this historic event here: (https://mb.com.ph/2024/1/18/pcci-widodo-discuss-ties-on-mining-halal-industries)

Being among the largest and most populous economies in ASEAN, the Philippines and Indonesian business communities bring a size advantage that further cooperation will likely expand. Focus areas of the meeting included boosting the halal industry and the development of the minerals sector.
Both Indonesia and the Philippines are highly mineralized countries lying on the Pacific rim of fire. This geologic reality grants both countries a mineral resource base that is an opportunity for economic growth especially in the remote regions of the respective countries.

Both countries also can produce and grow the same products because of similar climate and other characteristics. This can be an advantage for agro-processing since when one country encounters a shortfall in certain raw materials, the other country can fill in the temporary supply needs.

Likewise, Indonesia and the Philippines form part of the Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines (BIMP-EAGA) subregion, an area poised for growth through Mindanao. We wish the best for this engagement and look forward to deepening partnerships between firms of both countries. This cooperation heralds a good opportunity for business and people-to-people cooperation within the ASEAN region.