Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion is once again pushing for increased support for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and upskilling Filipino workers to eradicate poverty.
Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion (middle) joins the hundreds of participants at the third Metro Manila Cooperative Congress in giving the thumbs-up sign to the importance of upscaling micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and upskilling workers at the Fiesta Pavillion of The Manila Hotel on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Photo from Go Negosyo's office)
Concepcion underscored the importance of upscaling MSMEs and upskilling workers when he spoke during the 3rd Metro Manila Cooperative Congress and the 2024 Arangkada Philippines Forum, which were attended by a thousand cooperatives, government agencies, and the business community.
“Cooperatives provide the scale that small entrepreneurs need,” he said. “We can eradicate poverty by helping MSMEs scale up.”
“Upscaling our MSMEs will have a huge impact because these efforts will trickle down to the grassroots and benefit more communities in more parts of the country,” he added.
Data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) showed that MSMEs comprise 99 percent of enterprises in the Philippines and generate 65 percent of jobs.
“If we get to the largest sectors, to the poorest, then our economy will grow rapidly and more jobs will be created and wages will increase, not because labor mandates us to increase wages but because there will be a supply shortage in labor,” Concepcion, who is also the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) chair for the Philippines, said.
He lauded cooperatives for resembling the conditions—providing access to mentorship, money, and markets to smaller members—of a successful entrepreneurship.
“These are the three pillars which we promote in our advocacy at Go Negosyo. The bigger cooperatives mentor the smaller cooperatives, and as they do, they grow and become stronger,” he added.
Noting how cooperatives provide the scale needed by small entrepreneurs, Concepcion stressed that such cooperatives need “good leadership,” as well as people who have entrepreneurial, marketing, and digital skills.
However, the Go Negosyo founder also acknowledged the problems that hinder MSMEs and stressed the need for access to capital and public-private partnerships.
“There’s a lot of effort being done to encourage the microfinance institutions to increase lending, while the public-private sector partnership is really helping us in the private sector reach out to the grassroots,” he said.
The private sector, Concepcion noted, is now working with the government to align the curriculum and training of workers based on industry standards to enable them to take on jobs of the future.
The Cooperative Congress, led by its chair Fr. Anton CT Pascual, was organized by the One Cooperative Federation (OCF), the Union of Metro Manila Cooperatives (UMMC), the Regional Cooperative Development Council - NCR (RCDC-NCR), and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA – NCR), while Arangkada was organized by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines.