DTI aids MSMEs' shift to eCommerce

 

While the COVID-19 outbreak caused mandatory stay-at-home orders for residents and closed down all “non-essential” brick-and-mortar businesses, many intrepid MSMEs quietly eased into the internet to stay connected with their customers. 

The result has created a surge in the growth of online businesses that are thriving in the digital space.

This changing business landscape is made possible in large part by technology solutions companies such as eCFULFILL (Easy eCommerce Fulfillment) that makes selling globally online easy for MSMEs.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has helped eCFULFILL connect to local MSMEs and exporters that want to expand their market share via online selling but are not tech savvy.

Late last year, DTI 7 assistant regional director Maria Elena Arbon introduced eCFulfill to Cebu entrepreneur Audrey Regis, proprietor of Audrey's Confectionery, in order for the producer of artisan dried mangoes to export.

Although she decided to give the online platform a go in February 2020, Regis narrated that her onboarding got delayed because of the pandemic.

Nevertheless, "just a day after we went live in Amazon USA, I got orders instantly from 3 customers despite the products being too pricey because of the FedEx shipping cost from Cebu to USA," Regis observed.

Arbon, a strong advocate for eCommerce, underscored that local entrepreneurs can gain much benefit from trying a different tack to export and carving a digital path to success. 

She added that "innovative firms who can sell their unique products through an online platform can reach the market faster than others who rely on traditional distribution methods."

Neptune Factor, eCFULFILL Founder and CEO, noted that MSMEs prefer an easy and simple way to do business online if given the choice.

"If they go directly to Amazon, eBay and Etsy, they have to study and learn on their own including the technical requirements before they can sell, " Factor reasoned out.

He said that each marketplace has its own requirements so it becomes complicated and difficult to scale.

Factor underscored that with eCFULFILL, entrepreneurs only need to sign up in one location and they will be able to have access to these eCommerce marketplaces.

"Our company provides a software that allows Filipino MSMEs to sell to global online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. It is a platform that integrates E-commerce Marketplace, Market Intelligence, Warehouse Logistics, Order Fulfillment, Digital Marketing, and Digital Payment Methods," he said.

The company is looking at selling in 65 marketplaces that cover 190 countries. 

Aside from Audrey's Confectionery, eCFulfill has clients such as Pili Ani, Giga, Messy Bessy, Fetch Naturals, Go Natural (Ampalaya Plus) to name a few. 

This Manila based start-up reported that the platform has generated 7,000 orders, listed 300 plus products and generated $140,000 of total sales at present.

The company will soon expand to Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and integrate to the top eCommerce marketplaces in these countries. 

Recently, eCFULFILL signed an agreement with OneAgrix, a Singapore-based startup that is building a Halal eCommerce marketplace. 

"This is another opportunity for our MSMEs to tap the $2.6 Trillion Halal market," Factor opined.

Whether the business is online or stays offline, Asteria Caberte of DTI has always emphasized to new entrepreneurs the importance of having strong foundational knowledge of entrepreneurship.

To know more and be part of DTI's trainings and seminars, Caberte encourages small business owners to contact any of the DTI Central Visayas Provincial Offices :

DTI Cebu Provincial Office: 
Tel No.: (032) 255-6971
Email: r07.cebu@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI.Cebu/

DTI Bohol Provincial Office:
Tel No.: (038) 501 8828
Email: r07.bohol@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI.BoholProvince/

DTI Negros Oriental Provincial Office:
Tel.No. (035) 422 5509
Email: r07.negrosoriental@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI7.NegrosOriental/

DTI Siquijor Provincial Office :

Tel No.: (035) 480-9065
Email: r07.siquijor@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI7.Siquijor/ 
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DTI helps Smarties Apparel to thrive in adversity

 

As the coronavirus continues its disruption, many small business owners are rethinking their strategies as they navigate the unforseen financial and operational challenges brought on by the pandemic.

For Theresa Mae Conson, Chief Finance Officer and sole proprietor of Cebu based Smartieshirt Apparel, the COVID19 crisis is a game changer.

Started by husband Marvin Conson in 2015 as an eCommerce platform for custom designed shirts, Smartieshirt Apparel began producing cloth facemasks as early as February and later, as the virus spread, protective suits.

"Producing PPE gears and facemasks is far different from what we did before COVID. Back then, we had sports jerseys, fun run shirts, bags and caps," Conson noted.

"When we finally got the formula to deliver bulk orders in sports wear, COVID19 happened bringing an entirely different need." 

She narrated how company production set up drastically shifted in March as the number of COVID positive cases in Cebu increased and N88 disposable facemasks became scarce.

At present, the company produces 15,000 cloth facemasks per day and 3,000 PPE suits per week.

"Our team did not have a hard time adjusting as we had the necessary machines and our operators are experienced in producing apparels and garments," she said.

Although she was worried about pending sports related projects getting cancelled, she felt fortunate that the company had a month of preparation before the lockdown. 

Conson added that "despite our customers not paying us on time, we were able to negotiate with suppliers and our landlord, enabling us to roll our inventory."

To surmount financial challenges, the company approached the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to get an endorsement to avail of a loan facility from the Small Business Corporation (SBCorp).

"Like a responsible entrepreneur, the safety of our employees remains our top priority despite the obstacles: we provide them free lunch, rent shuttle vehicles to ferry them , provide them with PPE suits, installed a sanitation tent for everyone, found guards to act as safety officers who rove around our area every 2 hours to make sure it is regularly sanitized."

Conson also disclosed that the company shuttle vehicles have sanitation sprays and thermal gun for body temperature checks for all employees prior to stepping in. 

To ensure all bases are covered, Conson admits the Smartieshirt Apparel also sought a little help from the Divine as they prayed every morning before start of the shifts for everything to run smoothly and for everyone to stay healthy.

Gradually, the company recovered and Smartieshirt Apparel managed to work on their pre-COVID pending projects. 

Currently, we divide our time between finishing pending projects and producing facemasks and PPE suits, she clarified.

"We tap distributors around the area to sell our masks and PPE suits. Our existing clients also help us a lot especially the BPO and manufacturing companies."

Facemasks and PPEs are the new normal, she said. "We are expecting to manufacture them for at least a year."

Unfazed by future challenges, Conson believes her company will survive the pandemic because her team of talented designers and marketing specialists know how to adjust to the needs of the market.

"When this crisis is over, it will be part of our company history that we played a significant role in containing the spread of the virus and that with every mask and protective suit we made, a life was protected. "

Theresa Mae Conson of Smartieshirt Apparel is a graduate of DTI's Kapatid Mentor Micro Enterprise (KMME) program.

With KMME, her real life experiences as an entrepreneur were enhanced by learnings on business management which enabled her to sustain her enterprises amidst the challenges of the pandemic and New Normal conditions.

For small entrepreneurs with a similar passion for business, DTI is open to receiving their applications to join the first batch of the Kapatid Mentor Micro-Enterprises (KMME) - Online Program.

Interested entrepreneurs may contact any of the DTI Central Visayas Provincial Offices. 

DTI Cebu Provincial Office: 
Tel No.: (032) 255-6971
Email: r07.cebu@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI.Cebu/

DTI Bohol Provincial Office:
Tel No.: (038) 501 8828
Email: r07.bohol@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI.BoholProvince/

DTI Negros Oriental Provincial Office:
Tel.No. (035) 422 5509
Email: r07.negrosoriental@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI7.NegrosOriental/

DTI Siquijor Provincial Office :
Tel No.: (035) 480-9065
Email: r07.siquijor@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI7.Siquijor/ 
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DTI 7 helps FRL Trading to adapt to new business environment

As businesses face the important challenge of planning for new ways of working post COVID-19, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) prepares MSMEs to thrive in a new reality that includes social distancing and self-isolation.

COVID-19 pandemic has already changed life and commerce, Asteria Caberte of DTI said.

She explained that MSMEs must learn to embrace the new normal, accept new business concepts and get past the so called old "brick and mortar" mindset in order to survive.

"If there’s anything good about the Covid pandemic it is the realization by many of the benefits of digitization," DTI assistant regional director Maria Elena Arbon opined. 

"As an advocate for digital transformation, I have experienced the hurdles of convincing our MSMEs and people in general to adopt and adapt digital," Arbon added.

"Perversely, Covid19 has effectively forced everyone to accept more digitization into their lives, work and businesses."

Amidst the crisis, there is one Cebu based company that has successfully translated its business online. 

FRL Trading, a start-up company selling agri-based products, diversified to producing washable face masks and running a grocery delivery service online.

Proprietor Felita Lubon said that although her company earns well producing turmeric and ginger tea, she saw the high demand for washable facemasks and decided to look for good needleworkers in the mountain barangays of Cebu.

"I bring the fabric to their homes and collect the finished products from them," she narrated.

"These needleworkers are happy that they earn income from their work and are able to support their family despite the lockdown," Lubon said.

Currently, FRL Trading produces 6, 000 to 10,000 facemasks a day for local and international buyers.

In late April, Lubon noticed the huge volume of people who have been forced to stay home and were unable to do groceries as well as drivers who were suddenly rendered jobless. 

This crisis gave Lubon the idea of establishing an online grocery delivery service that brings supermarket items to those compelled to stay home and give jobs to drivers who are out of work as well.

Since two weeks ago, Lubon's grocery delivery service receives an average of 100,000 online orders a day.

"Developing this mindset of seeing opportunity in obstacles is part of the trainings, workshops and other interventions that DTI offers to business start-ups," Caberte disclosed.

"DTI also assists MSMEs in product development, design, packaging, standards compliance, marketability, production capability, brand development, among others,"she added.

Felita Lubon is a beneficiary of DTI's One Town, One Product (OTOP) program for entrepreneurs who engage in business within the value chain of OTOP products (raw material suppliers, processors, distributors, retailers, manufacturers).

Miss Lubon is also a graduate of the Kapatid Mentor Micro Entrepreneurs (KMME) program which helps micro and small entrepreneurs scale up their businesses through mentoring on different functional areas of entrepreneurship, produce the right mindset and business know-how. 

"In the coming months, DTI may hold most of its trainings via video conferencing to comply with the new normal restrictions," Arbon revealed.

She said that for remote barangays where technology may not be accessible, DTI may hold seminars in gymnasiums, multipurpose buildings but with limited number of participants.

Meanwhile, Caberte underscored that DTI is open to using other viable means to reach out to MSMEs in the countryside such as radio and comic strips written in the local dialect.

To know more and be part of DTI's trainings and seminars, Caberte encourages smal³l business owners to contact any of the DTI Central Visayas Provincial Offices :

DTI Cebu Provincial Office: 
Tel No.: (032) 255-6971
Email: r07.cebu@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI.Cebu/

DTI Bohol Provincial Office:
Tel No.: (038) 501 8828
Email: r07.bohol@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI.BoholProvince/

DTI Negros Oriental Provincial Office:
Tel.No. (035) 422 5509
Email: r07.negrosoriental@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI7.NegrosOriental/

DTI Siquijor Provincial Office :
Tel No.: (035) 480-9065
Email: r07.siquijor@dti.gov.ph
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI7.Siquijor/ 
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DTI mobilizes FabLabs to surmount COVID crisis

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region 7 activates its network of fabrication laboratories (FabLabs) in Central Visayas to produce personal protective equipment (PPEs) in the fight against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

A team of volunteers, faculty members and staff at school based FabLabs in the region have designed and produced personal protective equipment to contribute to the much-needed supply of PPEs in the region.

“As of April 16 this year, FabLabs in Central Visayas have produced   24, 358 face shields, 4,093  cloth face masks, 359 medical gowns, and 20  aerosol boxes.”

Central Visayas has eight FabLabs : three located in Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, and five in Cebu.

“All eight fablabs in Central Visayas have been busy for  the past month producing PPEs.” 

This was revealed by Philippines’ FabLab Champion and DTI 7 Assistant Regional Director Maria Elena Arbon.

Arbon also said that Fablabs in Central Visyas are part of a network of Fablabs in the Philippines. “Together with their stakeholders, and partners in both government and private sectors, they are responding to needs of the COVID outbreak in our country.” 

“Overall, Fablabs in the Philippines produced 46,055 face shields, 23,104 cloth face masks, 1,201 medical gowns, and  217 aerosol boxes as of April 16,” Arbon disclosed.

“We are still accepting donations of raw materials for the production of the PPEs,” Director Arbon said. “Our frontline workers still need more especially now with the rising number of COVID patients and with the ongoing crisis.”

Director Arbon encourages everyone to visit the following google site:  https://tinyurl.com/FablabPHResponse to link themselves to a Fablab near their vicinity and ask for any assistance that the lab can do. This is also a way for local suppliers of raw materials to get in touch with FabLabs in their area so these facilities can continue with the mass production.

DTI Assistant Secretary Asteria Caberte, who pushed for the funding of the project and boosted morale of volunteers, informed the public that FabLabs aren’t the only ones responding to the COVID crisis.  “ We have DTI assisted MSMEs such as Uniform Solutions, Tubigon Loomweavers Multi–purpose Cooperative, LAMAC Multi-purpose Cooperative and  Alter to Enhance Clothier that are also mass producing cloth face masks.  These cooperatives and business enterprises are repurposing their manufacturing capacity to meet local demand.” 

“We have always encouraged those we have assisted to  exercise their corporate responsibility and give back to the community in whatever way they can,” Asec. Caberte added.

A fabrication laboratory is a technical prototyping platform for innovation and invention that allows local manufacturers and creatives to make prototypes and products such as equipment, machinery and electronic gadgets; create scale models, illustrate graphic designs and mass-produce products, among others. A fab lab is typically equipped with an array of flexible computer-controlled tools that cover several different length scales and various materials, with the aim to make "almost anything". 

Fablabs in the Philippines are closely aligned with the global open-source maker culture, and the free and open-source movement, and shares philosophy as well as technology with them.

The International FabLab Network is an open, creative community of fabricators, artists, scientists, engineers, educators, students, amateurs, professionals, of all ages located in more than 90 countries in approximately 1,500 FabLabs. From community based labs to advanced research centers, Fab Labs share the goal of democratizing access to the tools for technical invention and product innovation.(ends)

DTI 7 assists UNISOL to reinvent its business

 As demand dries up and non-essential establishments temporarily close amidst the COVID pandemic , the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its financing arm the Small Business Corporation (SB Corp), opens a loan facility for MSMEs that decide to repurpose their production lines to cope.

 One business that availed of this DTI facility is Uniform Solutions (UNISOL), a start-up company for on demand uniforms based in Cebu.

With an initial loan of P3.0 million approved under DTI's Small and Medium Enterpise - Personal Protective Equipment (SME-PPE) loan facility, Uniform Solutions (UNISOL) was able to retrofit its production operations to make washable face masks and reusable protective suits.  

CEO Jonas Quilantang narrated how it took him 5 years to set-up operations and get ready for mass production, adopt technological innovations to improve existing products; have the machines, suppliers as well as the market ready.

"We wanted to make sure we can deliver the bulk orders expected of us and sustain our niche market," Quilantang explains. UNISOL was about ready to hold a grand company launch in early 2020 when a dire health situation developed in China.

Quilantang closely followed the news on the outbreak, had a hunch that the situation could worsen and knew a surge in demand for facemasks will follow. He immediately made a strategic decision that changed the direction of his company.

"Before Luzon implemented its enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), I got the commitment from one of our suppliers for them to provide the needed fabric for the washable facemasks," he said.

"We started making washable facemasks mid-march and reusable protective suits in early April this year," Quilantang added.

Currently, UNISOL manufactures around 50,000 pieces of washable facemasks per day and 60,000 pieces of reusable protective suits a month.

UNISOL has reached the 1 million mark for facemasks as of April 29 this year.

After a month of production, Quilantang said that the company now has a stable supply of the products and is looking to widen its market by forging partnerships.

UNISOL is one good example of a company that effectively turned a negative situation into a good business opportunity, Asteria Caberte of the Department of Trade and Industry said.

Despite the challenges, the company found a way to repurpose its production operation which was originally designed to manufacture T-shirts, polo shirts and jackets to produce personal protective equipment (PPE), and keep its workers employed, Caberte explained.

Like UNISOL, SMEs can also avail of the DTI loan facility by getting in touch with any of the DTI Central Visayas provincial offices to signify their interest and to get an endorsement to the SB Corporation.

Caberte encourages MSME business owners to contact any of the DTI Central Visayas Provincial Offices to SIGNIFY THEIR INTEREST and TO GET AN ENDORSEMENT to SB Corporation:

DTI Cebu Provincial Office: Tel No.: (032) 255-6971 Email: r07.cebu@dti.gov.ph FB:
https://www.facebook.com/DTI.Cebu/

DTI Bohol Provincial Office: Tel No.: (038) 501 8828 Email: r07.bohol@dti.gov.ph FB:
https://www.facebook.com/DTI.BoholProvince/

DTI Negros Oriental Provincial Office: Tel.No. (035) 422 5509 Email: r07.negrosoriental@dti.gov.ph FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI7.NegrosOriental/

DTI Siquijor Provincial Office : Tel No.: (035) 480-9065 Email: r07.siquijor@dti.gov.ph FB: https://www.facebook.com/DTI7.Siquijor/  

BORROWERS MAY ALSO CONTACT SB CORPORATION'S TOLL FREE HOTLINE # 1-800-10-6513333 Email: p3@sbgfc.org.ph or sbcorporation@sbgfc.org.ph FB: https://www.facebook.com/PondoSaPagbabagoAtPagasenso/ (Ends)