The pandemic has brought lasting changes to trade exhibitions, including Region 7’s Sandugo Trade Expo, from a format that has hardly evolved over decades to where organizers are adapting to ensure the shows’ survival in a different form.
But the longest running marketing event in Central Visayas had already undergone many significant transformations even before COVID19 as a way to adapt to the changing times.
The Sandugo Trade Expo started as a provincial fair in 1988 in the Province of Bohol.
To take advantage of visitor traffic when the province celebrates the Annual Sandugo Festival to commemorate the historic blood compact between the local chieftain Datu Sikatuna and Miguel Lopez de Legaspi of Spain, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Bohol decided to hold the trade fair every last week of July.
For five years the fair was mounted at the Provincial Capitol grounds in front of Plaza Rizal. In the ensuing years, it was moved inside the lobby of major hotels in Tagbilaran City.
But based on post-fair assessment results, past venues for the expo were unfavorable to Boholano exhibitors because (1) these venues were not easily accessible for both exhibitors and buyers, (2) products displayed were limited only to handcrafted items, and (3) promotional efforts were weak. For these reasons, the fair’s location was moved to a local mall in 2004 to give way to accessibility and improved traffic.
Over the years, the trade show attracted quite a number of guests, visitors, buyers from across the country and more established international buyers who had buying agents in the Philippines.
Due to its success as a provincial fair, it was scaled-up to a regional fair in 2006, and has since then been included in the calendar of major buyers and visitors here and abroad.
The Sandugo Trade Expo has grown bigger each year, with exhibitors coming from as far as Cordillera in the north and CARAGA in the south.
The expo in 2019 was the last physical trade fair for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSMEs) in Central Visayas to showcase their products and services.
In 2020, the Sandugo Trade Expo was among those featured in the PASINAYA, a One Town One Product (OTOP) Digital Market Showroom and Online Trade Platform organized by DTI Philippines.
Pasinaya, which literally means debut, was the kickoff for the “new normal” trade fairs and the launch of the online OTOP PH Stores in the website otopstores.ph and the OTOP app.
The event ran for 7 days during the nationwide celebration of the MSME Week. Sixteen regional trade fairs simultaneously joined the PASINAYA, including Region 7’s Sandugo Trade Expo. In that year, the virtual regional trade fair had around twenty-five MSME participants from Central Visayas.
The online trade event was fully conducted virtually with business-to-business (B2B) meetings and networking via Zoom.
As one of the reliable sourcing destinations in the Visayas, the virtual Sandugo Trade Expo was an excellent opportunity for people to shop for their needs and requirements from the featured OTOP (One Town One Product) products in Central Visayas ranging from processed food, health and wellness, wearables and homestyle.
OTOP is a stimulus program of the Department of Trade and Industry for MSMEs as a customized intervention to drive local economic growth.
The OTOP program enables communities to determine, develop, support, and promote culturally-rooted products or services where they can be the best and where they are well known.
The program also supports MSMEs to manufacture, offer, and market distinctive products or services through the use of indigenous raw materials and local skills and talents.
The OTOP also offers a comprehensive assistance package through a convergence of services from local government units, national government agencies, and the private sector.
There is an OTOP National Virtual Trade Fair 2021 ongoing until end of August. Region 7’s Sandugo Trade Expo is among the regional fairs featured. Click on the following link to visit:
http://www.virtualtradeexpoph.com/expo
To know more and be part of DTI’s programs, trainings and seminars, the department 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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