On December 17-19, 2009, the DTI 7 family had a team building activity and Christmas party at the Bohol Divers' Resort in Panglao Island.
This is one of the rare DTI activities where I'm not holding the camera ---- what bliss and joy..
DTI Undersecretary for Regional Operations and Development Group Merly Cruz, in a press conference, said that they are aiming to increase sales during the OTOP Visayas Island Fair this year as they have more exhibitors compared to the previous year.
Cruz said that in the previous year, they only had around 105 exhibitors last year in which they were able to reap P27 million for the whole duration of the event.
She said that with this year’s 177 participating MSME’s from all over Visayas, they are hoping to increase what they have earned last year.
Cruz shared that through the years, they have noted increasing sales as more Micro, Small and Medium enterprises are participating and have improved the quality of products.
This goes for all the OTOP fairs in the country which has been actively promoted by DTI and the government in order to promote the development of MSME industries, to be able to gather more employment opportunities and help their respective regions and provinces promote their products.
The OTOP fair is a collaborative effort of all sectors in the society lead by their Local Government Units. DTI also assists the involved MSMEs in gathering help from other agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Tourism, and the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority.
DTI-7 Regional Director Aster Caberte said that they are very happy with the outcome of OTOP in Central Visayas. Caberte said that they have seen the growth in the region and the eagerness of the MSME to participate in their events. Caberte added that they have even had too many interested participants for this year. But Caberte said that this was a “pleasant problem” since this proves that more and more MSME players are seeing the need to develop their products and promote it to a larger market.
It’s three times the charm as the Visayan leg of the One Town, One Product (OTOP) Philippines holds its 4th annual fair at SM City Cebu Atrium this November 18 to 22, 2009.
This five-day trade fair will display a wide array of exciting homegrown products from Central Philippines dubbed "Distinctly Visayas", according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the marketing arm of the OTOP.
From souvenir items, novelty items, gift items, home decors, natural fiber, processed food, footwear to wearables, the OTOP fair aims to promote native goods from the Visayan islands.
The Visayas Region composed of Regions 6, 7 and 8 have joined hands to come-up with this fair to provide opportunities for budding entrepreneurs and develop a new culture of local pride.
The three regions of the Visayas have again come together to form a united front, a Supra-region, complementing each other through the sheer diversity of each region's products and tourist destinations that have captured more than half of the country's foreign visitors in the country.
The OTOP Visayas Island Fair is an activity that aims to highlight the OTOP program, a flagship project of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with the Local Government Units (LGUs) as the implementing arm.
The OTOP Philippines project is a government program to strengthen countryside development by promoting entrepreneurship and creating jobs.
This marketing event also aims to generate significant sales; train exhibitors in dealing and negotiating with local and foreign buyers and exporters and develop new exporters from among the participants.
Under the OTOP, LGUs take the lead in identifying, developing and promoting a specific product or service, of which their areas have specific advantage.
OTOP-Philippines provides a comprehensive assistance package through a convergence of services from LGUs, national government agencies and the private sector. This includes business counseling, skills and entrepreneurial training, product design and development, appropriate technologies and marketing.
The DTI said the OTOP-Philippines is designed to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME's) in the manufacturing and marketing of distinctive products and services to a much better level and achieve measurable results.
In order to better serve its clients, the regional and provincial staff of the Department of Trade and Industry Central Visayas Office (DTI 7) recently underwent a Knowledge Management (KM) Seminar Workshop in Cebu.
The workshop was made possible with the joint efforts of the Department of Trade and Industry and the German Technical Cooperation known as Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) under the Private Sector Promotion Program called the Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable Employment Program (SMEDSEP).
With the theme “Making Knowledge Work for DTI- Region 7’s Development Cooperation Projects, the seminar workshop was meant to improve the DTI efficiency of service and quality of information given to clients.
Employees from the Department of Trade and Industry Central Visayas regional and provincial offices participated in the KM seminar workshop in consonance with improving the agency’s management system to increase efficacy of service and customer satisfaction.
Mr. Lorenzo Templonuevo, GTZ KM Specialist, facilitated the workshop through topics that include: KM Strategies, Interfacing of KM and Quality Management, Core Values that Promote KM Ethical Culture, Knowledge Creation, Sharing and Reuse, KM Audit, KM Road Mapping.
The DTI is one of the key agencies of the Philippine Government charged with the promotion of an economic and business environment conducive to the birth and growth of enterprises and supportive of a fair and robust trade of goods and services both from within and outside the country
Cebu ranked no. 4 among Asian island destinations, according to Travel + Leisure magazine, which recently rleased the results of its World’s Best Awards 2009, a listing of the best hotels, airlines, cruises in islands and cities all over the world.
In the Condé Nast Traveler annual Readers’ Choice Survey, Cebu has occupied the seventh spot in the best island destination in Asia/Indian Ocean three times: in 2008 at 70.9, which is two points short of 2007’s 72.3 points and 2004’s 72.8 points.
Twice, it has been ranked 8th best island destination: in 2006 with 71.0 points and in 2005 with 69.5 in the same magazine survey.
Note that no other island in the Philippines has so far made it to the listing of Conde Nast Traveler or Travel + Leisure magazines
Both Travel + Leisure Magazine and Condé Nast Traveler are American publications based in New York.
Watch out for the Exporters' Expo on August 27-30 in Cebu.
More than 70 exporters in the country will unload their inventories for the local market at the least possible price during the activity.
Spearheaded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7), the event is slated at the SM City Cebu Atrium as part of the agency’s effort to help the ailing export sector amid the weak market interest due to the financial crisis.
Cebu, the furniture export capital of the Philippines accounting for about 60 percent of monthly exports, is feeling the brunt of the global financial crisis with foreign orders steadily declining.
The Exporters’ Expo is just one of the ways DTI assists exporters survive the crisis.
The event is also an opportunity for the local market to avail of the world-class furniture products at very affordable prices.
Aside from furniture products, the Exporters’ Expo will feature world-class products such as fashion accessories, gifts-toys-and housewares, among others.
The furniture manufacturers in Cebu is tapping the domestic market in order to survive but focus is on selling to institutional customers.
The four-day exposition is expected to attract buyers from all over the Philippines, as well as foreign tourists.
This is the first time that the government has extended its hand to invite exporters to join the Exporters’ Expo and allow local retail market to avail of the export quality products.
For more information on the Exporters’ Expo, interested parties may call on the DTI 7 Regional Office at 412-1868, 255-0036-37, or 412-1989 local 601 or 602.
