MSMEs sign up for resiliency plan

MICRO, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have signed on to a government plan that promotes the sector’s resiliency in the face of calamities.

Trade Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya led the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) for the 2019-2022 roadmap for MSME disaster resiliency, which continues the objectives of a previous 2016-2018 plan.

“It’s really sustaining the efforts and building on the momentum that we’ve started… May guidebook na kami, kung may guidebook, dapat niyan tuloy-tuloy na ’yung capacity building, (We now have a guidebook, which means we need to continue with capacity building),” Ms. Maglaya said in an interview during the 2019 National Summit on Strengthening MSME Disaster Resilience in Pasay City Thursday.

The National MSME Resilience Core Group also launched the MSME Guide to Disaster Resilience at the summit.

The book aids MSMEs in drafting business continuity plans, ensuring that they can go on even in the face of disasters.

Ms. Maglaya said the book incorporates lessons learned from Super-typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

“Kasi ang nangyari sa Yolanda, tinamaan ka man o hindi ka man tinamaan, wala kang source of raw material dahil tinamaan ’yung mga plantations kung saan ka kumukuha ng (raw material) or kaya ’yung labor force mo, tinamaan ’yung mga bahay-bahay (Regardless of whether or not a business was directly hit, the super-typhoon affected sources of raw materials and worker housing)… So all these you have to prepare for.”

The event saw the launch of a mobile application for Business Continuity Planning (BCP) called Katatagan in a Box. — Katrina T. Mina