Big SME dreams
Cerge M. RemondeMIDDLE of last week, I was back in Cebu to lead and witness the opening of the country’s first Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Industrial Park, under the auspices of Planters Development Bank, which is considered the country’s first privately-owned development bank for SMEs.
As Cabinet Oversight Official for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise, it is now part of my job description to keep an eye and have a hand in MSME developments, nationwide.
After hopping from a bridge inaugural in Butuan to the Mindanao Security Summit in Cagayan de Oro City, I had to disengage from the Presidential party and skip Ozamiz City to attend the Cebu SME launching. We took the boat to Cebu, heading straight into a storm that battered the Super Ferry, Our Lady of the Rule. The all-night pitch and roll notwithstanding, the trip was tolerable, and we survived. And the short drive from the port to the industrial site dissipated whatever seawater was left in our system.
Located 23 kms. south of Cebu City at Barangay Cantao-an in the town of Naga, the PlantersBank SME Industrial Park is actually part of a 250-hectare industrial, residential and commercial development, aptly called New Cebu Township One, or NCTO.
"The SME Industrial Park represents another pioneering initiative by PlantersBank to provide Filipino SMEs with opportunities and avenues for business growth," PlantersBank chairman and CEO Ambassador Jesus P. Tambunting said at the launching. "The project will enable them to consolidate operations, widen exporting potentials, and most importantly, benefit from the fiscal incentives extended to locators in an export processing zone area," he added.
Also at the launching were Philippine Economic Zone Authority Director General Lilia de Lima, a dear friend from way back, the light and beacon of EZ investments whose vision of export growth has been shared by at least three (3) Presidents.
Governor Gwen Garcia, who has come back from a narrow electoral margin in 2004 to the biggest landslide ever in 2007, was also there, together with Naga Mayor Valdemar Chiong and, of course, our amiable host, Ambassador Tambunting.
The PlantersBank SME Industrial Park is located in a prime location, complete with facilities and amenities to help SMEs grow. There is ample water supply, and a power plant is virtually embedded in the facility, Naga being host to a major power plant.
Projects like this are welcome and accorded full support by government, as they enhance and bolster the SME sector’s absorptive capacity which, if not attended to, could impair our ability to download funds and expand the SME client base.
By the end of this year, the government’s SME program is expected to release P32.3 Billion in SME loans. From this, we hope to generate and support 2.2 million jobs.
From 2004 to February, 2007, a total of P96 Billion had been released by government lending institutions to 47,198 SME accounts.
The Filipino SMEs, according to Amb. Tambunting, are vital components of economic growth and sustainability, and the industrial park will be one way for ensuring their efficient transactions to meet growing demand in both local and foreign markets. The park, he added, is a one-of-a-kind facility for SMEs.
Locators will have a chance to own, not just lease, their plant premises, allowing for long-term planning. More importantly, the facilities are already in place, as seen from the site where the launching was held.
In fact, a most unique aspect of this project is that even before it was launched, as many as seven or eight locators had already signed up. The NCTO, actually, already has major locators in other developed sites.
PlantersBank prides itself in its understanding and support for the big dreams of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Naga has big dreams. And has apparently found the bankers for those dreams.
