00:00 Revitalization of micro, small, and medium enterprises in the country that are discussing the APEX Summit in America.
00:07 That is what we will discuss with Sir Joey Concepcion, GoNegosyo founder and private sector lead for jobs.
00:15 Good afternoon, Sir Joey.
00:17 Good afternoon, Nina.
00:20 What can you say to the new changes in MSMEs in the country
00:26 to strengthen the global competitiveness discussed in the APEX meeting in America?
00:32 President Marcos' visit to APEX and other businessmen in America,
00:43 those are two groups.
00:45 One group is the leaders in artificial intelligence.
00:54 And of course, the semiconductor industry is another big factor here in the Philippines.
01:01 So these two sets of business groups, the President and his team,
01:07 and of course, the private sector, some of us who are in that room.
01:12 And President Marcos is on the right track.
01:16 His message is resonating very well.
01:20 The partnership between government and the private sector is emphasized time and time
01:26 just to give greater confidence to potential investors to the Philippines
01:31 that this government will make it easy for them to access the Philippine market.
01:42 So the opportunities are immense.
01:45 Of course, there are threats like artificial intelligence.
01:47 That is one area that is really growing fast.
01:52 Those who tried to chat GPT is one example.
01:56 Now, what is the threat to that?
01:59 As you know, a lot of Filipinos are part of the BPO network.
02:04 And aside from BPO, you've got the call centers.
02:08 And the acceleration of artificial intelligence is just so fast
02:13 that the jobs in this sector could be threatened.
02:17 And it is very important for our people to upskill.
02:21 We have to upskill our people just in case,
02:25 eventually, these jobs will just be given to the machines.
02:29 AI is really accelerating at phenomenal paces.
02:37 And we want to ensure that our Filipino people continue to be employed.
02:43 And BPO is another sector that can be disrupted.
02:48 So the whole idea of this administration is to really not only help people get jobs,
02:56 but those out there who have a dream of starting their own business,
03:00 our MSMEs, we have to extend that helping hand.
03:05 In other words, in terms of providing mentors,
03:07 providing access to capital, and providing access to market.
03:10 And as you know, America is the leading country in the world in terms of digitalization.
03:17 And many of these platforms and innovations come really from the United States.
03:23 And so it's very important that we strengthen our partnership with America
03:28 because all of these technologies will actually allow a more inclusive Philippine economy.
03:36 Sir Joey, with the participation of President Marcos Jr. in the APEC Summit,
03:41 it brought home more than $600 million worth of investments.
03:47 Some of these are for telecommunications, healthcare, and others.
03:52 What effect will this have on our micro, small, and medium enterprises?
04:00 Well, I think the biggest thing here is
04:05 the level of technology that a lot of the Americans have started,
04:11 from Elon Musk and many of these bright entrepreneurs,
04:17 are creating a platform that will allow greater inclusivity.
04:23 And that's important because many of our MSMEs have a challenging,
04:30 it's a very challenging atmosphere to try to compete with big people like us.
04:37 But for example, what we see in social media today,
04:42 the influencers are already replacing the usual brand endorsers that we normally hire.
04:49 And so you can see that the platforms that in a way these American entrepreneurs have created
04:55 is going to benefit countries like the Philippines because access to market
05:01 will be there to different platforms, whether you are on a transport platform
05:05 or you're on a platform like Amazon or eBay or many others,
05:13 that allow entrepreneurs to come in.
05:16 So this is where our emphasis should really be.
05:20 We have to upskill our MSMEs from a sorry, sorry story.
05:26 You know, I mean, we have millions of entrepreneurs in this sector now,
05:30 but what we have to do is to upskill them so that they can use the power of digital technology
05:39 to be able to promote their products to a marketplace whereby today you can do it yourself
05:45 and appear as become an influencer and appear in and join Facebook and promote your product, your service.
05:53 So to me, that is the biggest thing that the Americans are doing for the entire world.
05:58 The level of technology that is being brought to the whole world, including the Philippines,
06:03 is going to present tremendous, tremendous opportunities to our Filipino MSMEs.
06:10 Okay, speaking of technology and influencers, one of President Marcos Jr.'s side trips
06:17 is the collaboration with the CEO of the social media platform TikTok
06:22 to help small-scale sellers and entrepreneurs in the country.
06:28 How will this help our businessmen? Can you explain this to us?
06:33 Very simple.
06:37 The TikTok platform, actually, my generation, of course, we're of the older set,
06:44 but this young generation today, they're quite savvy when it comes to understanding this level of technology.
06:54 And they're not ashamed to develop themselves to become influencers.
07:00 So us, in companies, we hire a marketing manager.
07:04 Today, what is happening is that they themselves will promote their products.
07:08 And you can see the number of influencers out there who are able to sell a product.
07:15 Just to give you one example, Smalllaude.
07:17 So if we can develop hundreds or thousands of Smalllaude entrepreneurs out there
07:23 to promote their respective products or services,
07:25 it will be a tremendous boost for the Philippine economy
07:29 because there will be greater inclusivity for everyone and not just for big companies like ourselves.
07:35 Sir Joey, one of the things that the President helped with
07:40 is digitalization, transportation, and tourism at the APEC Summit.
07:45 This year, how will this help strengthen MSMEs in the country?
07:53 Well, during the pandemic, the pandemic basically really affected the entire tourism sector.
08:01 And as we know, we have 7,100 islands and we have one of the best beaches in the world.
08:08 So if you can see, we are now seeing revenge travel.
08:12 There are so many people traveling all over Asia, all over the world.
08:17 And travel is getting to be much cheaper with more airlines being deployed,
08:23 expanding their fleet.
08:24 So the Philippines stands to benefit from that opportunity.
08:29 And social media is very important because the traditional media of television, advertising,
08:37 and all of that, and hiring an agency, that costs a lot of money.
08:41 So access to a market now can be achieved through social media.
08:45 And these platforms are all being joined in by the young generation today.
08:54 So I see that the Philippines is on that sweet spot.
08:59 We have the assets, we have a beautiful country, we just have to sell it.
09:05 And the Philippine economy would continue to grow, as the President was saying.
09:10 I mean, that's why he is the number one salesman of the Philippines, going out, selling the country.
09:14 We have to bring confidence to these potential investors to invest in the Philippines.
09:19 Not only love the Philippines, invest in the Philippines is what's important.
09:25 And of course, love our tourism sites.
09:28 Okay, as a final message, and maybe you have a message for our fellow Filipinos who are tuned in to our program.
09:37 Well, thank you for giving me this opportunity.
09:42 You know, under this administration, I've seen it from the very start that President Marcos was elected.
09:48 Things have been going for their headwinds.
09:51 We'd have a very high level of inflation, with certain challenges.
09:56 But today, this level of inflation is gradually going down.
10:00 Hopefully shortages on rice and other agricultural crops will eventually turn around.
10:07 Filipino entrepreneurs are becoming more resilient because we have been able to survive in the pandemic.
10:15 So now that there's a pandemic, business should just do even much better.
10:20 So what's important is that we have to continue to become optimistic Filipinos.
10:27 Let's become optimistic Filipinos.
10:29 Let's believe that this country will definitely climb up there and be one of the most respected countries in the world.
10:35 So trust in the Filipino talent and skill, and hopefully our overseas workers will eventually have a chance to come home to a country where they can be with their family.
10:47 And that is going to happen if we can improve the lives and jobs of our Filipino people overseas to come back home.
10:57 Alright, thank you very much for your time, Sir Joey Concepcion, Go Negosyo founder and private sector lead for jobs.
11:07 Thank you, Ren.
Comments