MSME devt key to Asean economic strength - says Concepcion | Business and Politics
MSME devt key to Asean economic strength - says Concepcion | Business and Politics
Asean Business Advisory Council Chairman Jose Maria 'Joey' Concepcion 3rd, says that the key to Asean’s economic strength is developing the region’s MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), which employs most of the labor force. He added that digitalization, which includes access to bigger markets and ease of online payments, would make the market more inclusive to small businesses.
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Asean Business Advisory Council Chairman Jose Maria 'Joey' Concepcion 3rd, says that the key to Asean’s economic strength is developing the region’s MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), which employs most of the labor force. He added that digitalization, which includes access to bigger markets and ease of online payments, would make the market more inclusive to small businesses.
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Transcript
00:00 Tonight we invited Jose Maria "Joy" Concepcion III to talk about entrepreneurship and opportunities
00:05 in ASEAN for micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs.
00:09 ASEAN, as you know, is the association of Southeast Asian nations, a block of countries
00:13 that includes the Philippines.
00:16 Mr. Concepcion was chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council or BAC when the Philippines
00:20 chaired that regional grouping in 2017.
00:24 Since then, he has continued linking Filipinos with fellow entrepreneurs across Southeast
00:28 Asia.
00:29 That work has been an extension of his advocacy in the Philippines where he founded the Philippine
00:33 Center for Entrepreneurship Go Negosyo.
00:36 Through that organization, Mr. Concepcion hopes to alleviate poverty in the country
00:40 by promoting an entrepreneurial mindset and by leading programs that help grow small businesses.
00:45 His goal is to transform the Philippines into a nation of entrepreneurs.
00:49 Indeed, the value of small businesses cannot be understated.
00:53 MSMEs contribute 36 percent to the gross value added, employ 62.4 percent of the labor force
00:59 and account for 99.5 percent of the registered companies in the Philippines.
01:03 MSMEs are equally important for ASEAN.
01:06 They contribute 85 percent to employment in Southeast Asia, 44.8 percent to the block's
01:11 collected GDP or gross domestic product and 18 percent to national exports.
01:16 Those figures suggest that harnessing the potential of small businesses may be the key
01:20 to realizing economic aspirations not only in the Philippines but also in ASEAN.
01:25 With that, we will ask Mr. Concepcion, how do we unlock the power of MSMEs so that they
01:30 can contribute more to growth and development?
01:33 Thank you for making time for Business and Politics.
01:34 Sir, may I call you Joey?
01:35 Yes.
01:36 I'll call you Klink.
01:37 Okay.
01:38 Thank you for making time.
01:39 Sir, a few weeks ago, you attended the ASEAN summits in Jakarta.
01:47 I was surprised that there was so much attention given to MSMEs.
01:51 I suppose that's quite important to what you're doing here in the Philippines.
01:55 Can you talk about what the focus is and what they're trying to do and how they're trying
01:59 to link your group and the stakeholders in your group with others in the region?
02:05 Well, as we know that in the Tennessee and countries, not everybody is doing well.
02:10 Sure.
02:11 Indonesia, Malaysia, but the rest, we're all somewhere there.
02:20 And MSMEs form part of everyone's economy, including the ASEAN.
02:26 And that is why the theme of ASEAN is prosperity for all.
02:31 That was our theme when we hosted it in 2017.
02:35 So it's very clear that ASEAN countries have to come together.
02:41 And that has happened for so many years.
02:45 But what's more important is that we really show concrete steps on making the countries
02:52 more inclusive.
02:55 That's the way I believe that prosperity can be achieved for more.
03:00 And that's where you see digitalization come in and many other-
03:03 Which is another big topic at the ASEAN summits.
03:06 Yes.
03:07 Sir, there are talks about integrating or unity in ASEAN, but when I talk to some businessmen,
03:14 the problem or the challenge is sometimes finding the complementarity.
03:19 For example, in Davao, the businessmen said, the BIMP Ayaga, they were saying that Davao
03:25 makes or sells the same things that Indonesia and Brunei are selling.
03:31 What are we doing about that to, as you say, help each other integrate?
03:36 What are the programs that you're involved in?
03:40 The biggest challenge for the Philippines is agriculture.
03:45 And this is why we took the first initiative.
03:49 In 2017, normally as a chairman of the entire ASEAN, you lead that conference, you have
03:57 to have a legacy project.
03:59 Indonesia apparently had like 10 legacy projects, which is really not done.
04:03 But they are that aggressive and that huge.
04:06 Our legacy project was MSME through what we call the ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurship
04:11 Network called AMEN.
04:12 It's a mentoring program.
04:13 That's what Konigoshi is doing.
04:14 That's what Konigoshi.
04:16 But more than that, this is now getting all countries to bring in their mentors to help
04:22 their MSMEs.
04:23 So fortunately, the Japan government funded the AMEN program.
04:29 And it's in every country that it's done online.
04:32 And we have mentors from Brunei, of course, mentoring their own people, following a basic
04:36 curriculum that was designed for that purpose.
04:40 So they're the second funding and we're looking forward to the third funding.
04:44 That means it's working.
04:47 And hopefully, like in the Philippines, we're far, far advanced because we're doing mentorship
04:52 all over the provinces.
04:55 So that's the vision.
04:57 MSME development is key to ASEAN really becoming much stronger.
05:01 I see.
05:02 Sir, one of the things I found quite intriguing was the QR code that facilitated cross-border
05:10 payments.
05:12 Is that something that you're looking at?
05:14 Is that something that can maybe help our MSMEs?
05:19 Even in servicing, I guess, buyers or travelers from the region who are coming here in the
05:24 Philippines, is that something that will be good?
05:27 What do you think?
05:28 I think it will.
05:29 But in general, the biggest thing to create more inclusion is digitalization.
05:35 And we can really see it.
05:37 I mean, ANCAS, you have Joyride and many other platforms in each country.
05:44 So the goal really is how do you make ASEAN more inclusive?
05:50 Digitalization is the way.
05:51 A payment system like an e-wallet, which we have today, Gcash, Baya, etc.
05:58 The respective countries have the same thing.
06:00 Now how can we interconnect these e-wallets together?
06:04 So there are many ideas and there are many sharp enterprising entrepreneurs that are
06:12 setting digital platforms.
06:15 So I see that as the way of really unlocking the shackles of us, big business, and just
06:23 them being part of our value chain.
06:26 They can now expand that with digitalization to e-wallets, market platforms, etc.
06:33 And even mentorship.
06:34 That's happening right now.
06:35 Right.
06:36 And like QR code, one of the Philippines, the Philippines is one of the countries that
06:40 joined that.
06:41 So it's sort of an e-wallet.
06:43 But the question is, how do we convince our local businesses to adopt it?
06:51 I mean, I'm sure there's an awareness issue as well.
06:56 How do we promote it and how do they sign up for it and things like that?
06:59 Well, right now, I think the QR code will take time.
07:05 What we are really trying to do is to teach the MSMEs how to use these platforms.
07:09 How to maximize the e-wallets that are out there.
07:14 And it's really basically access to market and access to money.
07:18 That's critical.
07:19 Now, if you look at our MSMEs here in the metropolitan area, they're not as challenged.
07:26 Of course, there are people still below the poverty level, but the big brothers are right
07:31 here.
07:32 Now, when you go out in the provinces, agriculture remains the biggest challenge.
07:37 And bulk of our MSMEs are in that sector.
07:40 So you have that challenge.
07:44 And everybody, I mean, from the time of the father, President Marcos, with the land reform,
07:49 now President Marcos taking over, moving towards block farming.
07:53 In other words, going for 24 hectares at the minimum, which is the recommended minimum
08:01 hectare age to really have scale.
08:03 And we have to create scale.
08:05 So the president is really very passionate about it.
08:11 And you can see that he still wants to keep the agri portfolio because it's like in the
08:17 Philippines incorporated, assuming Philippines is a corporation, your problem area today
08:21 is agriculture.
08:22 So you have to put the best people there to fix it.
08:25 And that's why also in the private sector, we are supporting that initiative of the president.
08:30 With Calap.
08:31 With Calap, with the ASEAN now, tying up MOAS.
08:34 Of course, these are just signatures of different leaders.
08:38 Now it's how do we get that implemented.
08:41 And fortunately, Malaysia, the following after, flew in and we had the first meeting, which
08:46 was a very good meeting.
08:47 The ambassador of Malaysia will take a very hands-on approach here.
08:51 So if we get the ASEAN countries working together, helping one another, as we did in the mentoring
08:57 program.
08:58 And if we can do this in not only agriculture, even if agriculture is what we need, but other
09:03 countries may need help in digitalization or other areas.
09:07 So this is where the exchange can happen.
09:10 So do you think GoNegosio will go regional?
09:12 I mean, do you see mentoring happening from the Philippines, say to, I don't know, maybe
09:19 Brunei or?
09:20 It's not doing that.
09:22 They're copying the model that we're using right now.
09:24 Okay.
09:25 So each of them is doing a mentor.
09:26 So they have their own mentors.
09:27 So the fund, the Japanese who funded this, you have the curriculum that was designed.
09:34 You have now mentors from Brunei who are qualified to mentor.
09:39 So Thailand, Indonesia, and all of that.
09:42 So all countries, almost all countries are implementing it.
09:46 Now that is not a very difficult thing to do because you have the government support
09:52 of each country.
09:54 The biggest challenge right now is how can we collaborate as ASEAN countries and define
09:58 my weakness and my strength.
10:01 My strength, I can help you in what you need.
10:04 The complementarity.
10:05 So that is what we're trying to do.
10:06 Each country's strength and weakness, that's where we can now bring the real essence of
10:12 why ASEAN was founded.
10:13 This is working and collaborating and helping one another.
10:16 To me, that's when ASEAN can be, I can say, is successful.
10:21 And what's the dream?
10:22 What's the picture in your mind when that happens, when that collaboration, that networking
10:30 happens?
10:31 Is it, you know, is that pushing ASEAN, the region to the next level of being, say, maybe
10:40 the factor of the world?
10:42 Well, if you look at it, America has 50 states.
10:47 You have Europe now.
10:50 So when you are trading together and you have an integrated approach, a well-oiled
10:57 block of ASEAN nations coming together, as what you see in Europe, U.S. and other areas,
11:03 coming together gives you more scale.
11:06 Okay.
11:07 And more influence, more power.
11:10 And of course, scale is important.
11:12 Sure.
11:13 I think that's the vision of ASEAN.
11:15 If we as countries can compete against each other, then it should be totally open.
11:20 Open to everything.
11:21 We should prepare.
11:23 Maybe not now.
11:24 We have to elevate those who are not yet at that point because they'll object.
11:29 But at a certain point in time, ASEAN can be similar to Europe.
11:34 Sure.
11:35 You mentioned agriculture was one of those areas where that collaboration can happen.
11:39 But the other thing I heard from those meetings is possibly the development of electric vehicles.
11:45 Because Indonesia has the nickel to produce a battery, so does the Philippines.
11:51 What do you think?
11:52 Is there opportunity there, you think, for creating a system so that maybe ASEAN as a
11:59 region supplies electric vehicles to the world?
12:03 That can be an ASEAN project.
12:04 In other words, the Philippines, we mine a lot of nickel.
12:09 We should add value to it.
12:11 Eventually make batteries here.
12:14 I believe the future is going to be electric cars.
12:16 I already have two electric cars.
12:19 I believe as electric cars go down in prices, everybody will move to electric cars.
12:25 I think that's the future.
12:27 We have the natural resource for it.
12:31 How do we add value to that?
12:33 To me, the battery is the main driver of that electric car.
12:37 We have the roadmap should lead towards that.
12:42 I think that's just one example of great opportunity.
12:47 We have celebrated our 50th year during 2017.
12:52 When you were chair.
12:54 We have, and I was telling my fellow chairs, that we really have to not appear once a year
12:59 and have all of these festivities and meetings, and then go home and not do anything.
13:05 We have to continue to do what we have to do.
13:07 So Lao is chairing next year.
13:10 So at this point in time, we are already preparing what we signed with the respective ASEAN countries
13:16 on them collaborating with us in agriculture.
13:20 You must be pleased that what you started in 2017 is being continued by Indonesia.
13:26 What's the next step you think for Lao and Malaysia after that?
13:30 The 10 years is going to be coming faster to the Philippines because we're taking over
13:35 Myanmar's chairmanship.
13:37 Well, actually Lao, my first role as chairman was when they were the chairman in Lao.
13:47 I was appointed by Duterte back then.
13:50 So my father was in ASEAN for so many years, 20 plus years.
13:55 I never thought I would even end up doing this same thing.
13:59 Sometimes it's weird, it's fate that comes.
14:03 And I never thought I would be this active in ASEAN.
14:06 But you get that passionate when you see the amount of impact that you can create in the
14:12 lives of people.
14:13 And it's not only Filipino people that we can create impact.
14:15 We can create impact on the lives of all of ASEAN.
14:18 So Lao is next.
14:19 It is also a country that is challenged with poverty.
14:24 We are in a much better position than Lao, of course.
14:30 And that country needs help.
14:31 But they have huge resources in agriculture.
14:34 I mean, they have the Mekong River, et cetera.
14:37 So Malaysia will be next.
14:39 Then the Philippines we host.
14:42 And hopefully by that time, whatever we signed in this Jakarta hosting will really materialize
14:48 and really help a lot of Filipino farmers.
14:51 That's my goal.
14:52 We have to help our Filipino farmers.
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