Manila, Philippines — The International Council for Small Business Philippines (ICSB PH) and Union Bank of the Philippines have joined hands to launch a three-day conference and expo for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for free this coming June 27 to 30. The event is entitled ‘MSME Fiesta Sulong Negosyante’ and will be held at Resorts World Manila in Pasay City.
The expo is part of ICSB and UnionBank’s celebrations for the United Nations’ International MSME Day, which is observed annually every June 27th to raise awareness of the contributions of MSMEs to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
During the three-day event, a number of activities will be held with the goal of helping MSMEs in every aspect of their business. There will be mentoring and coaching to be led by industry experts; opportunities to secure funding from some of the leading financing companies in the country; and learning sessions focused on a wide selection of topics namely access to loans, eCommerce platforms, payment gateways, and digital creatives, among other.
Eric Caeg, founder of ICSB, said, “What’s in it for the MSMEs? We could say we can do these things online, but then again, it’s better for them to see new partners face-to-face and learn new ideas from experts.”
Simultaneously, Jaypee Soliman, UnionBank’s SME and Micropreneurs segment head, shared, “Left and right, so many webinars for MSMEs are happening simultaneously every weekend. I think it’s time that we go beyond that.”
Soliman adds, “What we want to do is to move forward, which is why the name of the event is Sulong! Negosyante. Now, we won’t just be doing talks, but this time we’ll be doubling down on enabling our MSMEs through the activities that we’ve prepared for everyone.”
The event holds tons of surprises for those keen to attend. To make travel to the event site easier, Grab Philippines will be offering a voucher for its users, where they can enjoy a discount on their fare. Those travelling to the event via their own vehicles will also get the chance to take home gas vouchers.
To learn more about the MSME Fiesta Sulong Negosyante, interested individuals can visit Unionbank’s dedicated website registration page for the event.