DAVAO CITY – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 11, in partnership with the Mindanao Trade Expo Foundation, Inc. (MTEFI), ended 2022 with a trade fair that raked in P7,250,903 in sales. This is the total for retail/cash, booked, and under negotiation.
The MTE Christmas Edition, dubbed as “Buy Local By Lokals”, was staged from December 14 to 18, 2022 at Abreeza Mall here. Of the 130 participating micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), 110, or 85 percent of the total, were from Davao Region. Their products range from fashion accessories to gifts, decors, and furniture and fixtures, and processed food.
DTI 11 Regional Director Maria Belenda Q. Ambi shared that the “Buy Local By Lokals” theme is based on the endless campaign of the agency to entice people in supporting local products.
Further, she added that 61 of the featured exhibitors from the region were Kapatid Mentor Me (KMME) graduates who occupied the 12 booths provided by DTI for each of its six provincial and field offices throughout Davao Region.
“Apart from rallying our campaign called ‘Buy Local By Lokals’, we also highlighted the KMME program. This is a 10-module mentorship program that optimizes weekly face-to-face and virtual interactions between the mentor and the mentees. The key goal here is to boost their entrepreneurial capacity through improved access to mentorship, money, and market,” Ambi explained.
The local trade chief noted that these KMME exhibitors are already qualified, if interested, to participate in high-level trade events, such as the National Trade Fairs organized by the Bureau of Domestic Trade and Promotion (BDTP) annually.
To prepare them for the trade fairs and widen their markets, DTI 11 has provided them with necessary interventions, including intensive product development packages, seminars, and training activities.
“We at DTI ensure that we provide interventions according to our MSMEs’ needs. Aside from our in-house specialists on the different facets of the business, we have also partnered with various industry leaders and experts to prepare and improve them more,” Ambi said.
Ambi said that DTI will continue to assist local MSMEs until they reach their full potential and corner more institutional buyers here and abroad.
As of December 2022, DTI 11 has already assisted a total of 26,036 MSMEs in the region. This is 103 percent of its annual target of 25,200.DTI11/NCL/jmm
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