UnionBank to hold Visayas-based entrepreneurs forum

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(LCP)

THE UninonBank of the Philippines will hold the second leg of the country's biggest e-commerce program in Iloilo City on February 20 to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) take their local businesses to the global marketplace.

Participants will listen to Silicon Valley billionaire Dado Banatao, social entrepreneur Iliac Diaz, Salt's founder Aisa Mijeno, and Department of Trade and Industry regional director Rebecca Rascon discuss how e-commerce is turning local businesses into global enterprises.

The speakers will share how e-commerce, as an eco-system and a key element in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s inclusive growth initiatives, is opening up opportunities for Visayas-based SMEs by fostering the impact of technology and strategic entrepreneurial mentality to take local businesses across borders.

The forum also aims to help micro and small enterprises (MSEs) integrate and penetrate the global value chain and ensure that the participation of MSEs in the economy will address poverty and inequalities in Western Visayas.

The SMEs are owned and operated by indigenous people, artisan enterprises, fishermen, farmers, homemakers, novice entrepreneurs, and other small businessmen, who have limited access to finance, public goods and services, and had challenges requiring structural reforms, education, infrastructure and trade facilitation assistance for them to be fully mainstreamed in the global markets.

The forum also aims to engage international business community and make the country a global investment destination.