Program to aid MSMEs underway

It’s simply called SET-UP.

It stands for Small Enterprises Technology Upgrading Program, which is now being implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

SET-UP encourages and assists micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises (MSME) in adopting technological innovation to enhance their operational efficiency and boost their productivity and competitiveness.

Many of these MSMEs have considerably expanded their operations and are now even exporting their products after being provided scientific and technical interventions by DOST and its agencies.

"Such technology-based solutions are expected to improve productivity through superior product quality, human resource development, cost minimization and waste management, and other operation-related activities," stressed DOST, which set the program in motion last year.

As of December 2002, SET-UP had initially assisted 44 MSMEs in various parts of the country on food processing; furniture; gifts, toys, and houseware (GTH); fibers; marine/aquatic; metals; and horticulture industries.

A brainchild of Science and Technology Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro, SET-UP aims to improve MSMEs’ productivity and competitiveness through infusion of new and advanced technologies to their operations; provision of funds for technology acquisition; manpower training, technical assistance, and consultancy services; packaging; establishment of product standards and testing; and database information system.

SET-UP is now the centerpiece of the "DOST Technology Transfer Roadshow", a year-long (2003), nationwide activity launched in Western Visayas last Jan. 29-30 to highlight the government’s, particularly DOST’s S&T interventions to help MSMEs and thus generate employment for people, particularly those in the countryside.

The first leg of the roadshow covered the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, and Aklan. The second destination was Central Visayas (Region 7), which was visited in the last week of February.

The third (March 26-28) covers the Cagayan Valley.

During the first two roadshows, national, regional, and provincial officials of DOST led by Alabastro and Undersecretary Florentino O. Tesoro and the regional directors and other government agencies, as well as national and community journalists, visited MSMEs in the two regions that were assisted by DOST and other government entities in starting, developing, and improving their business ventures.