'Nurture SMEs to ensure virtuous cycle of economic development'

MANILA, Philippines - Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu stressed the need to give small-and-medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) more opportunities to build capacities to enable them to become more competitive.

Speaking before hundreds of small and medium-scale entrepreneurs at the Globe Negostar Fair in Mandaluyong, Cu, who was an entrepreneur prior to taking the helm at Globe, said that it is important to nurture SMEs to ensure a virtuous cycle of economic development.

“SMEs are agents of job creation and are therefore pillars of the Philippine economy,” said Cu, “Globe sees the importance of this sector so we come up with solutions that an ordinary entrepreneur will understand, easy to use and afford to really help them with their businesses.”

“An entrepreneur should focus on growing revenues. Let’s do away with the issues of administration and other details that keep us away from our customers. The best salesperson for any product or service is the entrepreneur who introduced it. And we enable entrepreneurs to focus on growth by offering information and communication solutions that help them optimize their business. Our plan is to continually improve our products to make them more relevant and through cutting edge technology provide businesses with a unique competitive advantage.”

Small-and-Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) comprise about 95 percent of all Philippine businesses and employ about 50 percent of the country’s total labor force according to the National Statistics Office data. SMEs also contribute about 30 percent of total value-added in the manufacturing sector, and about 25 percent of the country’s total exports revenue.

Globe Business offers a myriad of information and communication tools to small and medium-sized enterprises that can be customized depending on the nature and size of their ventures. Globe Business is a one-stop shop that offers wireless, wireline and data services simplified to meet every business requirement. Through the Globe Negostar Deals, SMEs are able to cut communication costs via offers like Business Plus or manage inventory through the Inventory Ordering System.

Globe launched the Negostar Forum last year as a means of reaching entrepreneurs across the country and introducing information and communication tools that will help them grow their businesses, make operations more efficient and cut costs. To date, Globe Negostar fora have been held as far north as Ilagan, Isabela and in General Santos City down south.