SMEs not spared from crisis

CEBU, Philippines - As huge companies are trampled by the global economic crisis, the small and medium enterprises are likewise not spared from the ill-effects of the general slowdown.

“SMEs are really struggling these days because everyone are saving their money and are refusing to spend so most businesses are in a slowdown,” shared Filipino-Cebuano Business Club (FCBC) president Rey Calooy.

FCBC is a newly formed local group of small and medium-scaled entrepreneurs whose businesses are based in the province.

Calooy said that from January this year, their sector had slowly felt the effects of the global economic crisis as sales have declined to around 30 to 40 percent compared to the sales performance year on year.

“The sales are really down even basic commodities are affected with the chain reaction of events wherein many workers have been displaced from their jobs in export processing zones and from major export industries. Many consumers are looking for affordable alternative and many refuse to spend,” said Calooy.

In terms of credit facilities, he said that banks are now sterner to lend loans to borrowers because the market is tough.

“A lot of people are now conscious of the money they lend out or they spend. In so many aspects we can really observe that business in general is in a slowdown. But it’s fortunate that there have not been closures from our members because most of them have prior experiences already in handling similar crisis,” Calooy said.

To further help their sector ease the effects of the global financial crisis, FCBC will be hosting this March a gathering of micro, small and medium scaled (MSMEs) entrepreneurs at the SM City Cebu.

The gathering will have a theme: “Improving Business Confidence for MSME Amidst Global Economic Crisis,” and it will be a general membership meeting of FCBC as well as a venue for a series of business seminars which include important topics essential to help SMEs weather today’s financial storm, said Calooy.

These topics include: “Secrets of a True Entrepreneur;” “Role of SMEs in the Fight Against Corruption” to be facilitated by the Ombudsman; “Business Opportunities for 2009 and Beyond in Line with the Global Crisis” to be given by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI); “Highlights on Global Competitiveness through Quality Management;” “Business Stress Management” and Planters Bank’s Easy Loan and Credit Facilities program for SMEs.

Senator Manny Villar is also expected to speak about his experiences as an entrepreneur and how he managed to grow his empire from scratch to give inspiration to SMEs who will attend the event.

“The way for us to really weather this financial storm is through re-education. Through sharing ideas with other entrepreneurs we can have enough knowledge to know the real situation and device solutions for us to survive the crisis. With ample knowledge, an entrepreneur will know how to treat financial disease and look for better solution to their situation,” said Calooy.

After the said event this March 6, FCBC is looking at conducting more seminars for SMEs to better equip the sector with the knowledge on how to run their businesses effectively and how to stay afloat amidst the soft economy.