The Department of Trade and Industry Central Luzon recently held the Shared Service Facilities (SSF) Regional Stakeholders Summit at the Orchid Gardens, City of San Fernando, Pampanga last January 18, 2023.
More than 400 participants, most of whom are SSF cooperators from the seven (7) provinces of Central Luzon, attended the event which is now on its 6th run. SSF cooperators are partner-beneficiaries of DTI in the implementation of the SSF project, usually groups of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.
The SSF program is one of DTI’s many strategies aimed in capacitating partner MSMEs known as cooperators thru the provision of modern equipment and technological knowledge. The program also provides solution and addresses the scarcity of available modern machineries designed to increase the productivity of MSMEs.
Since the start of the program in 2013, DTI-3 has established a total of 310 SSF Centers across the region with a total project cost of ₱170,868,079.54. The centers are classified in a variety of industry clusters including bamboo, coffee, dairy, fabrication laboratory, fashion accessories, metal craft, organic fertilizer, processed food, and wearables among others.
In the region, Pampanga has the highest number of SSF Centers with 67, followed by Nueva Ecija with 57 and Zambales with 44. The province of Aurora has 40, Bulacan with 36, Bataan with 34. Tarlac has 31 while the DTI Regional Office has 1.
According to DTI-3 Regional Director Leonila T. Baluyut, the SSF program benefitted 17,307 existing and potential MSMEs and created 60,388 jobs in the region. “The success of our SSF program is in its simplicity of concept and our sincere collaboration. We help and assist our cooperators so that in turn, they may help a greater majority of our MSMEs and other beneficiaries,” RD Baluyut said.
During the program, a learning session on Improving SSF Performance Thru Sustainable Management was conducted. Ms. Rita I. Pilarca, Managing Consultant of RGIP EmpowerBiz Consultancy Services, served as a resource person. Ms. Pilarca presented a lecture on sustainable management and provided ways and means on how MSMEs can achieve business sustainability.
In addition, Assistant Director Emma C. Asusano, OIC of the Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprises Development presented the status and national performance of the SSF program while DTI-3 Division Chief Warren T. Serrano presented the region’s performance.
The culminating part of the summit is the awarding of the best SSFs in the region. Recognized were the top three SSFs per province. The following SSFs bagged the 1st place in their respective provinces: Ditumabo Tribal Association in Aurora, Tala Orani Multi-Purpose Cooperative for Bataan, Bagong Barrio Multi-Purpose Cooperative in Bulacan, the Local Government Unit of San Leonardo in Nueva Ecija, Pansinao Parents Agriculture Association of Pampanga, Pindangan 2nd PMPCI in Tarlac, and Lotus Foundation Inc. from Zambales. Select Project Cooperator Representatives were also given the chance to share their success stories and best practices in the implementation of the SSF program.
