In the face of the economy reopening and restrictions on mobility loosening, Philippine SMEs are coming back with a vengeance, and are strengthening their online channels even more to cope with demand.

For Kreations, a woman-led upcycling enterprise, the comeback of trade fairs has propelled sales in the past quarter when the country enjoyed looser restrictions.

“We joined three trade fairs in the past two months and ang laking help nito for us especially after two years na puro online lang. Nag-start na uli mga events and since we cater to businesses, we’ve been getting a lot of orders. We’re slowly getting back on our feet,” shared Akrisah D. Helig, owner of Kreations.

With the company seeing renewed demand for its upcycled handicrafts, home furnishings, and souvenirs, all the more it sees the need to keep a presence online.

“We can accept more orders because 95% of our order-taking is through online. Because of the fast internet, we can respond quicker to inquiries and orders,” Akrisah added.

“Mas malakas pa kami ngayon kaysa pre-pandemic time. We’re getting thousands of orders when we opened up to the market that’s why we’re even thinking of expanding,” she said.

With her connectivity taken care of, Akrisah can focus on helping the communities of women all over Rizal, that she taps to craft her products.

For a business purely running online like C’est Ca Gifts, the internet has likewise served as a lifeline during the pandemic and beyond.

“Our transformation to an online business became complete during the pandemic because our inquiries come from social media, emails, and messaging apps. So our connectivity really kept us going, and kept us afloat,” said Toons Canoy, entrepreneur and owner of the online gift shop.

Since the reopening of the market, C’est Ca returned to catering to product categories that they were not able to offer during the pandemic such as bereavement and sympathy tokens. Now, the company is meeting these needs and more.

For C’est Ca, the pandemic stood as the ultimate test of survival of the company, and they were able to weather through it due to the connectivity of Converge.

“I’d like to say that when there is a crisis, doon lumalabas ang true colors ng kumpanya diba so because of those challenges, we became better. Naging holistic talaga ang transformation namin,” added Toons.

Converge SME-tailored products like flexiBiz guarantees a 24/7 help desk and a dedicated personnel, so there would be no downtime for the business. This is among the perks Toons cited with using Converge as its connectivity partner.

SME segment growth
For Converge, the SME segment has increasingly been a strong contributor to the company’s growth. In Q2 2022, its own revenue base grew by 98% year-on-year.

Jesus C. Romero, Converge Chief Operations Officer, shared “It is encouraging to see the SME Business increasingly grow in the first half of the year as many are starting to open their shops again. We expect continued growth in SME as we expand in new areas across the country.”

Overall, the Enterprise segment (encompassing SME, Enterprise, and Wholesale) has grown by 25.5% YoY, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of accelerated quarterly revenue growth rates.

The SME segment’s share of total revenue growth has seen gradual growth, since the launch of SME solution, flexiBiz last year. Converge further empowers SMEs by offering reliable and efficient digital solutions such as Converge Workplace.

Romero added, “Under Converge Workplace, we have partnered with SweldoMo to develop an automated HR and payroll system. The digital workplace is accessible through any device, anytime, anywhere, with an automated payroll and HR management system for timekeeping and payroll processes – making it easier and convenient for small business owners.”