New businesses are sprouting like mushrooms in the Philippines. And while they do get funding, they need assistance in managing their finances.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez (photo from PTV-4)
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) in a statement quoted Foxmont Capital Partners’ 2020 report titled the Philippine Venture Capital Report, which said local startups recorded $51.8 million in early stage funding in the first half of 2020, higher than full-year 2019’s $37.9 million even in the midst of the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) meanwhile reported newly-registered businesses rose 41 percent to 900,000 as of Dec. 17, 2020, the highest growth in 10 years.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez at the launch of DiskarTech Ipon Galing campaign yesterday said the number of online retailers increased from 1,700 in the first quarter of 2020 prior to the lockdown to 88,000 as of end of December 2020.
Lopez in his remarks said the DTI aims to help small business owners become smarter entrepreneurs through seminars that review their business models so they can better differentiate themselves from competition and continue to be relevant and most importantly how to exercise financial discipline.
According to Lopez, DTI’s programs for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) such as Kapatid Mentor ME that helps MSMEs link to sources of capital and market while the Business Improvement Plan (BIP) that helps them to save up while running their business.
The DTI also regularly holds seminars on accounting for non-accountants
Meanwhile, IPOPHL said it has signed on Dec. 10, 2020 a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) to scale up the intellectual property (IP) management skills of local startups trained under the AIM Dado Banatao Incubator (AIM-DBI) Program.
Under the MOA, IPOPHL will expand AIM-DBI startups’ technical knowledge on IP through a series of workshops and skills training.
IPOPHL director General Rowel Barba said the local startup community has been experiencing exponential growth in funding in recent years and even during the pandemic.
Barba said the partnership will help startups better optimize the benefits of their IP to contribute to the country’s social, economic and technological development.