The Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) One Town, One Product (OTOP) Program is making a difference in Bulacan with 21 beneficiaries featured in the Kalayaan Tatak Bulakenyo Pinoypreneur Trade Fair at SM City Marilao.
The fair featured micro, small, and medium enterprises, representing the 100 successful OTOPs in the province.
Five percent of these MSMEs have both a license to operate (LTO) and product certification from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Thus, the event concurrently promotes more MSME access to FDA standards.
MSMEs’ FDA certification shows that quality and nutritional content, packaging, shelf life, production, hygiene, and innovation are at the right levels.
This certification is a requirement for an MSME to enter and participate in bigger trade fairs such as the International Food Exposition 2023 and others.
DTI Official Edna Dizon encouraged MSMEs to use the Small Business (SB) Corporation’s Resilient, Innovative, Sustainable Enterprises to Unleash your Potential Multipurpose Loan to support costs related to the acquisition of LTO and FDA product certification.
Dizon emphasized the need to utilize or increase utilization of the P7 billion SB Corporation allocation from 2022.
In Bulacan, around P160 million worth of loans were disbursed to 788 MSMEs out of the 45 thousand registered. As of early 2023, 6,886 new MSMEs were granted business names by DTI, up 38.11% or 4,986 MSMEs opened during the same period in 2022.
The accomplishments in Bulacan demonstrate the OTOP’s commitment to MSME growth and development, emphasizing DTI’s strategic role in the national economy.