DTI, Metro Retail Stores partner to support MSMEs

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has partnered with Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI) to provide a platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to feature their products.

MRSGI president Manuel Alberto said during the launch of the Bayanihang Metro x Go Lokal project in Metro Supermarkets the retailer recognizes the importance of providing support for small businesses and local communities to allow them to continue to thrive.

The company has joined DTI’s growing list of retail partners for the Go Lokal! program which seeks to provide a free market access platform for Philippine MSMEs.

Under the partnership with the DTI, the company is providing a selling area in two of its flagship supermarket branches such as Metro Market! Market! in Taguig City and Metro Ayala Center Cebu to feature homegrown brands and products of MSMEs.

“While we at Metro Retail Stores provide market access for our micro entrepreneurs and help empower local businesses, they in turn help diversify our product offerings for our customers backed by the strength of Go Lokal! of the DTI,” Alberto said.

Apart from providing a dedicated selling area, MRSGI also launched its third Virtual Metro Community Bazaar for social enterprises and MSMEs’ products.

The bazaar is hosted on the firm’s shopping portal https://shop.themetrostores.ph/bazaar.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the partnership with MRSGI is seen to help revitalize consumption to boost demand under the government’s Revitalizing Businesses, Investments, Livelihoods, and Domestic Demand or the REBUILD Philippines strategy amid the pandemic.

This, as the “Buy Local! Go Lokal!” campaign, which urges the public to patronize local products and services, forms part of the strategy to revitalize consumption.

“While this will maximize DTI’s One Town, One Product (or OTOP) NextGen and Go Lokal! programs, it will – more importantly – support our MSMEs by empowering their production capacities to capture the demand generated by consumption,” he said.

He said through the Buy Local! Go Lokal! campaign, consumers would not just help the local manufacturers and service providers, but also the economy to achieve fast recovery.

Since Go Lokal!’s inception in 2016, he said the DTI has partnered with 20 retailers, rolled out 144 stores nationwide, and assisted 788 MSMEs.

Of the total number of assisted MSMEs, 352 have already been mainstreamed and become regular suppliers of DTI’s Go Lokal! retail partners, generating sales of over P381 million.