Go Negosyo participated in the 2nd ASEAN SME Advisory Board Meeting, which was held in Kuala Lumpur. The Philippines, led by DTI Director Jerry Clavesillas and Go Negosyo Executive Director Mon Lopez who attended on behalf of Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, chaired the meeting which was attended by key government and private sector representatives from all the ASEAN countries. There were active deliberations on the policies and programs that will increase the competencies and narrow the gap of SMEs in the region. SMEs account for more than 90% of all enterprises in all these countries.

Mr. Robert Yap, CEO of YCH, the leading supply chain and logistics company in Singapore, attended the meeting. He is one of the partners in Igloo, which is the leading provider of logistics and cold storage in the Philippines today. Others in attendance were CEOs and presidents of the respective business associations of ASEAN countries.

Another highlight of the meeting was the closing dinner, where Dato Mukhriz bin Tun Mahathir, Deputy Minister of Malaysia’s Trade and Industry and son of the former Prime Minister Tun Mahatir was the guest of honor. Our delegates had the privilege of sitting beside him to brief him on the key discussions of the ASEAN meeting, as well as other issues like the developments in the EU region and entrepreneurship development efforts in our country.

Go Negosyo also joined DTI during the first ASEAN SME Board meeting last year. Go Negosyo is hoping that these initiatives will level-up the competencies of our SMEs to create more income and employment opportunities, as well as to increase their contribution to the country’s GDP.