A winning streak for Filipino MSMEs

The President could not have picked a better person to lead the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) when he named Cristina Aldeguer-Roque as DTI Acting Secretary. During her time as Undersecretary for the MSME Development Group, she has proven to be a strong ally of the MSMEs, assisting in whatever way she can to push for policies that benefit this critical sector of our economy.

But long before she came into public service, she was a fixture in MSME circles. She is the woman behind a successful Filipino fashion brand which she grew, starting only with a small capital. She knows what it’s like to be a one-man show – a nanopreneur, if you will, doing everything herself intially and trying to find her space in the highly competitive fashion retail segment.

Getting there wasn’t easy and she herself would acknowledge the value of having mentors, having access to capital and getting a break in the right stores so you can reach the target market you want. She knows that for small entrepreneurs to succeed, you have to give them a fighting chance.

These are powerful credentials for leading the DTI. Not only can she bring a private sector perspective to the DTI, she can give continuity to programs that have already been set in place, thanks to the help of her predecessor, Alfredo Pascual.

Fred, too, was a force within the business community, even before he joined the DTI. He knows his way around finance, he was a teacher and the private sector is confident with him in government. He took on the office as the country was dusting itself off after almost three years of pandemic lockdown. I remember he was there when Go Negosyo held some of its first in-person entrepreneurship mentoring at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay, lending his support and mentoring MSMEs.

He worked well with Go Negosyo. I am grateful that he listened to my inputs as vice chair of the MSME Development Council, and took advice seriously. In return, he guided policy and went fully behind public-private partnerships. Being an educator, he threw his support behind Youthpreneur, Go Negosyo’s program for entrepreneurship education for senior high school students. He went to as many events as his busy schedule