| Welcome Remarks of Secretary Cerge M. Remonde - Launching of the Micro Asenso! Text Facility |
| July 9, 2007, 9:30
a.m. New World Renaissance Hotel, Esperanza St. cor. Makati Ave., Makati City |
| Her
Excellency President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo; President and CEO of the People's Credit
and Finance Corporation, Edgar Generoso; Globe Telecom President and CEO Gerardo Ablaza;
members of the microfinance and I.T. community; movers and shakers of micro, small and
medium enterprise development, both from the private and government sectors; friends,
ladies and gentlemen. It is my honor to welcome you to this milestone event -- the launching of the Micro Asenso! Text Service Facility. This latest collaborative effort on microfinance development between government and the private sector, in this case with globe telecom, brings our MSME or Micro Small and Medium Enterprise Program ever closer to the people. Over the last few months, public awareness of MSME was heightened by roadshows that brought us and our MSME partners to major and key locations in the country -- Davao, Cebu, Daet in Bicol. Bacolod, we will be visiting soon. Followed by Baguio, San Fernando, and some neighboring cities. The response from the communities that we reached was heart-warming - those already in business welcomed the potentials for expansion and further growth; aspiring entrepreneurs drew inspiration from the success of their mentors. With Micro Asenso Text Service Facility, would-be entrepreneurs no longer need wait for the MSME roadshow to come to their town. This text service partnership between Globe Telecoms and the microfinance program committee of our GFI's and GOCC's adds the convenience, reach and access of SMS, to our existing DTI and PCE MSME hotlines, and the Go Negosyo website. With Micro Asenso Text Service, entrepreneurs can find the micro finance institution that would match their needs, in their province, in their town, and in their city. Indeed, our MSME program today represents the convergence of the latest in communications technology, the innovations in business advocacy, and the time-tested tradition of honest work and industry as the key to success. With microfinance just one phone call or one text away, many more of our countrymen will be inspired to go into business, to eventually become major contributors to the national effort to lift the country up through entrepreneurship. I am confident that the legacy targets set by the President, Her Excellency, Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, will be met, and perhaps exceeded, as government and the private sector continue to work together, in partnership for the common good and greater service to the people. And so today, on the occasion of this Micro Asenso Text Service launching -- by no less than our President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo -- we lift high the Filipino's spirit of service and spirit of enterprise. Mabuhay ang MSME! Mabuhay ang negosyanteng pinoy! Mabuhay ang Ppangulo! |
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