Two ISSI staff, Jefferson Sumalabe of the Research Division and Bernie Villaluna of the Information and Public Affairs Office, were among those who participated in the Workshop on Data Analytics for MSME Enablers sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – Bureau of SME Development. Technical staff from various government agencies, such as the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Science and Technology, and DTI itself, attended the workshop.
The key objectives of the three-day activity included: 1) the presentation and emphasis on the importance of data analytics in policy formulation, program development, and program monitoring and evaluation; 2) the familiarization of MSME enablers with simple, practical, and useful data analytics tools for MSME applications; 3) the identification of approaches on how to effectively interpret data and communicate information derived from the process; and 4) the sharing of experiences in gathering, processing, and analyzing data.
The workshop was held from May 2 to 4, 2018 at the City Garden Grand Hotel in Makati City. It provided meaningful insights and tools which will be useful to ISSI in fulfilling its mandate of helping the Philippine MSME sector grow.