A region-wide entrepreneur mentoring program is set to be rolled out across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) this month, bringing formal training to millions of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Go Negosyo, the advocacy arm of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship, said on Wednesday that the modules-based program dubbed as the Asean Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network (Amen) will be facilitated by accredited mentors and designed for MSMEs

“It can be likened to an MBA (Master of Business Administration) program for MSMEs,” Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion said in a statement.

Amen will be supervised by the Japan-Asean Integration Fund (JAIF), which provided an initial $347,396-grant in March of 2019 for its pilot phase and another $333,943 grant in March of 2022.

Aside from the JAIF, the program will also be under the supervision of the Asean Business Advisory Council (Abac) and the Asean Coordinating Committee on MSMEs.

Concepcion was at the handover ceremonies of Abac in Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 30, where he reiterated the importance of MSMEs in achieving inclusive economic prosperity in the region.

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“We must embrace these MSMEs. It is our responsibility as big business to help MSMEs move up the ladder,” he said.

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“As we scale them up, your businesses will also scale up,” he said.

Upgrading and upskilling MSMEs, he said, could have a great impact on Asean economy, helping member-states achieve greater equality and prosperity.

Concepcion said there were more than 70 million MSMEs in the region, with estimates pointing that these businesses were responsible for generating 85 percent of the jobs and 45 percent of regional gross domestic product.

In the Philippines alone, MSMEs make up 99.51 percent of total businesses, based on 2020 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

—Alden M. Monzon