DTI VI to assist 160 MSMEs on design and brand upgrade

DTI VI OIC Regional Director Rebecca M. Rascon and DTI Iloilo Provincial Director Diosdado P. Cadena, Jr. (center) with PJ Arañador (fifth from right) and his team of product designers during the Design Direction Session for Region VI on July 2, 2018.

The DTI VI will conduct a product development program to 160 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Western Visayas, under the One Town, One Product Next Generation (OTOP NextGen) project.

“Market is always fresh, new and exciting. It is not necessarily that old practices work all the time, so this is the advocacy of the DTI VI for innovation,” said international lifestyle designer PJ Arañador, who also serves as the creative director of the project.

He emphasized that if you are innovative, you create new market in terms of excitement, opportunities, and competition. “The bottom line is to make these products highly profitable. To translate designs into profit. To get the profit back to our MSMEs,” Arañador said.

DTI VI OIC Regional Director Rebecca M. Rascon encouraged the designers to use and promote local materials in the region by creating innovative products out of it, and develop new products and explore new markets.

On November, Arañador said, “we can monitor if the design is effective, the branding, and all other efforts, will be validated by the actual market.” Panublion, an annual trade exhibit of MSMEs in Western Visayas, will be held on November.