Some 200 onsite and online participants gathered at the UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries (ISSI) for a learning series on the circular economy (CE) with the theme From Circularity to Enterprise Value: Building Bankability and Market Access for Circular MSMEs.
The European Parliament website defines CE as a model of production and consumption “which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling materials and products as long as possible.”
Conducted with the help of the Department of Science and Technology Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST – PCAARRD) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Philippines, the session on Oct. 23 featured talks on platforms, mechanisms, and strategies for integrating CE principles into MSMEs.
The session featured four guest speakers who come from institutions that have CE-related financing: May Dar-Arizabal, first vice president of the SME Mid-Market Lending Group of the Land Bank of the Philippines; Shigehiro Shinozaki, senior economist at the Asian Development Bank; Vanessa Velarde, channel marketing, Professional Channel at Signify Philippines; and Sixto Donato C. Macasaet, executive director of the Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc.
Each speaker highlighted the CE-related opportunities, processes in each of their institutions, how they assess bankability, and identified the standards, buyer requirements, traceability systems, and other market conditions that prospective CE-related businesses or initiatives must meet to access financing from their institutions.
The learning session concluded with special remarks from Ambassador Roderick Wols of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Philippines and visits from UPD Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II and representatives from the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines.