DTI’s Nelly Dillera emphasizes importance of digitalization for enterprises

A lot has happened during the pandemic, but one of the biggest developments is the embracing of digitalization across different sectors. The aftermath of COVID-19 saw the rise of blockchain, digital currencies, NFTs, digital payments, and, most recently, artificial intelligence.

Participating at the Digital Pilipinas Festival 2023, the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Nelly Dillera shared the agency’s initiatives in training and digitizing Micro, Small, and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines.

“Enterprises [must] embrace digitalization because if they don’t embrace digitalization and technology, I think they will be left behind,” Dillera told CoinGeek Backstage reporter Claire Celdran on the sidelines of the event.

Dillera heads the Department of Trade and Industry’s Philippine Trade Training Center (DTI-PTTC), which provides training to MSMEs by offering marketing, financial literacy programs, operations, market certification programs, and human capital development courses.

“[We’re] training and scaling our enterprises in terms of utilization of technologies. We kind of integrate the use of digital tools and technology in the courses that we offer,” she said.

In terms of upskilling efforts and incorporating technologies like blockchain and AI in their initiatives, Dillera shared that DTI’s competitiveness and innovation group has different pilot projects for AI. However, the DTI-PTTC focuses on advancing processes for manufacturing businesses.

“We also have other projects like Fabrication Laboratory or Digifab, [which] our enterprises can make use of like in advanced manufacturing [and] additive manufacturing,” Dillera said.

Headquartered in Manila, DTI’s Philippine Trade Training Center offers training and support to small business owners in the Philippines, helping them strengthen their businesses and compete in new markets. They offer a wide range of assistance in areas such as import and export procedures, overseas market opportunities, international trade practices, and more.

“Our contribution to the startups [economy] in the Philippines is more on providing them training—entrepreneurship training,” explained Dillera. “If they’ve already developed a certain digital tool that can be used by anybody, [or any] business, and they wanted to make use of whatever service or whatever output they have into a business, that’s where we come in. We teach business modeling, pitching…[which] I think is very important if they are looking for possible investors to fund their project.”

Watch: The 2023 Year in Review of blockchain adoption in the Philippines