ASEAN is a region of deep entrepreneurial spirit. It is also a very young region, and one that has time and again proved to be quite resilient. In the weeks and months ahead, I will be talking a lot about ASEAN, jobs and entrepreneurship as my days as this year’s chair of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council become busier and busier.

And what a time to do it, too. These are times of rapid change and increasing unpredictability. We are talking more than disruptions in global supply chains, and those brought by digital technologies and climate risks. So many things are reshaping the labor market and the opportunities for small businesses. For many households across ASEAN, these changes bring both anxiety and possibility: the worry of job loss, but the hope that new kinds of work and new ventures can provide stable incomes and a better future.

For many years, including when I was last chair of the ASEAN-BAC in 2017, the regional response has invariably been in the form of meetings and policy papers; legacy projects were instituted to ensure long-term action. On the ground, though, I could sense the people’s sentiment that regional concerns were too distant or too removed from everyday life. Trapped in the language of economic policy talk and development jargon are the benefits and impact of these high-level discussions that people can understand and appreciate.

I believe our regional response must move beyond boardrooms and policy papers and into the daily lives of ordinary citizens. That is why this year we have distilled our activities to center around People, Planet, Platform and Productivity, highlighting initiatives on MSME empowerment, women and youth development, food security and green growth, digital and AI integration and stronger trade and supply chain connectivity. These efforts aim to translate policy into action, driving competitiveness and securing inclusive, sustainable growth across the region.

On the local level, we are introducing a new, people-centered initiative – Trabaho@Negosyo – a free, mall-based job fair and entrepreneurship mentoring event designed to make employment and small-business growth tangible and accessible to everyone. Trabaho@Negosyo will bring job-placement services, skills workshops and entrepreneurship mentoring directly to the people. It is built on two important pillars: job creation (trabaho) and micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) growth (negosyo), which are two sides of the same coin. To create durable, inclusive growth, we must expand both pathways simultaneously.

Stable employment is the usual route for most households. A steady wage covers food, health and education expenses; increased wages give people the security to plan for the future. In the short term, job-placement services are critical: they provide matchmaking between employers and workers, upskilling programs tied to real market demand, apprenticeships that work alongside seasoned professionals and support for transitions between sectors when industries decline.

Meanwhile, MSMEs are the backbone of ASEAN economies. They absorb the bulk of the workforce, inject dynamism into local supply chains and serve communities with goods and services. Small firms create jobs within local economies. When a neighborhood sari-sari store grows into a minimart, or a small bag-making operation decides to make more bags, that’s income multiplied across the households of the additional helpers and seamstresses that will be employed by these MSMEs.

But small firms face real constraints: limited access to finance, little business-skill training, burdensome regulations and difficulty scaling. We have, for 20 years, tried to address this in GoNegosyo through our programs like KMME and 3M on Wheels. We bring accountants, successful entrepreneurs, microfinance providers and digital-platform representatives to come and mentor small entrepreneurs and give structured training to their informal knowledge.

But what if jobs and MSMEs grow together? MSMEs create local jobs; these jobs give people the income and experience to shop for services, invest in training and even start their own enterprises. Conversely, a growing pool of well-trained workers enables small businesses to expand and professionalize. When policies or programs favor one pathway at the expense of the other, growth becomes lopsided and fragile.

Consider a town where a new factory opens: it brings immediate employment. But without local MSMEs supplying inputs, servicing workers and offering alternative livelihoods during downturns, that town’s economy becomes dependent on a single employer. Conversely, if entrepreneurial support exists but skilled workers are scarce, small firms struggle to scale and create sustainable employment. We must address both gaps simultaneously. MSMEs create more than half of the jobs, not just in the Philippines or in ASEAN, but across most economies all over the world.

And because of their scale and the diverse and specific nature of their operations, MSMEs can employ women, young people, differently abled individuals and informal workers, who may otherwise face barriers to both employment and entrepreneurship. Women often juggle care responsibilities that limit their ability to participate in traditional work hours; youth may have the digital fluency but lack professional networks; informal workers need formal training but often have no access to education. Making it easier for MSMEs to sprout and succeed increases employment among groups that would otherwise have remained unable to earn or contribute to the economy. And as MSMEs scale up and enter the formal economy, they are also able to contribute in the form of taxes and to the country’s GDP.

This kind of simultaneous scaling of job opportunities and MSMEs requires coordinated action across governments, private firms, banks, NGOs and educational institutions. As I have experienced in the many years that I have advocated for MSMEs in this country, we cannot accomplish much without the government and the private sector working together.

And I have always maintained that in order to succeed in entrepreneurship, one needs to keep a positive attitude. Let me add, though, that in this broader scope of harnessing the power of MSMEs to bring about inclusive growth, this optimism must be grounded in action. Inclusive growth means investing in skills, reducing barriers for MSMEs and aligning private-sector and government efforts. Quality employment must become possible and entrepreneurship practical, so that our actions as leaders are visible to everyday citizens.

 Originally Published in Philippine Star