DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/6 June) – The business chamber in this city will be in the limelight during the 7th World Chambers Congress in Mexico City starting Wednesday when it is slated to present a project chosen as among the top five in the biennial affair’s best international project competition.
The Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) will be presenting the project titled “Capacity Enhancement for Voluntary Business Support Organization: Empowering the Davao Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Sector.”
The project was chosen from among entries submitted by 78 countries.
Simeon Marfori, former chamber president, will be presenting the project in the WCC, said DCCCII executive director Mary Anne Abundo.
“He will present not just the programs of the chamber but also its impact to the community,” she said.
Abundo said they have been preparing hard for Marfori’s PowerPoint presentation since April.
Marfori and Dr. Maria Lourdes Monteverde, DCCII president, will depart tonight (Monday) while Bert Barriga, president of Davao Information Communication Technology, Inc. (ICT Davao), will leave Tuesday.
DCCII will compete with Canterbury Employer’s Chamber of Commerce (New Zealand), Handwerkskammer Koblenz (Germany), Izmir Chamber of Commerce (Turkey) and Winnipeg Chamber (Canada).
Among the five finalist, DCCCII is the only local chamber as the others are all national chambers, Abundo said.
In an interview earlier, Barriga said they will present the success stories behind the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry in Davao.
He added they will also present the growth of employment in the BPO industry and the economic development it has done for the city.
In his Economic Outlook For 2011 report to Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, Jayson Magnaye, Davao City Investment and Promotion Center (DCIPC) chief, said ICT remains “the most promising” industry in this city in the short to medium terms.
“The continuing success of ICT sector is bolstered by the city’s recognition as the No. 1 Next Wave City in the Philippines last year and the country’s emergence as the world’s No. 1 destination for business processing outsourcing (BPO),” he said.
Last year, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and the Department of Trade and Industry called Davao as the leading “next wave” city for BPO.
In its 2010 Davao Socioeconomic Output and 2011 Development Outlook Report for Region XI, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) regional office said the city’s ICT-BPO industry’s potential is “so vast” that the sector is expected to provide 150,000 jobs and generate investments of US$1.25 billion by 2016.
The WCC is the only international forum for chamber executives and business leaders worldwide to share best-practice experience, develop networks and learn about new areas of innovation from other chambers, as they face the challenge of remaining relevant to companies in their region, the WCC website reported.
In its press statement, DCCII said “this is another avenue for Davao City Chamber to showcase its determination to strengthen industry association as a potent ally in investment generation.”
“More importantly, this gathering of more than 12,000 chambers of commerce, their presidents and CEOs, business members and influential world leaders opens an invaluable opportunity for the City of Davao,” it said.
The last congress, held in Kuala Lumpur in 2009, attracted 1,000 delegates from more than 100 countries.
The next WCC will be in Qatar in 2013. (Rico Biliran / MindaNews)
