DTI goes to Cebu towns, cities in biz name-listing drive

THE Department of Trade and Industry in Region 7 is expecting to surpass the number of business name registrants in 2015 especially with the start this month of its intensive mobile business name registration campaign.

“We are coordinating as early as January with the LGUs for the permits. We are fielding five BN (business name) examiners to towns and municipalities,” said Zaide Bation, DTI head of Consumer Welfare and Business Division Board.

According to the DTI, the campaign is a mobile one-stop shop for business name registrations in the towns and cities of Cebu as the agency will go there to provide this service. This will make it easier for businesses to register their business names.

Aside from that, they will also be able to get other needed permits for businesses as the agency will be coordinating closely with the local government units in each area.

Examiners will be in each town or municipality for 1-2 days to process papers and release the certificates.

The mobile business name registrations will cover as far as San Fernando in the south of Cebu and Danao in the north.

Bation said the increase in the number of business names registered in 2015 is reflective of a more vibrant regional economy as more small businesses have surfaced and registered.

In 2015, DTI 7 recorded a total of 14,920 approved business names, exceeding their 2015 target of 14,817 by 103 business names.

This is 7.71 percent higher than the aggregate number of business names approved in 2014 which was 13,770.

Annually, growth in the number of business names registered and approved by DTI is projected at around 10 percent.

Of the 14,920 names approved in 2015, majority were new businesses as opposed to renewed registrants. Many were also from the trading and retail sectors.

The increase in business name approval comes in spite of a decrease in the aggregate capitalization for single proprietorship, as well as decrease in employment, between 2014 and 2015.

Bation said that this is reflective of the nature of businesses that have applied last year.

In 2014, DTI recorded a total of P5.42 billion in terms of capitalization, and an employment of 29,221. In 2015, the numbers decreased to P2.28 billion in capitalization and 25,428 in employment.

“Business name registrations for 2015 are not big ticket businesses but those with small capitalization,” she said.

She also said that last year, majority of the businesses registered were low labor intensive and required only a few people.