MANILA – Small business owners know they need to digitalize their processes and innovate to face current challenges, but some find it hard to do it due to lack of information where to tap these innovations.
In a virtual briefing on Friday, Union Bank of the Philippines (Unionbank) vice president and SME (small, medium enterprises) segment head Jaypee Soliman said sources of these innovations are also too fragmented, which makes it hard for small businesses to adapt to it.
There are currently separate venues for e-commerce, payment, and logistics partners, he said.
“And that is why, Unionbank has been championing platforms and we are championing hubs,” he said during the launch of UPAY, an all-in-one payment acceptance hub.
The bank also launched the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) business banking app last January.
Soliman said access to finance is the primary challenge that is always cited in the case of MSMEs.
He, however, said the real challenge is not the financing per se but “because the cash flow has been disrupted.”
“People cannot collect on time but people need to pay things on time,” he said, citing that UPAY addresses this by allowing business owners to digitize the way to collect payments.
With UPAY, business owners need to simply send a link that contains the amount that the customers need to pay.
Unionbank officials said the bank has also partnered with several payment channels that have branches in more than 50,000 locations nationwide to lessen the need for business owners to give out their bank account details to collect payments.
Unionbank executive vice president and chief customer experience officer Ana Aboitiz-Delgado said they are also conducting training and mentoring, with the help of various government agencies and private entities, to help MSMEs.
She said one-on-one mentorships have also been given to select MSMEs that are having a hard time finalizing their business models.
“We’re finding this to be very effective and value-adding, I guess, you can say service or advocacy to help them out in these difficult times,” she added. (PNA)
