Senior Dutch Experts lift SMEs to the next level

When Mercedes “Litlit” Pelaez-Mejia first added coconut vinegar or sukang tuba to her SLERS product line, she simply considered it as the company's  “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) project since it provided livelihood for a number of households in the Cagayan de Oro City barangay of San Simon and the Misamis Oriental towns of Tagoloan and El Salvador.

All that changed when Dr. Alexander Muntjewerf was assigned by the PUM, or Netherlands Senior Experts, to take a closer look at the “CSR” product.

With a doctorate in Applied Physics and masters in Food Technology, the Indonesia-born Muntjewerf was first and foremost a certified “foodie” who had a vast store of research-based knowledge about foods and the food industry.

“His expertise really showed and manifested itself in whatever matter we discussed regarding food, be it wines, milk, or baby foods,” Ms. Mejia said.

From its humble beginnings as a complementary product to SLERS famous Chicharon, Dr. Muntjewerf showed SLERS the full potential of their humble sukang tuba which is now marketed as Sukang Tuba (made from pure coconut sap with no artificial ingredients) and Spicy Sukang Tuba (made from pure coconut sap and spices with no artificial ingredients).

With indigenous technology from the Dept. of Science and Technology (DOST), Ms. Mejia and Dr. Muntjewerf drew up a business plan that would catapult SLERS “CSR” vinegar into the export market while complying with the target importing countryaaaa’s strict import standards on taste, acidity level and shelf life, among others.

The Netherlands Senior Experts Program (PUM) which deployed Muntjewerf  to SLERS is being implemented by an independent Dutch organization to provide consultancy services for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and institutions.

“The expert assigned to us, Jack Tempeelars, was a former secretary-general of a chamber of commerce of Netherlands whose expertise and experience was exactly what we needed to stabilize the Oro Chamber's finances and strengthen it as a business support institution,” he recalls. “It was through Mr. Tempelaars guidance that Orochamber decided to shift paradigms and thus became innovative and collaborative in its development approaches.”

Vegafria said that without exception, all of the PUM intervention in northern Mindanao were successful in bringing the SME beneficiaries to the next level. Today there are about 13 deployments of PUM experts to the region including five so far this year. North-Central Mindanao has an allocation of 12 projects for the year 2009.

“We have helped enterprises as varied as abaca handicrafts exporter, hand-made paper exporter, hotel, health spa, hydro-power projects, food processor, salt producer, agriculture and agri-business, metal industry and soon in the water district, water purification and educational institution,” he added. Vegafria said applications for PUM senior experts assistance are still open.

PUM has been a leading player in the area of international development since 1978. Its volunteer experts work in 80 countries in Asia, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Projects are conducted on a short term basis, generally lasting two to three weeks.

In its website, PUM outlines its philosophy that ensuring a sustainable development of the private sector is the best way to fight poverty. Its policy is practical and business-like: helping small and medium-sized businesses become self-sustaining is more effective than theorizing and moralizing. PUM only provides help in response to specified requests: it works directly and cost-effectively. The Netherlands has large numbers of retired experts who are willing to offer their services and skills free of charge.

Companies that apply for PUM senior expert assistance pay only local expenses such as board and lodging and local transport for the expert for the duration of the engagement.

PUM pays for the round-trip airline travel expenses of the export to and from Netherlands and Cagayan de Oro.

In 2006, the Philippines had the most number of projects with 66 within the South and Southwest Asian sector to which it has been clustered. However, it ranked only second in 2007 with 55 to North Indiaaaaa’s 58 and slipped to fifth in 2008 following North India, Indonesia Java, South India and Indonesia East.

After 3o years and 25,000 projects, PUM has built up a wealth of experience in supporting small and medium enterprises around the globe. PUM activities focus mainly on private sector development by providing support to individual companies and institutions creating an enabling environment for the private sector.  PUM provides a diverse package of services and know-how: consultancy on technical problems, financial management, organization of production, company restructuring and staff policy, consultancy support in the sphere of management, marketing, search for partners in Holland, and many other fields of activity.