Catalysts of Growth: Exploring MSME Trade Fairs’ Role in Nurturing Local Development

The government should organize MSME trade fairs to provide the local Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME), said the businessmen.
The government currently provides sector-wise activities including loans to promote the sector of MSMEs.
On the other hand, the entrepreneurs face certain obstacles regarding capital, local market shares and penetration of the international market. It also needs to provide technical assistance to those who run small-sized businesses hardly applying modern techniques to ensure market shares, advertising and market penetration on social networks.
“When the technologies are developing, the authorities should provide the MSME business people with the innovative and quality technologies to manufacture, distribute and promote the market in the local,” Ma Khin Mar Win, who sells organic shampoo and cosmetics online told The Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM).
When it comes to the development of MSMEs, the government organizes trade fairs to showcase the local products of respective regions including foodstuffs, commodities and materials of SMEs.
When business people participate in trade fairs and introduce their products, they can grab proper market shares and the customers can buy the things they want in one place. Therefore, the MSME trade fair is such as win-win situation.
“I visit the SME trade fairs and consider what benefits I did get from that. I meet the entrepreneurs and receive proper advice like what kind of manageable scale business should I run,” Ko Lwin Ko Oo from Tamway Township told The GNLM.
Most of the SMEs running on social networks are foodstuffs and commodities such as shampoo, soap and handmade products and most of them are export outlets and used household items. “The people are interested in online sales of local products and food, especially fish paste, dried fish and seasonal fruits. The sale rate of handmade products is low as well as the textiles from looms. The live sales of foreign products and garments are on the rise. The people buy used bed sheets, blankets, clothes, kitchen utensils and shoes knowing that they can get them at cheap prices. The locally-produced Mutra mat, blanket, handkerchief and aluminium pots do not have market shares. The influence of foreign-made products becomes wider and the people might not know to value the products of their country. Therefore, the fairs to display local products from various regions should be held frequently. The pagoda festival in countryside areas offers different products of different regions and it is just a kind of festival concentrated on SMEs,” he added. Those run SMEs should make a fine packaging system before distributing in the market, as it can guarantee market share and public interest besides the market penetration locally and internationally, a businessman considered.
“Product’s packaging should be unique to penetrate the domestic market. If the product is cheap but the quality is better than the existing products in the market, the people will mostly choose the local product instead of imported products. If so, it can penetrate the market soon,” Ko Aung Naing Thu, an MSME analyst told the GNLM. Translated/KTZH