A huge chunk of the country’s 12 million overseas Filipinos
worldwide (OFWs) and their relatives are seen to swarm the grandest
business and Christmas expo
designed specifically for their entrepreneurial and investment needs.
Various
organizations of OFWs and their relatives are even participating in the
preparations for the expo by calling on their members to join the growing
number of aspiring and successful entrepreneurs in their ranks.
They are led by the
Global OFW Organization, Kabalikat OFWs Association, and the Ka Entrep
Movement, with the OFW families groups in Pasig, Caloocan , Paranaque ,Rizal and
Navotas, among many others, confirming their participation in this event .
“ They (OFWs and their relatives) are
practically mobilizing their individual and collective resources for investment
in the various business opportunities that will be showcased in the Mega Balikbayan/OFW
Expo 2013 slated at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City
on December 10 to 11, in time for the influx of migrant Filipinos for their
yearly Christmas vacation and homecoming,” said chief executive officer
Mitch Ballesteros of expo organizer Exlink Events.
“They are expected to troop to the expo in
droves that can turn the event into a business and Family Christmas gathering of mega-scale,” Ballesteros said.
The remittances
from those OFWs and migrant Filipinos have soared to over $21 billion with the
continued rise in their number and deployment all over the world.
The OFWs alone, excluding their
families, number to roughly 9.5 million to 12.5 million, or around 10 to 11
percent of the country’s total population, according to POEA data.
Moreover, another
1.7 million OFWs were reportedly awaiting deployment for the first 10 months of
last year, which the POEA said would reflect an 8.6-percent growth year on
year.
Such figures make
the OFWs and their families a powerful economic bloc, whose resources can be
mobilized for investments in the various industry sectors to widen the domestic
capital base and strengthen the country’s resistance against external financial
shocks.
“They
(OFWs) can become exporters and their families export producers, thus keeping
their roles as one of the country’s major dollar earners but, this time, also
as job generators instead of job hunters,” Ballesteros pointed out as an
example.
“The
expo will have almost 200 exhibitors collectively offering a complete
menu of businesses and investment opportunities, training and knowledge
sources, and support services, including property firms for their housing needs
and retail shops for their Christmas requirements,” Ballesteros said.
“Thus,
it will be a festival that celebrates the heroism of our OFWs, or a huge
gathering of Filipinos from all over the world who now have an expo they can
call their own,” Ballesteros stressed.
Now on its 10th year, the expo includes
the OFW Business Summit with
seminars on how
to do business in the Philippines and investment literacy
for OFW’s and
Families and the Outstanding Balikbayan Reputation Awards
(OBRA).
Primarily
constituting the expo are the 1) MEGA
INVEST presenting investment opportunities in various fields such as cars
and automobile , real estate and property, manufacturing, franchising
, support technologies, agri-aqua
business, retail and wholesale , distributorships, service outlets, and many
others; 2) MEGA EXPERIENCE offering various travels and tours
packages , holiday destinations,
health and wellness products and services, food and beverages, and hobbies’
businesses ; and 3) MEGA SHOP for discounted
items, Christmas gifts , souvenir items and regional products.
More information
about the event can be obtained from Exlink Events (tel: 632 6433887 / 6437760 ; mobile: 0920 9242532, 0920 9814376; email: info@exlinkevents.com; or visit
www.exlinkevents.com).
- Friday, September 13, 2013
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