The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has brought its business services closer to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the remote island barangay of Semirara in Caluya with the opening of a Negosyo Center.

DTI Antique provincial director Mary Jade Gonzales said Friday that the Negosyo Center, which opened Sept. 2, provides MSMEs access to business registration assistance, information, training, financing and market linkages.

“Semirara is the first barangay in Antique to have a Negosyo Center with a business counselor assigned,” Gonzales said in an interview.

The center was opened at the request of Barangay Captain Catherine Lim, who provided the office space, she said.

Semirara has about 1,000 registered businesses and the center will also serve residents of other island barangays in Caluya, Gonzales said.

She said the opening of the center in Semirara came after DTI had established and fully operationalized Negosyo Centers in all of Antique’s 18 municipalities.

Antique was the first province in Western Visayas to establish Negosyo Centers in all its municipalities in 2018, Gonzales said.

Meanwhile, DTI Kapatid Mentor Me (KMME) graduates in Antique have formed a credit cooperative to provide financing to fellow entrepreneurs.

The Kami Antique Credit Cooperative opened its office in San Jose de Buenavista on Friday, becoming the first credit cooperative formed by KMME graduates in Western Visayas, Gonzales said.

“The Kami Antique Credit Cooperative shows your KMME’s strong commitment to serve the MSMEs,” she said.

The cooperative was registered with the Cooperative Development Authority on May 19, 2025, and now has 75 KMME graduates as members.

It plans to provide loans that MSME members can use as business capital.

Gonzales said the cooperative could help improve the livelihoods of MSMEs by providing capital that could support business expansion, job creation and income generation in local communities. (PNA)