DHL to help small businesses reach global markets

Global logistics giant DHL plans to help local small and medium enterprises (SMEs), sometimes called "mom and pop" businesses, grow by reaching global markets. At a recent briefing, DHL CEO for Africa and South Asia Pacific Amadou Diallo said, “We plan to give SMEs in the Philippines access to these global markets." Roughly half of DHL’s revenues come from SMEs, Diallo noted. The company aims to maintain that ratio even as the amount of freight handled for bigger companies increases along with improvements in the economy, Diallo said. “But these SMEs, which are usually family-owned, don’t have their own procurement or logistics departments," Diallo said. He said the company plans to give SMEs a chance to tap markets like the US, Japan, Europe and even Latin America and Africa. “We want to give them a platform that will allow them to be the big players of the future," he said. The services DHL aims to provide for SMEs includes helping them comply with customs regulations in other countries. “We want to de-complicate global trade," Diallo said. Diallo said DHL was optimistic about economic prospects in the Philippines, which is expected to climb up to eight percent this year. “That growth projection is just south of the growth expected in China and India. It is also the fastest in the Asia Pacific region," Diallo said. Diallo noted that “the Philippines is close to developed markets like China but it is also linked to other markets in Southeast Asia." He believed that the Philippines is poised to post record-growth because of the country’s geographical location, making it an ideal trading hub for the Asia Pacific region. He noted that the Asia Pacific region is expected to outpace the economic growth of the rest of the world. Diallo and other DHL officials spoke to reporters as the company opened its new P40-million facility in Pasay City, in front of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3. The company’s corporate offices in the Philippines will be housed in the new facility. DHL has 2,500 employees in the Philippines. In 2009, it handled close to a million shipments going in and out of the Philippines. – VVP, GMANews.TV