The
Department of Trade and Industry, represented by Usec. Zeny Maglaya of the
Regional Operation and Development Group, has signed a memorandum with SM
Malls, represented by its EVP Ricky Lim, for the establishment of DTI Business
Service Centers in all SM Centers nationwide. The DTI Business Service Centers
will initially cover 24 SM Malls in Metro Manila as well as SM Malls in Bacoor
and Dasmarinas in Cavite, Santa Rosa and Calamba in Laguna and Marilao in
Bulacan.
Establishing
DTI Service Centers to accept business name applications was a strategy for
strengthening networking with the private sector. The project multiplied DTI
resources by providing more venues for business name registration.
In
2008, the e-business name registration was offered to the public, allowing
online registration using G-Cash as an online payment system. At that time, SM
offered its space, manpower and G-Cash facility to provide the service. The
project was implemented in 32 malls nationwide, processing about 8,870 business
name registrations until 2010. However, because of the volume of users, the
system experienced difficulties and was temporarily shelved.
Since
then, the system has been enhanced, adopting a cloud-based set-up and e-payment
through G-Cash and Bancnet services, and is now being rolled out with the
revitalized partnership between DTI and SM Malls.
