BACOLOD City – A total of 17,008 firms in Negros Occidental registered their business names in 2019, records of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) here showed.
This is about 36 percent higher compared with the 12,536 registered business names in 2018.
Engiemar Tupas, officer-in-charge of DTI-Negros Occidental Industry Development Division, on Friday said the increase is a result of continuous information dissemination, entrepreneurship seminars, and the establishment of Negosyo Centers.
In 2019, those who registered their business names totaled 14,602 for new businesses and 2,406 for renewals.
Tupas, who acts as focal person for Go Negosyo Center in Negros Occidental, said the centers provide business name registration services aside from delivering entrepreneurial and business development interventions to micro, small and medium enterprises.
There are 23 Negosyo Centers in the province catering to enterprises applying for business name registration.
These are in the cities of Bacolod, Sipalay, Kabankalan, Himamaylan, La Carlota, Bago, Talisay, Silay, Victorias, Cadiz, Sagay, Escalante and San Carlos as well as in the municipalities of Hinigaran, Hinoba-an, Cauayan, Binalbagan, Isabela, La Castellana, San Enrique, Pontevedra, and E.B. Magalona.
“More businesses would mean more employment generation, thereby spurring economic growth. This would also mean that people have money they could use to purchase products,” Tupas said.
A business name registration is one of the requirements in obtaining a mayor’s permit and also provides legal personality to a business. It is valid for five years.
The penalty for failure to process or renew is “minimal” but an erring establishment can be subjected to closure if it is not registered.
Tupas said for enterprises to grow, business owners should offer new products and services, consider new markets, and expand to un-served new territories.
They should also improve customer service, maximize the use of social media, and have prudent fiscal management, he added. (With a report from PNA/PN)
