UnionBank GlobalLinker Online Academy holds webinar on market opportunity discovery for MSMEs

UnionBank GlobalLinker (UBGL) Online Academy — a joint initiative of UBGL and the Retail Academy of the Philippines (RAP), recently held a free webinar for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to impart knowledge that will help them thrive especially in the digital age.

RAP President and Founder Eric Caeg was the main speaker. His presentation, titled "The Market Opportunity Navigator: Steps for Discovering Your Most Valuable Market Opportunities" talked about how entrepreneurs can identify and assess these untapped markets to grow their business. 

“MSMEs really are the key in ensuring the steady recovery of our economy in the next few years. Clearly, we must all work together in creating an environment where they can succeed,” said Jaypee Soliman, VP and CXG-SME and Micropreneurs Segment head, UnionBank.  “The UBGL Online Academy is all about championing education and growth for the Filipino MSMEs, and this webinar is just the beginning of an exciting journey with us,” adds Soliman.

Citing a framework developed by educator-authors Sharon Tal and Marc Gruber, Caeg discussed how this can be applied to local businesses and cited a few case studies on how the scheme can be maximized.

The framework consists of three main steps, each represented by its own template. The first is the Market Opportunity Set, which as the name suggests, entrepreneurs can use to identify potential market opportunities. This is followed by the Attractiveness Map, used to evaluate the appeal of each market opportunity in the first step. The template features a compass characterized by four extremes: Gold Mine, Moon Shot, Quick Win, and Questionable. 

The last is the Agile Focus Dartboard, used to identify the Agile Focus Strategy. The template consists of three layers to define the opportunities that can be pursued right away, as well as those that can be saved as backup or utilized for future growth.

Caeg explains, “Know how important it is to apply the Market Opportunity Navigator whenever you need to re-think your strategy -- to make sure that you are running and going towards the right direction and at the same time, remain agile while doing all of these steps.” 

The webinar was the first free offering from UBGL Online Academy, a two-pronged program for the continuous education of MSMEs. Other channels also at no cost to attendees are podcasts and deep-dive MSME modules.