ENTERPRISE REGISTRATION. A personnel of the Department of Trade and Industry-Negros Occidental accepts an application for business name registration at the Negosyo Center in Bacolod City. There are 23 Negosyo Centers in the province catering to enterprises seeking to register their business names. (File photo courtesy of DTI-Negros Occidental)
BACOLOD CITY – A total of 17,008 enterprises in Negros Occidental applied for business name registration in 2019, records of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) here showed.
This is about 36 percent higher compared to a total of 12,536 registered business names in 2018.
Engiemar Tupas, officer-in-charge of DTI-Negros Occidental Industry Development Division, said on Friday the increase is a result of continuous information dissemination, entrepreneurship seminars, and the establishment of Negosyo Centers.
In 2019, those who registered their business name 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, which is valid for five years, is one of the requirements in obtaining a mayor’s permit and also provides legal personality to a business.
The penalty for failure to process or renew is “minimal” but an erring establishment can be subjected to closure if it does not have a registered business name.
Tupas also advised business owners that for their enterprises to further grow, they should offer new products and services, consider new markets, and expand to unserved new territories.
They should also improve customer service, maximize the use of social media, and have prudent fiscal management, he added. (PNA)
