MAKATI CITY, December 9 – Asia Society Philippines and APEC Business Advisory Council, in partnership with GoNegosyo recently hosted a private reception with Diane Wang, Founder and CEO of DHGate.com and one of Forbes’ Asia’s Most Powerful Businesswomen. In attendance were members of the Philippine ICT (Infrastructure, Communications and Technology) and SME (small-medium enterprise) communities and representatives from the APEC 2015 Informal Senior Officials' Meeting (ISOM).

The theme of the reception was about the e-Commerce Boom: Business in China and Global Opportunities which aimed to pool together businessmen, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders in ICT, for an open discussion on the successes and challenges of China, and how the Philippines could apply knowledge, and thus leverage e-commerce to help local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) scale up in a more globally integrated environment.

During the talk, Diane Wang mentioned that there are millions of SMEs in China bringing their businesses online, and it is partly the reason why China has surpassed the US as the largest world economy. China has become the largest e-commerce market in the world, as online transactions run between $190-210 billion annually. She highlighted that cross-border e-commerce has been helping SMEs in China, and that it has created an unprecedented shift in the global market with cross-border trading countries estimated to increase 300% and reach 307 billion USD by 2017.

Moreover, she emphasized that e-commerce has proven to be one of the best ways for SMEs to gain access to international markets, micro-financing, and capacity building needs. This has empowered entrepreneurs and created more opportunities for innovation and business. It is seen that there has been a transition from traditional trade to cross-border e-commerce, as the internet empowered small and micro entrepreneurs with the opportunity to interact with the world and to foster innovation.

Ms. Wang also explained that SMEs should take advantage of cross-border e-commerce because it is revolutionizing the industry in two ways: that it bypasses the middlemen and allows the manufacturers to interact directly to buyers and thus shortens the transaction process; and profit margins of SMEs have improved significantly since e-commerce reduces cost.

The forum concluded with a discussion on ‘how can we become a more integrated community?’ wherein business leaders, and innovators expressed various opinions and suggestions. An overall theme was the need to create a think tank to empower SMEs, analyze business models and identify best practices that SMEs can adapt, and deliver a final report. There is also the need to push for government to employ free access to information and communications technology (ICT) education, or digital literacy, and to provide a platform for SMEs to have access to training, whether online or offline.

Asia Society Philippines looks forward to hosting many visiting thought leaders who will be visiting the Philippines in 2015 for various APEC public and private meetings.

Asia Society Philippines aims to strengthen relationships, deepen understanding and bridge differences across the Philippines, Asia and the United States. We develop cross-sector programs that bring together peoples, leaders and institutions to promote understanding of Asia, across the fields of policy, business leadership, education and arts and culture.