Kahimunan 2014 Food And Lifestyle Fair At SM City CDO

An annual regional trade fair organize by the Department of Trade and Industry Region 10 (DTI), the “Kahimunan (Creations of Northern Mindanao) Regional Trade Fair” features the SME products of Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental from processed food,  gifts and housewares, fashion accessories, beverages, home style and living, and health and organic products.

Kahimunan is a native term meaning “gathering”. The Kahimunan is a marketing event to enable MSME’s to promote and access new markets for their products. The participants are the recipients of trade trainings and product development seminars prior to the exhibit.

“Kahimunan Regional Trade Fair is an annual market promotion event of Northern Mindanao to support MSME s in the region.  It is a cost-effective marketing strategy to generate sales and meet new buyers as well as existing customers face-to-face. It also provides opportunities to test the market to get immediate market feedback on new product designs or new products developed through product development and trainings conducted,” said Liza V. M. Alcantar, chief, Business Development Division, DTI-X.

“From joining regional trade fairs, many of the small enterprises have gathered sufficient exposure and experience giving them confidence to bring their products to national and international trade events,” she added.

Kahimunan Regional Trade fair has been staged as a trade event since the late 1990s but only started as an annual event to coincide with the Cagayan de Oro fiesta in 2007.For 2012, Kahimunan featured the Bamboo Cluster Showcase and “Speed Matching at a local restaurant with101 SME participants. The activity established a market link between local suppliers and tourism establishments (hotels, restaurants, convenience, and pasalubong stores) wherein the raw material requirements of the tourism establishments’ kitchens such as vegetables, spices, fruits, processed meat and seafood were matched with local SME suppliers.

The exhibit generated PhP 838, 025 sales over the week, a 15% increase over the previous year. The Speed Matching activity and booked sales generated an additional PhP 127, 000 sales.

For the following year, Kahimunan shifted its focus to DTI’s Shared Service Facilities (SSF) focusing on Bamboo, Abaca, processed food, and coffee and coco coir products. SSF is a livelihood assistance program aimed at allowing Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) access to better technology and more sophisticated equipment to improve the salability, production and global competitiveness of their products.

 

“The SSF project is aimed at assisting some 81, 221 SMEs with a good growth potential,” said Ma. Eliza A. Pabillore, DTI Misamis Oriental Provincial Director, organizer of this year’s event. “It also aims to generate 200,000 new jobs all over the country.”

Although the number of exhibitors declined to 51 from 82 in the previous year and the exhibit duration reduced to five days, Kahimunan 2013 nevertheless registered a 74% increase in total sales. Cash sales declined 28% but this was more than compensated for by the astounding 641% increase in booked sales.

For this year, 51 small and medium enterprises from the five provinces of Northern Mindanao are showcasing the region’s best products at the Kahimunan Northern Mindanao 2014 Food and Lifestyle Show which concludes this weekend at SM City, Cagayan de Oro City. Kahimunan 2014 is a core event of the Higalaay Kagay-an Festival 2014, the annual city fiesta festival of Cagayan de Oro City.

Featured products include gifts and housewares, fashion accessories, processed food, beverages, home style and living, health and organic products, and furniture.

For the first time in its four year run, the show will recognize the Best Product Design for Housewares & Furnishings and Fashion Categories and the Most Innovative Food Product.

Best Product Design recognizes the exhibitors and manufacturers who develop innovative and distinctive designs that combine the ideals of form and function. The criteria for selection include design, aesthetic and function appeal, market potential (40%), quality and workmanship (25%), innovation (25%) and materials/sustainability and value-added (10%).

The criteria for selecting the Most Innovative Food Product include Product Innovation (50%) and packaging (50%).

An maximum of 7 points will be awarded to exhibitors who would be able to comply with the following requirements: FDA License to operate, Organic Certification, Halal Certification, HACCP Certification, Export Potential, For Health and Wellness, and 100% use of local ingredients.

The Awards will include a 50% subsidy of the participation fee/booth rental for Kahimunan 2015, promotion through press releases, inclusion in the special setting for Kahimunan 2015.

Originally published on www.kagay-an.com