This week the new commitment of the National Government was launched to bring its demand for goods and services to small businessmen, in order to boost the popular economy, as promised by President Gustavo Petro since he was in campaign. Colombia Compra Eficiente will be a key piece in this work.
Cristobal Padilla, director of this entity, explained that from now on, rural producers of coffee, aromatics and panela, as well as small businesses such as neighborhood stores, stationery stores and hardware stores, among many others in the popular and community economy, will be able to access public procurement and becoming State suppliers.
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“All this will be done through a new digital tool, called Mi Mercado Popular.which consists of the enabling of a virtual module with which the country’s public procurement system is transformed,” Padilla explained.
In Colombia Compra Eficiente they highlighted that the objective of this measure is to give a boost to low-scale economies, that is, to personal, family and micro-businesses in any sector, so that in this way bases are generated towards a more robust economy. and equitable.
The training will aim to help micro, small and medium-sized companies in the country to be hired by the Government.
“The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), to which Colombia belongs, estimates that public purchases represent between 10% and 15% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Consequently, for small businesses and microenterprises, becoming suppliers of the public sector represents a possibility to promote its activities,” highlighted Cristóbal Padilla.
From Colombia Compra Eficiente they pointed out that the Government hopes that in this way state contracting will be democratized and give opportunities to small establishments, thus generating a social benefit in their environments and spaces of growth for the people who every day put themselves at risk for the entrepreneurship.
“It is estimated that in Colombia there are more than 5.1 million micro businesseswhich drive the economies in neighborhoods, municipalities and towns, according to the most recent Dane survey, which measures this area. These productive units generate more than 6.7 million jobs and constitute an engine of the national economy,” they stated.
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According to Colombia Compra Eficiente, the new “Mi Mercado Popular” platform is aimed at supporting traditionally excluded communities, promoting their active participation in public procurement processes. Basically, it is a module of the Virtual Store of the Colombian State -TVEC- that democratizes access to the Public Procurement System for actors of the popular economy.
“The Popular Economy refers to commercial trades and occupations (production, distribution and marketing of goods and services) and non-commercial (domestic or community) developed by low-scale economic units (personal, family, micro-businesses or micro-enterprises), in any economic sector. The actors of the Popular Economy can carry out their activities individually, in economic units, or organized in an associative manner,” says the Mercado Popular portal.
This system works through two instruments, through which offers of various types can be accessed. The first is for printing consumables and is intended to satisfy the supply needs of state entities up to the minimum amount of products of this type.
Colombian pesos.
The other modality is to meet the acquisition or supply needs. of non-perishable food and basic hygiene items for personal use from State Entities for purchase from MSMEs and actors of the Popular Economy up to the minimum amount.
To access this type of offers, you must be in the MySMEs category and have registration with the Chamber of Commerce. For legal entities, the Corporate Purpose must be related to the purpose of the IAD; for natural persons, at least one of the following ISIC codes: 4721, 4711, 4729 or 4722 in their Commercial Registry.
Likewise, in the case of Temporary Unions and Consortia, these must integrate at least one Microenterprise and They should not have a large company among their members.
