OVER 250 micro financing institutes (MFIs), serving as conduits in delivering the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) Program to micro enterprises, gather on November 26, 2018 at the Philippine International Cultural Center (PICC) in Pasay City to discover areas on how to deliver efficient and quicker loans to micro enterprises.
The Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) National Congress will also involve various micro finance stakeholders serve as an avenue for accredited MFIs to share their knowledge and best practices in delivering the P3 program, Small Business Corporation President and CEO Ma. Luna Cacanando explained.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel and Misamis Oriental Representative Peter Unabia will grace the event.
“Access to finance is one of the many concerns of micro enterprises, which is why we have tapped our credit delivery partners in the provinces in different parts of the country to reach more entrepreneurs in the countryside and help spur economic activity in the area and provide employment to Filipinos,” Cacanando pointed out.
To ensure the growth and advancement of the MSME sector, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has advocated the seven-point strategy called “7Ms of Successful Entrepreneurship” as guide for MSME growth. One of the 7Ms include “Money Access,” which provides an enterprise capital through the lending companies, including SB Corp.
The Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) program is the administration’s landmark loan financing program intended to give micro enterprises better access to finance, providing them an alternative to the informal or 5-6 scheme of lending.
Cacanando said access to finance is one of the perennial problems of an enterprise, thus making it difficult for the business to expand.
“With the P3 Program, micro enterprises, who are at the bottom of the pyramid are given opportunity to expand their businesses through affordable and cost-effective loans,” she said.
Latest data show that as of November 2018, the P3 program has assisted over 52,000 micro enterprises throughout the country with a total of P1.7 billion.
Under the P3 Program, a micro enterprise can borrow between P5,000 up to P200,000 depending on its business need and repayment capacity with no collateral requirement. Interest rate and service fees, all in, do not exceed 2.5% monthly. (PR)