SHARING her knowledge and expertise to uplift other people's lives from poverty is a thing that she did not think will bear a fruit.
Belen Laud recently awarded as one of the seven Datu Bago awardees this year said that it was the observed pains of her mother in 5-6 scheme during her growing years that inspired her to help the poor through organizing cooperatives to help the marginalized sector.
Being part of Santa Ana Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Samulco) for 40 years, Laud said she is really happy that their coop has grown so much from when it started. She had been the chair of the cooperative in 1998, 2000, and 2001.
Seeing Laud, and listening her speak about cooperatives, you can really see her dedication and passion on the field.
She said due to continuous education with other cooperatives, she was able to share the culture of transparency; promoted value of saving and continuous capital build up to other budding cooperatives.
Laud said she taught financial management and also taught cooperatives how to make financial statements to those who have just barely started.
"I cannot count how many cooperatives anymore, maybe it is more than 500.
There is something about cooperatives, I will not say that I was the one who taught them but we already have six billionaire coops in the city," she said.
Laud said she can hear success stories of people who started selling banana-cue on the streets who have succeeded in letting their children go to well-off schools by being members of cooperatives and this is for her an overwhelming fact.
She said that Samulco also now has its own foundation, which caters to the poorest of the poor.
Aside from teaching many cooperatives, Laud is also now inspiring cancer survivors, as she has also been a cancer survivor for the last eighteen years.
Laud, having given the highest award given to a Dabawenyo, for her work with cooperatives offers her success to the lives she has touched.
She said for as long as she lives, she intends to spend her life to continue as an auditor for cooperatives and to conduct consultancy services as an accredited cooperative accountant.
During the Datu Bago Awards, Laud was cited for her work as a leader, as a consultant, accredited mediator and conciliator, cooperative auditor, and formidable lecturer. Her work in cooperatives for more than four decades greatly contributed to the empowerment of marginalized sector. (KVC)