Tuesday February 09 2010

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The Micro-No-More (MNM) Movement

about-micronomoreThe Micro-No-More (MNM) Movement is a movement of like-minded individuals and organizations in the micro- and SME- (small, medium-enterprise) finance industry in the Philippines and around the globe. Launched in November 2008 in the central island of Leyte in the Philippines, the basis of unity of the MNM Movement is the need to build awareness and spur concerted action towards building truly economically self-sustaining communities (ESSCs) or economically empowered communities, and thus coordinate the mobilization of technical and financial resources in sustaining these communities.

MNM’s task includes providing investment facilities and management of equity investments, coordination and alignment of financial services of providers, tapping of macroeconomics-provided technology, information-dissemination and advocacy, and building of model communities through financing facilitation and enterprise development.

MNM’s headquarters is housed at the SEEDFINANCE Corporation office in Parc House Building, 227 EDSA Greenhills, Mandaluyong City, Philippines. More…

Posted on April 16, 2009
Micronomore | 2 Comments

The Micro-No-More Perspective

Micro No More Perspective - micronomore.comMicrofinance is not the catch-all cure for poverty and economic stagnation. It should have a perspective of the micro- going beyond its boundaries/limitations, growing with the times, adapting to the changes in the macro-economic environment, providing or laying down the groundwork for far-reaching solutions to present economic dire straits. Without a perspective of growth, microfinance will forever be in our midst as poverty will last forever (Perez 2008).

The Micro No More! As the micro-entrepreneur graduates to next level entrepreneurship, towards small-scale or even medium-scale businesses. These small and medium-sized enterprises in one community harness the raw materials and process them into consumer goods. Machineries and equipments necessary for processing are powered by renewable sources of energy and maintained by local organizations and able individuals . In effect, generation of employment and circulation of funds are guaranteed.

The Micro No More perspective envisions a hopefully better alternative of building economically-self-sustaining communities rather than the purist implementation of microcredit that has a tendency of achieving only a single bottom line of organizational self-sufficiency. More…

Posted on April 16, 2009
Micronomore | Leave a Comment

Micronomore Survey Invitation

We would appreciate your response. Please take a minute to complete the following survey.

http://questionpro.com/t/CGmDkZDPUkB

All responses will be secured. Thank you in advance for your valuable input. Your input will be used to ensure that we continue to meet your needs at the best way possible. We appreciate your trust and look forward to serving you in the future.

Survey Closing date is January 31, 2010

SEEDFINANCE Corporation

Posted on January 19, 2010
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ENCASH & SEEDFINANCE INK AGREEMENT


ENCASH: Creating a Niche in the Industry

ENCASH has made great inroads in providing ATM service to the Philippine countryside. As the first Independent ATM Deployer in the Philippines, ENCASH provides privately-owned ATMs to areas not deemed viable by commercial banks, allowing users in remote locations to conveniently obtain access to their finances. An ENCASH ATM may be found in over seventy (70) partner rural banks, cooperatives, tourist destinations, town halls and other partner entities in more than forty (40) provinces all over the country.

ENCASH started its operations on December 2007 with only five (5) ATMs. In twenty-three (23) months, ENCASH has more than one hundred twenty-two (122) deployed ATMs in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The ENCASH ATM network is now considered to be the 4th largest in the MegaLink community and 10th in the entire industry of sixty (60) financial institutions. ENCASH intends to deploy its 200th ATM by early 2010 at the latest. All ATMs are brand new, compliant with security standards such as 3 DES and EMV, the standards for “smart” cards.

“Through mutually cooperative efforts with our partners, we have carved a niche for our community within the industry.  We intend to continuously evolve to be a relevant service to the people,” stated Eric Severino, ENCASH President. “We remain cautiously optimistic about our performance. Our partnerships with rural banks, cooperatives, marketing entities, and even a diocesan project of the Catholic Church are encouraging proof that indeed, we play a key role in the lives of our countrymen,” he opined.

On September 10, 2009, ENCASH achieved a new feat with successful ATM withdrawal transactions hitting the one (1) million mark, while ENCASH ATMs dispensed more than Php 3 Billion for the year. On the month of October 2009 alone, withdrawal transactions hit a peak of one hundred seventy-nine thousand, one hundred twenty-nine (179,129). The amount dispensed is now circulating in many communities throughout the Philippines, helping boost the local economies and enhancing the financial independence of country folk.

ENCASH users include pensioners, OFW recipients, government employees, and even students. “Our customer base is quite broad, all of them based in the provinces,” Severino pointed out.

ENCASH is not only making giant strides in the deployment of ATMs, but also in the installation of SAVANT, ENCASH’s core banking software. SAVANT is a modern, world-class software suite, compliant with Philippine Financial Reporting Standards (PFRS). SAVANT enables banks to automatically produce reports required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Among its many capabilities, it allows bank management to perform complex data analysis and rapid system-wide query so critical to strategy, effective management decision making and institutional development.

SAVANT capabilities also fulfill requirements of thrift banks and cooperatives. Within 2010, it will replace competition at The Real Bank. The thrift bank located in Quezon City is in the process of migrating its deposit, loans, General Ledger systems and ATM switch to SAVANT. The Real Bank joins GM Bank, Bank of Florida, 1st Valley Bank, 1st TRuBank, New Rural Bank of Agoncillo, Century Rural Bank and Bangko Kabayan in installing this online, real-time software. The latest to join this group is Unity Bank in Pampanga, who will also install the full suite of SAVANT.

“Given its capabilities and the initial acceptance of the market, the company is working to ensure that SAVANT becomes the software of choice for rural banks, thrift banks and cooperatives,” Severino determined.

Meanwhile, Gata Daku Multi-purpose Cooperative (GDMPC) in Misamis Occidental will be the first cooperative to install a SAVANT ATM Savings module. GDMPC will start issuing ATM cards very soon.

As more rural and other financial institutions join the ENCASH network, more Filipinos in the countryside will benefit from these; providing a compelling reason for the company to continuously improve its services and deploy more ATMs.

Posted on November 13, 2009
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Global Financial Crisis – Visualized

The global financial crisis, brewing for a while, really started to show its effects in the middle of 2007 and into 2008. Around the world stock markets have fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to come up with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems.

On the one hand many people are concerned that those responsible for the financial problems are the ones being bailed out, while on the other hand, a global financial meltdown will affect the livelihoods of almost everyone in an increasingly inter-connected world. The problem could have been avoided, if ideologues supporting the current economics models weren’t so vocal, influential and inconsiderate of others’ viewpoints and concerns.

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By: Jonathan Jarvis

More:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/768/global-financial-crisis

Posted on November 8, 2009
Events, Micronomore | 4 Comments

SMART, Seed Finance partner to launch inter-island mobile money solution

Leading wireless services provider, Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) has collaborated with SEEDFINANCE Corporation, a provider of wholesale credit to Filipino microfinance institutions and small enterprises, to equip island-based microfinance institutions with mobile-based financial products and technologies that will allow them to send and receive funds using SMART mobile phones.

Dubbed as the Islands Activation Program, the initiative will utilize Smart Money as a fast and secure alternative to send and receive funds in islands or areas where there is little or no access to formal financial services, and will benefit members of close to a hundred microfinance institutions in various parts of the Philippines.

The program comes at the heels of the successful launch of the Smart Money Center in Polillo Island in 2008. In October 2008, the Polillo Group of Islands found its financial channels to the mainland cut off. The only rural bank went bankrupt, while the National Telecommunications Center ceased its telegraphic transfer operations in the area. The nearest bank, located in the Philippine mainland, was three hours away by boat.

SMART partnered with the island’s leading cooperative, Rhudarda Multipurpose Cooperative, to unveil the first Polillo Smart Money Center, which allowed residents to send and receive cash in an instant without having to experience long boat rides to the mainland, complex service charges and remittance delays. The fast and secure mobile-initiated fund transfers in Polillo now take place at the speed of a text message and are made possible via the award-winning Smart Money platform. This same remittance model will be rolled out in key provinces of Visayas and Mindanao under the Islands Activation Program.

Since 2000, SMART has been actively promoting the use of mobile-based financial services and microfinance solutions, through the revolutionary Smart Money—the world’s first electronic cash card linked to a mobile phone. Through Smart Money, SMART subscribers are able to conduct mobile banking, electronic money transfers, micro-purchases and micro-payments with just a few clicks on a cellular phone with a SMART SIM. In September 2008, Smart Communications, Inc. was the only Philippine Company to receive a World Business and Development Award given by the International Chamber of Commerce, Prince of Whales International Business Leaders Forum and United Nations Development Programme. Smart’s core business and programs, including its MFI Program initiatives, were cited for changing the way Filipinos communicate and for addressing the needs of the bottom of the pyramid (BOP).

Posted on November 6, 2009
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The 2009 Video-Shoot Contest: MNM Microfinance ‘n Motion

  1. Contest is open to any of the 67 presently active PFIs (partners) of SEEDFINANCE
  2. The subject of the video may either be one of the following:
    • A micro-entrepreneur client of the PFI in action at her/his enterprise
    • An SME or graduating-micro client of the PFI in action at her/his enterprise
  3. The contest focuses on the subject. Styled as an interview, the video must capture the client at work, and telling her story by answering five (5) basic questions:
    • How long she has been an MSME client;
    • What was her life like before joining the PFI’s MSME program;
    • What is her life like right now;
    • What are her plans for the future; and
    • How is she able to help her family, her neighbors, or her community.
  4. This is an amateur video-shoot contest; professionals are requested not to join.
  5. Submission of entries starts November 5 and ends November 20, 2009.
  6. Entries must be submitted in digital form, emailed to SEEDFINANCE, Micro No More, etc. and other SF email addresses, or in CD/DVD sent to SF Office in Greenhills.
  7. The video may be taken from a video-camera, digital camera, or cellphone.

INSTRUCTIONS TO CONTEST PARTICIPANTS

  1. Please limit the video session from 30-seconds up to a maximum of 2 minutes.
  2. Adobe Photoshop and other enhancements to the video are strongly discouraged.
  3. The video cannot be a slide show of several photographs.
  4. Each participating PFI (partner) is allowed five (5) video entries per category.
  5. Entries must be accompanied by the following information: name of the subject client, address, name of PFI, date video was taken.
  6. Old videos are not allowed; entry must not be more than 3 months old.
  7. PFI (partner) must inform the client that her/his video will be submitted as an entry to this contest, and SEEDFINANCE shall retain copyrights to the video thereafter.
  8. By submitting the entry, the PFI waives any and all rights to the video.

Judging of winners will be on November 21, 2009. All entries shall be featured in the Micro No More Conference during session breaks. The panel of judges shall include SF directors, management and staff, and creative friends of SF. There will only be one winning entry. The PFI and the client both win a prize. All entries will be featured in the www.seedfinance.net and www.micronomore.com websites.

Posted on November 5, 2009
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The 2009 SEED FINANCE Stakeholders Conference

“MICRONOMORE, NO BORDERS!”

Mark your calendar on Nov. 26-27, 2009 in Luzon!

Consistently as in years past, this year’s conference again promises you more in learning, sharing, projecting, visioning and rising above the challenges!

Watch out for more upcoming audio-visual & online bulletins!

Posted on September 11, 2009
Events, Investments, Micronomore | 1 Comment

UP, UP, AND AWAY, SUPER-SUMAN!!!

UP, UP, AND AWAY, SUPER-SUMAN - Aling Dionesia Dela Pena, Oroquieta CityOne hardly will notice Aling Dionesia in that gathering of small and medium-scale entrepreneurs, government officials, cooperative officers, and other attendees to the Paglaum MPC – SEEDFINANCE SME MicroPlus product launch that sunny afternoon of June 19, 2009. Unassuming and soft-spoken as this lady is, who would believe she is the owner of a thriving enterprise that wows not only natives of Oroquieta in Misamis Occidental but also balikbayans and tourists from the U.S., Japan, Hongkong, and other countries. Only when she began asking questions about the SME facility being introduced by Paglaum Multi-Purpose Cooperative (where she is a member) and SEEDFINANCE will you be able to discern the business instincts underneath that homely, motherly figure.

Mrs. Dionesia Dela Pena of Oroquieta City combines the roles of mother and businesswoman with pizzazz. Needing to supplement the family coffers, she started out years ago on a home-based suman-making micro-enterprise, balancing her time in carrying out her household duties of cooking and washing and what-have-yous and managing the business. Typical of tourist destinations, Oroquieta has its share of local delicacies and pasalubongs, but Aling Dionesia’s suman has that distinct taste and quality that locals and tourists alike swear to. As locals are fond to exaggerate, Aling Dionesia’s suman is ‘something to die for’. More…

Posted on September 10, 2009
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Empowerment comes in all shapes and sizes

(ROWENA PARAGADOS – Don’t underestimate this lady)

Empowerment comes in all shapes and sizes - Rowena ParagadosThe forum held by Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative (LMPC) and SEEDFINANCE Corporation especially for MSME clients that June 2009 morning was well-attended. The atmosphere was formal, and to add to the formality, a very unassuming lady with a somehow imposing size, sits at a corner waiting for her turn to share her experiences and sign the agreements for the SME loan facility being offered at that time.

Looking more than a dozen years back, it was 1996 when this lady, Rowena Paragados became a member of LMPC. With her first availment of a PhP5,000.00 microfinance loan, she used this to pump-up her food peddling micro-venture then. The venture was the kind where she’s almost always ambulant, peddling her food ware where the market would be. The combination of perseverance and the little financial help worked wonders for the enterprise, and soon enough, Rowena was a small restaurant owner. More

Posted on September 10, 2009
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MICRO-PLUS as Micronomore

micronomore-as-micro-plusConsistent with the development perspective of bringing micro-entrepreneurs to the next level of economic growth, a new financial product was recently piloted to 3 cooperatives, namely: Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Metro Ormoc Community Cooperative and Paglaum Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

This SME financing product, named as Micro-Plus, is designed for the partners’ microfinance graduates who have successfully increased their asset size and expanded their business reach. Borrower Risk Rating (BRR) System, used by Small Business Corporartion (SBC) and several banks, is employed in selecting clients for the MICRO-PLUS.

It is a co-financing facility offered by SEEDFINANCE to partner institutions with existing SME clients. MICRO-PLUS is expected to be rolled-out nationwide on August 2009. Final product orientation with BRR and SME training was held on February 11-14 in Cebu City, Philippines.

Posted on April 17, 2009
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Renewable Energy: Getting Off the Grid

micronomore-getting-off-the-gridThe perspective of using cleaner, secure and sustainable sources of energy is not just immediately necessary in the face of the ever-rising prices of oil products but is our only way to live as humans and save the earth. Micro-no-more supports the NGOs, the Department of Energy and providers of solar and wind energy that are working in making solar and wind energy affordable to the people.

An initiative to establish solar energy to power households and micro-enterprises in an isolated island of Eastern Visayas, Philippines is being worked out by a team of SEEDFINANCE, an international organization and a local partner. This island is expected to be powered up by this clean solar energy late of 2009. Presently, the local government is using a diesel-fed generator to supply a 3-hour per day electricity to the island residents. Similar project is also being undertaken by ICTUS in powering its eco-resort in Lake Sebu, Cotabato.

When all requirements are met and satisfied, renewable energy will be replicated in all areas where micro-no-more has a partner. The Philippines receives more energy from the sun every day than its people uses in a year so there is scarcity is out of question.

Posted on April 17, 2009
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Islands Activation Program

Micro-no-more pooled-in the resources of SEEDFINANCE, SMART Communications and Partner-MFIs in launching the project: ISLANDS ACTIVATION PROGRAM. This program is designed for institutions located in remote areas where there is none if not very limited access to financial services. The solution includes provisioning SMART Money services and mobile-based applications for members of the institutions.

MFI partners in islands increase their business opportunity by becoming an accredited: 1) SMART Money Center for reloading and encashment center; 2) Airtime load distributor; and, 3) Remittance Agent. MFIs become a licensed remittance agent (registered with BSP) that can carry all other remittance products available (Western Union, Kwarta Padala, etc.). Members and micro-entrepreneurs now have access to mobile-enabled financial transactions right from their own place. More…

Areas identified for activation are Limasawa, Biliran, Guimaras and Dinagat islands. Full activation is expected before the end of the first semester of 2009.

Posted on April 16, 2009
Events, Investments, Micronomore | 1 Comment

Micronomore: Microfinance and Beyond

Micronomore - Microfinance and BeyondMicrofinance is not forever. Or at least it should not be. If a micro-entrepreneur remains micro forever, not only would he or she have failed, but the microfinance institution assisting would have failed even on a bigger scale. An MFI should provide a perspective for growth for the micro-entrpreneur. The micro- should grow to become a small-, or even a medium-scale entrepreneur. More…

Posted on April 16, 2009
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Bringing entrepreneurs and their supporters together

It has been a while. The ripples of change have been continually shaping and re-shaping the socio-economic landscape yet our partnership remains stable and mutually rewarding. From the beginnings of our collaboration in CARE, then at SEAD, and now on to SEEDFINANCE, we have seen each other’s growth as we overcame challenges and forded on.

This year, SEEDFINANCE brings together its stakeholders and strategic partners to renew those partnership ties. We wish to apprise you of our renewed efforts and plans for a brighter prospect ahead towards the attainment of our collective vision of making microfinance matter in economically empowering the communities that we serve.

Once again, we dialogue as we plot our course. From its humble beginnings as a program in CARE, SEEDFINANCE strives to grow alongside its partner-MFIs which likewise grew from small, struggling village-based MFIs to provincial, regional, and even national development organizations to reckon with. More…

Posted on April 16, 2009
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Micro– to Small Success Story

KWENTONG PENOY

Entrepreneur’s Name : Tobias Solis
Location : Santa Maria, Bulacan, Luzon
MFI Membership : UBVAS
Writer : Wilma B. Guinto (wilma@micronomore.com)

Micro– to Small Success Story Tobias SolisKa Tobias Solis, a native of Trapiche, Oton, Iloilo was only 16 years old when he first set foot in Manila to find his fortune. He was able to work as an extra helper in a poultry farm in Last Pinas, the Crescent Corporation owned by Robert Philips. His earning was a meager Php3.00 a day that he spends for his daily subsistence and at the same time save whatever money left so he can send some for his parents in Iloilo. As a poultry helper, he was first assigned to work as a utility helper. Being a utility helper does not stop him from learning the other tasks in the farm. He kept on observing things on what makes their chickens increase its laying productivity. When the company closed its operation he was able to transfer to General Milling Corporation, as a farm supervisor He has broadened his knowledge of the poultry business from brooding chicks to broiler-raising and breeder-raising and poultry to eggs hatchery. Because of his dedication to work (working very late at night and working as early as he can), his co-employees become envious of him that they thought that he was doing something fishy and reported him to their Manager. So when things got complicated, he decided to leave the farm and was able to land another farm work in Plaridel, Bulacan. While working here, was able to go to school at night and has finished his high school education after six long years. More…

Posted on April 16, 2009
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MicroNoMore Photo Gallery: Meet you again

Click on a photo and see the miracles of MSME finance unfold

Posted on April 16, 2009
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