Tuesday September 07 2010

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About Us

About The Micro-No-More Movement

Micronomore - About usThe 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.

By way of cooperation and partnership initiatives with providers of microfinance (MFIs), small and medium enterprise (SME) finance, socially responsible investors (SRIs) whether individuals or businesses through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) arms, the government and the civil society, MNM undertakes the responsibility to coordinate innovations and complementation of projects with focus on sustainable development economics, sound environment and resource management, reliable clean and renewable energy provision, affordable mobile and e-technology, political fluency, food sufficiency and genuine holistic human development towards improving the lives of the poor, their households, the communities where they live, in the Philippines and elsewhere.

MNM’s task includes providing investment facility and management of equity investment, 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.

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 (Perez2008).

The basic principles of microfinance are carried on by the movement, foremost of which is the provision of a broad range of financial services to a large number of poor households and self-employed. This principle is necessary to increase the chance of developing small entrepreneurs from among the many livelihood and micro-enterprise activities of the poor.

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 equipment 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.

Micro-enterprises, specifically those with a perspective of going beyond the microfinance limits, support and provide the requisites of the industry while those micro-entrepreneurs whose reason for engaging themselves in livelihood activity is for mere survival shall become the workforce of these small- and medium enterprises.

Empirical data in the Philippines show that the rate of graduation from livelihood activities to micro-enterprise activities to small-enterprise and eventually into medium-sized activities is at an average of only 3 % for the past five (5) years . This insinuates a conclusion that not all individuals are born or destined to become entrepreneurs although it is noteworthy that majority of them are good and hardworking employees or workers. The type of economic system of most developing countries, the Philippines included, is perpetuating continuous poverty that pushes the poor into embracing livelihood initiatives as a coping, survival mechanism. These activities feed on unending micro-capital need on a daily basis that blurs a micro-entrepreneur’s outlook of life.

The MNM 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.

CRITICAL ROLE OF FINANCE INSTITUTIONS

The global financial situation may be explained by understanding “financialization”. It is defined as the “increasing dominance of the finance industry in the sum total of economic activity, of financial controllers in the management of corporations, of financial assets among total assets, of marketised securities and particularly equities among financial assets, of the stock market as a market for corporate control in determining corporate strategies, and of fluctuations in the stock market as a determinant of business cycles” (Dore 2002).

Financial services have become a key industry in developed economies wherein which it represents a sizeable share of GDP and an important source of employment. Poor and developing countries followed and tried to develop their financial sector as an engine of economic development. A typical aspect is the growth of microfinance/micro-credit.

The continuous increase of the money supply and leveraging of funds without the balancing agro-industrial production and consumption will bloat inflation which has a significant negative impact on the prospects of economic prosperity.

Unhealthy competition and credit pollution are already happening in the field. While a few MFIs have achieved financial sustainability, a lot more are stagnant and threatened with bankruptcy. Unless a clear, directed road map of financing for the poor is established, microcredit/microfinance will lead to ‘financialization’. In conjunction with the global financial crunch, the fatefully true and final result would be the collapse of local economies.

There should be a coordinated dispatch of financial and non-financial resources to the communities even if institutions have the same and common clients to serve – the poor households, micro-entrepreneurs and small/medium entrepreneurs. Funding should be project specific or has a specific bias for and must be based or relevant to the building of ESSCs.

The MNM movement acts as a physical and virtual intermediary of financial institutions and individuals. It channels funds to specific projects that are relevant to ESSCs. Unless the funding resource of one institution is insufficient to meet the requirements of one project in one community, the entry of other similar financial institution for same project is discouraged. This would prevent fund leveraging, unhealthy competition and credit pollution that eventually sacrifices the clients’ welfare and the goals of the community itself.

CRITICAL ROLE OF CORPORATIONS WITH SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Corporations are equipped with services that offer commercial-level technologies and infrastructure. These will be of great importance to the development of the envisioned ESSCs. From information technology to renewable energy platforms, MNM advocates bank on the promise of these corporations to utilize their commercial facilities for the betterment of poor communities. In partnership with NGOs and MFIs, these facilities shall be made affordable and accessible for the people in the community to grow and their businesses to expand.

LEADING AND SUPPORTING ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Governments are expected to take on the lead role in delivering basic services to the people as they control the vast resources of nations and the machinery for implementation. Taking on the role as a leading unit is a huge challenge for the socially-motivated government functionaries from doing what they want for the people because of the bureaucracy and well-entrenched political system. This situation however, is clearing the way for what the governments’ function should be with regards to ESSC development – REGULATION and PROTECTION.

It is the sole and exclusive authority of states to regulate whatever services other entities may offer that affect the people. Regulatory function in other words is a basic mechanism of protecting the people and the environment from exploitation and degradation.

Financial services, infrastructure, and technological development of government line agencies should be streamlined to support in capacitating the productivity and sustainability of ESSCs. Thus, governments are expected to lead in the coordination plan to define its supporting role in the local community development plan.

Line agencies of governments are expected to be conscientious enough to carry on their varied tasks of providing infrastructure like farm-to-market roads, support services like rural health centres, business climate stabilizers like price-watch controls and peace-and-order mechanisms, educational facilities like schools or even training centres to breed future entrepreneurs and economic leaders, the works. If these are provided as a matter of course, industries and enterprises thrive.

ROLES OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS

Advocacy may be tall order; advocacy brought to economic levels may even be a taller order for the civil society, but this is what is happening. The civil society is evolving into socio-economic, geo-politic forces that advance genuine causes and agenda. The ESSCs would do well to have non-government organizations, peoples’ associations, farmers’ village associations, in their rightful place of complementing what government line agencies are coping to provide. Maybe not the physical infrastructure, maybe not the logistics, but the advocacy, or the capacity and capability building aspects may be complemented by the civil society. They do play this crucial role.

WHAT EVERY MICRO-NO-MORE ADVOCATE OR MNM MEMBER CAN DO

  1. Define or redefine what you or your organization wants for the people and align it with the micro-no-more development perspective.
  2. Contribute and discuss ideas and concepts for the development of ESSCs in the MNM site and in your respective community.
  3. Invest in programs that promote ESSCs specifically on instruments that are directed to funding micro- and small entrepreneurs, renewable/clean energy, environment-friendly projects.
  4. Coordinate with other individuals and organizations in your area for the proper dispatch resources to a specific community. MNM provides the facility for this through its website.

WHO CAN BE A MEMBER OF THE MOVEMENT?

Anyone (individual or organization) who wishes to make a difference in the lives of the poor, the struggling micro- and small entrepreneurs to become significant players in the local economies of their emerging economically-self-sustainable communities is enjoined to become a part of the MNM Movement.

If you want to contact us, click here.