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Survey Closing date is January 31, 2010

SEEDFINANCE Corporation

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.

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.

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

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).

Contest is open to any of the 67 presently active PFIs (partners) of SEEDFINANCE

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.

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

• Choose from several concurrent workshop sessions and plenary briefings
• Have a meeting of minds with partners in the SEEDFINANCE Network and other strategic partners
• Network with fellow development workers and providers of support and services
• Enter your award-winning video for this year’s video-shoot event
• Attend the fellowship night and elect your representatives
• Learn the latest in economically self-sustainable communities and social impact.

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!

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’.

With the capital she borrowed from Paglaum MPC’s microfinance program, Aling Dionesia not only made ends meet but grew her business into a family affair. When her son John Paul married, mother Dionesia took to teaching daughter-in-law Lyn the ropes of suman-making. Lyn herself is one enterprising lady, who not only took to the business like fish takes to water but made efforts to improve her skills. She attended business development workshops and applied them to the business. This mother-and-daughter-in-law tandem kept to prudential business practices, consistently adhering to Paglaum MPC’s microfinance discipline, which led to their credit line with Paglaum being increased and diversified. From the P3,000 initial loan, Lyn is on her 14th cycle already, with a Ph14,000 facility in addition to a motor-vehicle loan used to acquire a delivery van for her wares. From 300 pieces sold five years ago, the average daily production now stands at 1,000. From shot-in-the-dark sales then, the business now enjoys regular local orders plus orders for abroad as pasalubong. Where before there were only Dionesia, John Paul, and Lyn manning the business, now neighbors are employed as grinders, packers, banana leaves cleaners, and sales and delivery agents.

This micro-enterprise literally flies, as Aling Dionesia’s suman continues to fly around the world, brought home by balikbayans and tourists as a cherished, tasty pasalubong. Patikim naman, Aling Dionesia!

<img class=“alignleft size-full wp-image-153″ src=”http://www.micronomore.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/rowena-paragados.jpg” title=”Empowerment comes in all shapes and sizes – Rowena Paragados” alt=”Empowerment comes in all shapes and sizes – Rowena Paragados”>The 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.

But that was not the summit. This lady went on to expand her food service. She went into livestock and succeeded there, too. After food, she knew another basic was shelter so she put up a small hardware and electrical supply store, gradually expanding this to become a full-blown construction hardware store. Heavy equipments came next. With the onset of online communications, she also set up an internet service.

At every step of the way, Rowena kept coming back to Lamac MPC for additional capital. The thousands went to tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands, eventually to millions. In addition, Lamac MPC provided business development services (BDS) to support Rowena’s growing enterprises. The partnership between Rowena and LMPC continued to prosper. As of last count, Rowena’s line is at PhP2Million, and the June forum would further that relationship with the SME line LMPC and SEEDFINANCE were setting up at that time for growing and graduating micro- and SME-finance clients.

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.

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.

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…

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…

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.

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…