By ANALIZA S MACATANGAY
NAGA CITY: The Consuleo “Chito
Madrigal Foundation (CCMF) Bikol Inc., a non-government organization for
poverty alleviation, has launched its Special Loan Product, increasing the
maximum loan amount available to its micro-finance members to P50,000.
Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) Camarines Sur Provincial Director Edna Tejada said during the CCMF’s
general assembly that the new product adds to the production loan and
multipurpose loan already in place for small entrepreneurs in the region.
The program is also supported by
the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the (DTI) pursuant to the
public-private partnership that the Aquino administration encourages.
Tejada said DTI encourages the micro-finance
members to improve their products and to make them more attractive to customers
and clients.
She said this should perfectly
fit the quality of the products that they are promoting.
Director Patrocinio N Felizmenio
of DOST who was also present at the assembly expressed her commitment to help
the members improve their merchandise.
“DOST is ready to help micro-finance
entrepreneurs in enhancing their products through our training on product
development, packaging and labeling, product calibration, nutrition facts
testing and improvement of the equipment,” Felizmenio said.
Meanwhile, DTI will assist the
members through their services like business counselling, skills and
entrepreneurial training, product design and development, credit brokering,
marketing assistance, business name registration and license facilitation.
CCMF Bikol Inc. will provide
financial assistance in the form of the production loan, which can be used to
finance beginners or to sustain or expand existing micro-enterprises of CCMF
clients.
The amount available for a loan
is P20,000.
However, if the project merits a
bigger capital, CCMF will assess the business proposal or the project’s
feasibility and could lend as much as P40,000 which will now fall under the new
loan product.
CCMF clients can also avail of a
multipurpose loan for business, house repairs and education.
CCMF hopes that hrough their
Special Loan Product, micro-finance members will be able to break the culture
of mendicancy and dependence.
CCMF started its operations in
Bicol in 2004, after Dona Consuelo “Chito” Madrigal approved the release of a
P200-million fund which served as seed money for pro-poor programs in the
region.
The grants were made possible
through the support of then-Caceres Archbishop Most Rev. Leonardo Z. Legaspi, OPDD
and Fr Joel E Tabora, former university president of Ateneo de Naga.
The program aims to promote
self-reliance and financial independence. – PIA5
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