Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc.

SEDPI Chairperson Presents Paper in London

Mr. Edwin Salonga is one of the nine (9) selected speakers at the international conference on Global Partnerships in Microfinance. The conference is organized by the University of Greenwich, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and Burgundy School of Business. Mr. Salonga is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) and a concurrent lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University’s Development Studies Program.

The conference held on 6-7 September 2010 at the University of Greenwich in London. Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands was the guest speaker. The conference intends to look at all potential partnerships in microfinance and to discuss their accomplishments in meeting the microfinance goals. The conference will focus on the following topics a) Strategic Partnerships; b) Enhance New Partnerships; c) The Role of Institutions Involved; d) Collaborative Relations; and e) Global versus Local Partnerships.

The paper of Mr. Salonga is entitled “Fund Guarantees with Clear Exit Strategy: Donors Building the Confidence of Commercial Banks in Funding Microfinance Institutions.” It delves on how the partnership of international donor agencies and commercial banks may support the operations of microfinance institutions (MFIs). One of the major challenges of MFIs is access to commercial funds to increase their loan portfolio, which in turn will be utilized to carry out their mission to reach out to more poor people. However, commercial banks view microfinance as a risky investment due to the traditional banking approach they are more familiar with. It is in this context that international donors at present establish partnerships with commercial banks to build the confidence of the latter on microfinance through a risk-sharing mechanism by virtue of fund guarantees. It is through this scheme that a portion of the funds released by commercial banks to MFIs is guaranteed by the donors. In case that the MFIs fail to pay off their loans to the commercial banks, the respective donors would cover such payments. The challenge however for the donors is to map out a clear exit strategy, in terms of timeframe or milestones, that the MFIs need to observe as this guarantee scheme is a financial intervention that will have to be discontinued over time.

SCCI Obtains PhP73 Million Loan Facility

SEDPI Capital Credit, Inc. (SCCI) was able to obtain a total of PhP73 million loan facility from BPI-Globa BanKO and Cordaid last September. BanKO increased its credit line to SCCI from PhP15 million to PhP50 million while Cordaid increased its loan exposure from PhP10 million to PhP13 million.

Through the increased loan facility, SCCI is poised to almost quadruple its loan portfolio from PhP28 million to PhP100 million by the end of 2010. It is optimistic the projection would be reached due to the strong demand of microfinance institutions for wholesale loans. Edwin Salonga, SCCI’s Chief Executive Officer, says it would need another PhP50 million in fresh just to satisfy the current demand of its existing clients.

Net income is projected to be higher than 2009 due to the increase in loan portfolio while operating expenses are expected to remain flat. SCCI maintains its stellar portfolio quality. The company has not experienced any delinquency since its inception. As such, it continues to enjoy the support of funding agencies and OFW investors. As of September 2010, SCCI has a loan portfolio of PhP75 million.

In an effort to improve its accounting system and boost transparency to the public, SCCI engaged SGV & Co. as its external auditor. SGV & Co. is an affiliate of Ernst and Young and is known as the leader in auditing in the Philippines.

SCCI is the financing arm of the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI). It provides wholesale loans to small and emerging microfinance institutions and social enterprises.

SEDPI Conducts Financial Literacy Trainings for OFWs in 10 Countries

The Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) successfully completed training 1,145 Overseas Filipino Workers on financial literacy for remittance senders. The trainings were held in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria and the United Arab Emirates.

Rhoda Amodia, 36 years old and a domestic helper in Rome, Italy expressed, “For the first time, I was able to go home to the Philippines without spending all my savings and income. Thanks to the training conducted by SEDPI.” Rhoda first attended the financial literacy training in February 2009 and has applied what she learned since. Ariel Centeno, 29, an architect working in Dubai, was able to use his savings when he got laid off due to the global financial crisis. He has found a better job in Dubai since. Corine de los Reyes, planned to work for one last year in Amsterdam before she retires in the Philippines. She cried during the financial literacy training when she found out that it would take her close to five years to attain the retirement fund she needs. Tita Coring, as she is fondly called, actively saved and invested and is right on target for her target retirement.

These are just three of the many positive stories of OFWs who attended SEDPI’s trainings on financial literacy. The training provides practical advice and true to life applications on establishing savings discipline, debt management, setting financial goals, spending and differentiating needs from wants. During the training, skilled facilitators provide animated advice on how OFWs should communicate their financial plans to their family members back home and gain commitment to the financial plan at the same time.

Vincent Rapisura, SEDPI’s President and CEO jolts OFW participants when he delivers his opening statements, “If your family members in the Philippines treat your remittance as permanent, it only means one thing. They do not want you back in the Philippines.” He then proceeds to deliver the training in an animated and entertaining fashion that both strikes the minds and shakes the core of the migrants’ emotions.

SEDPI implemented the financial literacy course in partnership with Cordaid. It also forged strategic partnerships with Stichting Habagat in the Netherlands and OFSPES in Italy to promote finance education and investments in the Philippines among Filipino migrants. SEDPI links with Philippine embassies abroad to engage them in this advocacy.

SEDPI’s financing arm, SEDPI Capital Credit, Inc. (SCCI) was able to facilitate close to eight million pesos (PhP8,000,000) worth of socially responsible investments from Overseas Filipinos. These were invested to Microfinance Institutions all over the Philippines to emphasize the developmental nature of the investments.

588 Remittance Receivers Trained all Over the Philippines

“I will start saving a portion of remittance once I receive it. I will no longer access loans from 5-6” These were Rosita Sawitan’s realizations upon attending SEDPI’s training on financial literacy for remittance receivers. Rosita is a 45 year old housewife who lives in Claveria, Misamis Oriental. Her daughter is an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who works as a demostic helper in Germany.

In 2010, SEDPI conducted 23 financial literacy training events all over the Philippines to remittance receivers all over the Philippines. A total of 588 remittance receivers attended the training events from Albay, Baguio, Cebu City, Davao City, Davao del Sur, La Union, Misamis Oriental, North Cotabato, Pangasinan, Zamboanga del Sur and Metro Manila.

Remittances play a vital role in the domestic economy. Total remittances from OFWs received in 2009 approximately comprise 15% of the Philippine Gross Domestic Product. It is therefore important to raise the awareness of both receivers and senders to maximize the use of remittances.

SEDPI’s training on financial literacy focus on building the knowledge and skills to manage scarce resources with tools such as budgeting, saving, borrowing, spending and financial planning. It emphasizes that remittances is a major source of household income but should be treated as inconsistent and temporary. The overall goal of the training is to break the cycle of dependency on remittances.

SEDPI and i-Genius Deliver Workshop on Social Entrepreneurship

Social enterprise is experiencing a meteoric rise in interest and relevance in the Philippines and the rest of the world. It is an entirely new way of working, a way of creating a new sort of wealth and most of all, a way of changing people and the world. It is not an easy route and the conflicts between social goals and business, values and democratic working call for innovative approaches to planning, governing, selling and managing.

Through the auspices of the British Council, SEDPI and I-Genius delivered a workshop entitled “How to Start a Social Enterprise” on September 28 to October 1, 2010 at the Discovery Suites in Pasig City. The workshop aims to equip budding social entrepreneurs with information on getting started on their social enterprise venture by providing tips on business strategies and planning, marketing and communications including using new media in establishing networks plus raising finance.

One of the participants wrote, “The training has been an eye-opener for me. It has helped classify several aspects of the responsibilities of a social entrepreneur. This also motivated me to put into action long time plans to put up an enterprise/group that can be socially relevant very informative, interactive, practical. I learned a lot.”

Tommy Hutchinson, founder and CEO of I-Genius, was the lead facilitator of the workshop. Vincent Rapisura and Edwin Salonga who are President and Chairperson of the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. provided the local perspective in social entrepreneurship.

Tommy established I-Genius, a world community of social entrepreneurs with members in over 90 countries. Its aim is to provide support to social entrepreneurs, encourage them to connect with one another and inspire more people to become social innovators. SEDPI, on the other hand, provides innovative and excellence-driven capacity building services to microfinance stakeholders and social enterprises in the Philippines and around the world.

SEDPI Launches Online Financial Literacy Course for Migrants

One of the main challenges that Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) face is personal financial management. Most of them do not have emergency savings, insurance, over-indebted and low investment. This condition prompted the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) to develop financial literacy programs.

On September 12, 2010, SEDPI launched an online course on financial literacy for Filipino migrants. It aims to improve the financial situation of OFWs as well as their families by providing an online platform. Migrants could learn about debt management, financial goals setting, savings plan and investments through the online course at their own pace and time. There are 90 migrants currently enrolled in the online course on financial literacy in three classes.

The sessions are presented in a highly animated and interactive manner that makes learning an enjoyable experience at the same time. It also gives practical assessments to determine one’s financial condition. Assignments are given to the enrollees that they could accomplish offline. Customized assessments and advice are given to them once they submit their assignments.

The online financial literacy is an offshoot of SEDPI’s classroom trainings on financial literacy abroad. It hopes to sustain the financial literacy program through augmenting classroom trainings with the online platform. The feedback of enrollees is positive and almost all submitted their assignments on time.

Cordaid, Pilipinas-OFSPES and the Financial Literacy Support Group (FLSG) supported the launch of the online financial literacy platform. Cordaid is one of the largest NGOs in the Netherlands. Pilipinas-OFSPES is a Filipino organization that aims to assist Filipino migrants and their families in their economic empowerment through policy advocacy, studies and capacity building programs. FLSG is a group of migrants in Rome who are graduates of the Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship course of the Ateneo School of Government.

Low Usage of Mobile Money in the Philippines

Contrary to popular belief, there is low usage of mobile money in the Philippines. This is one of the main findings of SEDPI’s qualitative research conducted on August 2010. Almost all of the respondents have little or no knowledge about mobile money.

The research aims to gain better understanding of the domestic demand for payment services in the Philippines. Payment services include sending money, receiving money, paying bills, loans and making purchases through payment service providers. Bank transfers, Western Union, LBC, M Lhuillier and Cebuana Lhuillier emerged as the most popular and most trusted payment service providers based on the research.

SEDPI conducted 22 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) all over the Philippines with a total of 234 payment service provider users. The FGDs were organized in both rural and urban areas with respondents from the D and E markets.

The FGD results revealed that bank transfers are the preferred payment service provider. It has consistently ranked at the top of the list when clients use payment service providers to send or receive money, or to pay for bills, loans, and make purchases. Most payment service providers like Western Union, M Lhuillier, Cebuana Lhuillier and LBC are used mostly for sending and receiving money transfers. These payment service providers, in general, are hardly used in paying for bills, loans, or purchases. Only a few FGD participants had experience using mobile money. Most have little or no knowledge about this. As a consequence, they expressed mistrust on mobile money. SEDPI researchers asked the difficulties mobile money users face when using mobile money. They cited lack of Cash In-Cash Out centers (CICOs) and lack of merchants accepting mobile money.

The main purpose of sending money through payment service providers is for education and household expenses. The same is true when receiving money. Other reasons for sending and receiving money include loan payments, business expenses, bills payment, and medical expenses.

The Social Weather Stations is currently using SEDPI’s qualitative research results for its quantitative research nationwide. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through Bankable Frontiers Associates commissioned the payments study. The full research results will soon be made available to the public.