“I started with only a small table selling a few vegetables. Then I received a group loan. My business started growing little by little with the money I borrowed; however, I needed a bigger capital than what the group loan
could offer.”

In a nipa-covered awning behind their home in Tandag, Surigao del Sur, Victoria and Carlos Lim manufacture chicharon and ampaw (popped rice) to earn a livelihood for their family. Mr. and Mrs. Lim inherited the business from Carlos’ parents and decided in 1998 to grow it with the help of their children.

It is hard to tell from looking at Mrs. Nora Huyong’s flourishing sari-sari (small grocery) store that earns PhP1,000 (US$20) daily profit that she started it only about four years ago. Her store is located in the city of Tacurong in Sultan Kudarat Province in Mindanao.

Without access to much-needed capital funds, microenterprises rarely grow, even if they have an ideal location. The bustling Public Market in the town of Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte Province on the island of Mindanao is a great location for operating a profitable business. In the scores of outdoor stalls, customers haggle with vendors over new and used clothing, handicrafts, and household items, among other goods. Kargadors (delivery men) carry the day’s supply of fish, fruits and vegetables through the thick market crowd. Yet, stall owner Mrs. Vergie de la Rosa’s clothing, school supplies, and plastic goods business remained stagnant for many years.

Mrs. Candelaria Laher starts her day before dawn. Like all the other fish vendors at the Abuyog Public Market, she must get her daily supply of fish and arrange the produce in her stall before the first few customers arrive. By 6 AM, behind rows of neatly displayed fish, Mrs. Laher starts business for the day

Mrs. Rosemarie Nuñez Rabaya started selling fish and other seafood in 1997. She sells various types of seafood such as squid, octopus, prawns, lobsters, grouper and blue marlin on a wholesale basis. Mrs. Rabaya’s store is one among a row of fish shops found in the port of Dagocdoc town in Surigao del Sur.

For years Mrs. Tessie Cabalida sold small household necessities like cooking ingredients, kitchen utensils, and food containers from a small shop inside her home. Her husband, Mr. Loreto Cabalida, was employed as a chainsaw operator cutting down non-productive coconut trees and sawing the coco lumber into planks for various coco lumberyards. Mrs. Cabalida also doubled as a manicurist to augment the family’s income.

She was once the personal maid of an Arabian princess. Today, this lady feels like the princess. And her fairy tale all started with a 5,000-peso BINHI loan.

Just one year ago, neither Reynaldo nor Marieta Udal had imagined where they would be today. Reynaldo had lost his job as a security guard when local demands for the service waned in his hometown of Cantilan in Surigao del Sur. Unsure of how he could find a similar job, Reynaldo fell back on a skill he had had his entire life - making fried carabao rinds, a snack known locally as chicharon. He decided to try to expand his part-time business of making chicharon into a full-time business.

Hard work, a cheerful disposition and several small loans got Alsie Angni where she is today. Peddling well-crafted, ready-to-wear clothing purchased from larger cities, Alsie visits about 50 loyal clients weekly to service their needs in her rural town of Tandag in Surigao del Sur.

For Helena Coquilla, the notion “expands when it cooks” could just as easily be applied to the business of selling rice as it is to the actual grain. Since Mrs. Coquilla and her husband, Antonio, received a loan to improve their sales of rice two years ago, their business has grown exponentially. It seems that the more they cook, the more their business grows.

Teodoro and Wilma De Chavez of Batangas casually speak of their thriving business and its humble beginnings. “It was a small investment and easy to do,” shrugs Teodoro.

In July 2001, Teodoro and Wilma received a loan of 10,000 pesos from a nearby rural bank, Bangko Kabayan, to help finance an entrepreneurial idea. Since then, the De Chavez’ have developed an efficiently run cookie production business. A team of six employees work for Teodoro, Monday through Saturday, eight hours a day, to produce panucha and pakumbô, local treats made from peanuts and coconut (respectively).

Albert de la Peña and his wife Nonita are partners in more than just marriage. One year ago Albert and Nonita applied for, and received, a 17,000 peso loan to expand business at their electrical store. Many loans later, the de la Peñas have moved their store into a larger building, increased the stock available to their customers, and quadrupled their daily sales. The de la Peñas soon hope to move their store to an even larger location.

A new loan program called KAYOD designed for motorized tricycle operators has gotten rave reviews by its clients. Bembiano Estrada Jr. and Elvis Jose Huerte, drivers for five months and two years respectively, are enthusiastic about the program.

Fruit and vegetable vendors are among the 19,000 microentrepreneurs in Mindanao with new access to bank credit. “Profits from the microlending program have allowed us to recover capital costs completely,” says one rural banker.

In 1998, the Rural Bank of St. Tomas (RBST) in Davao del Norte joined a USAID project known as the Microenterprise Access to Banking Services in Mindanao ( MABS-M) Program-but with some hesitation.

To most Filipinos in the lowest income groups, banking is the domain only of the rich, the landed, and the salaried.