Citi Philippines and Bayan Academy mark three years of nurturing high-potential micro business owners
11:43 PMCiti Philippines and Bayan Academy mark three years of nurturing high-potential micro business owners
Citi
Philippines CEO Batara Sianturi (3rd
from left) and Corporate Affairs Director Aneth Lim (rightmost) join
(from left) Bayan Academy executive director Raul Manikan in
congratulating Luce Global
Environmental Health & Safety Specialist Inc.’s
Rona Bautista and Buchi King’s Alvin Abaja and Christian Caparas,
two micro businesses that have considerably grown their assets and
income following their participation in CMDC.
Citi
Microenterprise Development Center (CMDC), a program of Citi
Philippines and Bayan
Academy for Social Entrepreneurship and Human Resource Development,
Inc.,
recently celebrated its third year of nurturing high potential micro
business owners at the CMDC training center in Quezon City.
Since
2011, CMDC has been providing training, coaching and business
advisory services to more than 660 microfinance clients around the
country, opening more doors for entrepreneurship in the microfinance
sector. Funded by Citi Foundation, the program seeks to address
knowledge and skills gaps to enable its participants to grow their
businesses, resulting in asset and income growth, as well as job
generation for their local communities.
On
the celebration of CMDC’s third year, Bayan Academy Executive
Director
Raul
Manikan expressed his joy on the continuing success of the program:
“We are glad that this program which started in Metro Manila has
now spread to all over the country, helping microentrepreneurs scale
up and take their businesses to the next level. I am amazed at how
far we have come in our shared advocacy with Citi in promoting not
only microfinance but also enterprise development.”
In
August, CMDC received the Social Empowerment Award during the 2013
Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA) held in Singapore.
AREA is one of Asia’s most prestigious recognition programs for
organizations that champion sustainable and responsible
entrepreneurship. The Social Empowerment award honors businesses that
promote empowerment of communities or individuals that are socially
excluded or economically disadvantaged. CMDC received the award for
the impact it makes on microfinance clients towards improving and
scaling-up their businesses, and was a timely and unequivocal
confirmation of the relevance of what Bayan Academy is doing together
with Citi Foundation and Citi Philippines.
Addressing
the first batch of scholars for CMDC’s third year, Citi Philippines
CEO Batara Sianturi made a strong case for entrepreneurship.
“Entrepreneurship is what drives economic progress. It is
what makes economies prosper through innovation and wealth creation.
If we look at first world nations like the United Kingdom and the
United States, they were built on entrepreneurs who sparked the first
industrial revolution. Close to home, if we look around, the
most successful people in this country are also entrepreneurs like
Henry Sy who started selling shoes in a small store that eventually
become SM, a retail chain that now impacts the economies of local
communities.”
“Our
goal in CMDC is to equip you with knowledge and skills that helped
these successful individuals grow their businesses from very small
and humble beginnings. Some of them did not have much capital
to start with; sometimes not even a college education, but they had
the drive, passion, and ability. Through CMDC, we can all become
partners for your success,” said Sianturi.
During
the event, CMDC hosted its first batch of 40 scholars for the
Grassroots Entrepreneurship and Management course, an
entrepreneurship course designed for micro business owners.
Participants included clients of several microfinance institutions
such as Kasagana-Ka Development Center, Inc., Kabalikat para sa
Maunlad na Buhay Inc., Center for Community Transformation, and
Uplift Philippines. Some participants of the CMDC also showcased
their products to demonstrate how the program has succeeded in aiding
them develop their products and grow their businesses.
Two
successful microentrepreneurs – Alvin
Abaja and Rona Bautista – gave
testimonials during the celebration. Alvin, the owner of Buchi King,
started with only four employees and now employs 21 workers as his
innovative product attracted more and more patrons. Rona, on the
other hand owns Luce
Global Environmental Health and Safety Specialist Inc, a trading
company that grew from a small enterprise into a corporation that now
supplies safety gloves, shoes, helmets to companies big industries.
Through
the likes of Alvin and Rona, and the many aspiring microentrepreneurs
it has helped, CMDC
continues to enable and uplift the skills of these individuals so
they can improve their lot in life and help others through the jobs
they generate.
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