MABS-trained rural banks get Citigroup citations

Microcredit clients of five Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) program participating banks (PBs) were named winners in the 2006 Citigroup Microentrepreneur of the Year (MOTY) awards during the formal ceremony held at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) complex last month.

The MOTY Awards – a joint undertaking of Citigroup, the Microfinance Council of the Philippines Inc., and the BSP - aims to promote the development of microfinance and microenterprises in the Philippines by recognizing outstanding microentrepreneurs who have substantially grown their businesses, improved the quality of their lives, and contributed to the growth of their local economies.

There are two categories – the Maunlad and the Masikap.

The Maunlad category recognizes microentrepreneurs who have business assets of up to P1 million, and are generating employment for people apart from family members. The Masikap category covers microenterprises with asset market values of up to P300,000 and are reliable sources of income for the owners’ families.

Jennilyn Antonio, a microloan client of MABS-PB Rural Bank of Mabitac, won the top prize for the Maunlad category of the 2006 MOTY.

Luz Pagdanganan – a microloan client of MABS-participating bank Green Bank of Caraga – was named the 2006 Maunlad MOTY for Mindanao.

Jocelyn Llamoso, a microloan client of MABS PB G7 Bank, won the 2006 Masikap MOTY for Luzon.

Rural Bank of Dulag microloan client Leovigildo Aday won the 2006 Masikap MOTY for Visayas.

Rizalina Magdula, a microloan client of MABS participating bank First Isabela Cooperative Bank, won the Special Environment Award.

Last year, the outstanding microentrepreneur search was launched internationally in celebration of the United Nations International Year of Microcredit.

The panel of judges for this year’s MOTY was co-chaired by BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. and Citigroup country officer Sanjiv Vohra.

The MABS program, a United States Agency for International Development-funded project jointly implemented by the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) and the Mindanao Economic Development Council assists rural banks to develop their capability to profitably provide banking services to microentrepreneurs.

To date, the program worked with 84 rural banks, which have disbursed more than P11 billion in microfinance loans to over 300,000 microentrepreneurs.