SBC seeks partner cooperatives

CEBU, Philippines - The Small Business Corp. (SBC), one of the Government’s lending arms in assisting financial requirements of micro, small and business enterprises (MSMEs), is looking for partner-cooperatives for it to achieve its mandate.

In an interview with The Freeman, SBC Visayas Office manager Cesar Antoni said the SBC is aggressively promoting this year its wholesale financing program, wherein it lends substantial amount            to partners such as cooperatives and rural banks, which will in turn lend to its members.

“This is our thrust this year. We are encouraging cooperatives, even the new ones that have operated for at least a year, to link with us,” he said.

SBC recently approved a P100-million omnibus credit line (OCL) for the Tulay sa Pag-unlad Inc. (TSPI) Development Corp., a non-profit, non-stock microfinance non-government organization, whose mission is to help eradicate poverty in the Philippines .

In Cebu, Antoni said among its partner-cooperatives are Lamac Multi-purpose Cooperative and Dumanjug Multi-Purpose Cooperative aside from rural banks such as Fair Bank and Lapu-Lapu Rural Bank.

Rey Calooy, president of the Filipino Cebuano Business Club earlier said MSMEs still find it hard to access credit especially from commercial banks due to lack of collaterals and even with government financing institutions.

“Banks are still unfriendly to small companies due to high transactions cost. There are laws but these are not yet well-implemented,” he said.

Calooy included “easy access on credit for MSMEs and serious implementation of the Magna Carta for MSME” in his wish list for the newly elected president of the Republic of the Philippines to prioritize.

Aside from the wholesale financing program, SBC’s Antoni said the agency is now in the process of developing a program that will allow SBC to engage in a joint venture with budding companies.

“This program will allow SBC to infuse capital and serve as a shareholder of a starting company. We hope to be able to implement joint-venture program this year,” he said.

SBC is the national government’s third largest provider of MSMEs financing, following the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines. The organization is the product of the merger of the Small Business Guarantee Finance Corp. and the Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises, which was combined in 2001 in a bid to create a more effective financial institution to meet the demands of the SME market.