Celebrating the Pinoy microentrepreneur

Many successful business ventures rose from humble beginnings.

The Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards (CMA) is an initiative of Citi Foundation in collaboration with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Citi Philippines and the Microfinance Council of the Philippines Inc. It is an annual program that recognizes successes of microentrepreneurs across the nation.

On its 17th year, the CMA honored eight outstanding microentrepreneurs led by national winner Eduardo Azores, who owns Ali-Ali Pastil, a popular restaurant in Koronadal City, South Cotabato. Azores started the restaurant in 2013 as a small food business that serves pastil, a popular dish among Muslim Filipinos. It now offers more menu items and has opened a branch in Polomolok, South Cotabato.

Other winners were regional awardees Lea Mancera for Luzon, Merly Domingo for Visayas, and Lucrecia Neri for Mindanao; Youth Microentrepreneur of the Year Romualdo Blanco Jr.; special awardees for Agri Micro-business Rolando Pega and Rosanna Sinapilo; and special awardee for Preservation of Traditions Caroline Jamias.

Present during the awarding ceremonies were BSP governor Benjamin Diokno and Citi Philippines chief executive officer Aftab Ahmed, who were co-chairs of the National Selection Committee (NSC); Microfinance Council of the Philippines Inc. chairperson Eduardo Jimenez; NSC members Imelda Nicolas and Marixi Rufino-Prieto; and Monetary Board members Juan de Zuñiga Jr., Felipe Medalla, Peter Favila and Antonio S. Abacan Jr.

For the past 17 years, CMA has given much-needed support to 141 microentrepreneur winners in the Philippines whose enterprises have contributed to employment generation in their communities.