New PEF flagship program launched; nine social enterprises get P15-M loans, grants
A goat breeding center in Calatrava, Negros Occidental. Integrated copra, banana chips and rubber production in Magpet, North Cotabato. Micro-enterprise training and financing in Calabarzon. Tourist home-stay options in Palawan. These are among the business ventures which received a combined P15 million in loan and grant assistance recently from the Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF).
Loans totaling P12.25 million were approved for release to the abovementioned four projects, while P2.75 million in development grants were awarded for the enhancement of nine project proposals.
PEF further disclosed that:
- Four of the projects aim to benefit 6,000 households in agrarian reform and indigenous peoples’ communities;
- Three projects promote climate change-resilient agricultural practices including rice duck farming and typhoon-resistant palay seed production;
- Two involve the propagation of renewable energy alternatives (solar, micro-hydro power).
These projects are the first to get assistance under PEF’s new strategic thrust. Entering its second decade of assisting the country’s poorest communities, the foundation will channel majority of its resources toward “social enterprises.” These are businesses that have the potential to improve living standards and bring more households out of poverty.
Development or planning grants ranging from P100,000 to P350,000 went to nine project proponents as an interim technical assistance to enhance their eligibility for PEF funding. Specifically, the grants help ensure that the proposals are business-driven, market-oriented, development-focused, and able to analyze relationships with different players across their market or “value chain”—from the input suppliers to final buyers—to be able to unblock constraints to production efficiency and competitiveness.
The first planning grant recipients are:
- Magpet Agro-Industrial Resources Cooperative (Magirco), Magpet, North Cotabato
- Federation of Multisectoral Alliance for Development (MUAD), Negros Occidental
- Insol Development Foundation Inc. – Batangas, Cavite and Quezon provinces
- Seed Producers Association of Northern Samar and Nortehanon Access Center
- Philippine Agrarian Reform Foundation for National Development (Parfund), Caraga Region
- Palawan Network of NGOs Inc. (PNNI)
- Alliance for Sustainable Partnership and Initiative in Renewable Energy (ASPIRE), Quezon province
- Sibol ng Agham at Technolohiya (SIBAT), Nueva Vizcaya and Bukidnon provinces
- MicroVentures Inc. (The Hapinoy Stores), Southern Luzon areas
“We are on the lookout for proven social enterprise models to build on their best practice examples,” PEF executive director Roberto Calingo said. “We want to encourage civil society, communities, cooperatives, etc. to become more entrepreneurial.”
The foundation’s social enterprise development strategy, according to Calingo, aims not only to increase the productive assets and savings of poor households but also make them less vulnerable to economic downturns and climate change.
Proposals for social enterprise funding may be sent to pef @ pef.ph. PEF will evaluate the proponent’s business and governance practices, organizational structure, and development-oriented track record aside from scrutinizing the financial assumptions of their proposals.