The MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) comprise about 99.5 percent of our country’s operating businesses. It shows that while hugely businesses owned by tycoons Villar, Ayala, Tan, RSA, Gokongwei, Razon, and Sy have a mere .05 percent share in the entire commercial environment, spread end-to-end across the Philippines. But you know, without disparaging them, perhaps if we include the fishball, taho, and other underground (no DTI registration) businesses that you see anywhere you go, the tycoons could be less than .05 percent. 

Not all people know why most MSMEs’ businesses thrive despite their minuscule operations, which we call Mom and Pops family business ventures. It is because there’s a government loan provider called the Small Business Corporation (SB Corp) that does good, helping and serving our MSMEs well.

SB Corp, an attached agency of the DTI, is mandated by law to provide various financing assistance to MSMEs at minimal or no interest at all. SB Corp President and CEO Robert Bastillo shared over coffee that the agency has provided nearly P30 billion worth of loans to MSMEs by the end of 2023, made available and accessed by enterprises in our 81 provinces and four NCR districts nationwide. Who else can do that?

SB Corp data shows that the biggest loans to assist small businesses were achieved through the continuous implementation of the P3 (Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso) Program. Under this priority government program aimed at providing low-interest and easy-to-access loans, total financing assistance stands at P18.42 billion, benefitting 365,178 MSMEs. The P3 program lends to micro businesses with asset sizes not exceeding P3 million.

SB Corp also offers Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2, which, according to Bastillo, the government has directed to expand its loan programs not just for MSMEs but to cooperatives, hospitals, tourism, and overseas Filipino workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and by other socio-economic reversals.

Under the Bayanihan 2 Act, the Agency received P8.08 billion through equity infusion. As a result, the Bayanihan CARES was launched in October 2020 and released P7.04 billion, benefitting 40,316 MSMEs.

It is an interest-free and collateral-free financing program that aims to assist MSMEs in recovering from the adverse effects of the pandemic. The borrower MSMEs only needed to pay a one-time service fee at a maximum of eight percent for a four-year loan term. So generous!

Recently, they provided P281.33 million in loans to 4,072 enterprises under the Enterprise Rehabilitation Financing Program for MSMEs affected by typhoon “Odette,” which Bastillo explained is a special financing window made purposely for small businesses reeling from various types of disasters, making available critical financing support to contribute to business recovery.

By the end of 2023, meanwhile, under SB Corporation’s current flagship program, the RiseUP Multipurpose Loan Program, some P4.22 billion was released to 15,423 MSMEs borrowers providing multi-purpose loans that have soft terms and are likewise easily accessible to the multi-sectoral MSMEs, including current SB Corp borrowers.

So, if you are an MSME in need of additional working capital to expand your respective businesses, don’t miss the opportunity, nor fear the voluminous documentary requirements asked by other big lenders. There are none at the RiseUp Loan Program via SB Corp’s online portal at https://brs.sbcorp.ph.

With the lending program accessed, P30 billion in financial support in 2023 is, by any measure, not small. That leads me to suggest to its Governing Board to consider changing its corporate name to reflect more how hugely it contributes to the country’s GDP and how amazing what SB Corp does for our small business people.

Honestly, without doubt, SB Corp is a manna to MSME’s.

(Avelino Lontoc Andal, known as “Ka Billy” to his peers, is a veteran in public administration, corporate governance, and journalism. He is a former Undersecretary in the Department of Agriculture and administrator-chief executive officer of the Philippine Coconut Authority. He writes every Sunday for the DAILY TRIBUNE.)