Community Description

Most families in the slum communities of Manila earn $2 to $3 dollars a day from working at odd jobs. The women are usually the main providers for the family. Many of them are involved in small-scale buying and selling of basic foodstuffs, soap, and clothing. However, due to lack of working capital and basic business skills, many of their businesses are stagnant or failing. When a business fails the whole family suffers, particularly the children. Malnutrition and poor health can drain resources further and sometimes leads to terrible consequences.

Project Description

In the year 2000, Five Talents helped to establish a Micro-Enterprise Development programme in the community of Cainta in the slums of Manila. After 5 years this program had helped more than 1,500 poor families begin to break the cycle of poverty, with a 99.4 percent repayment rate on four loan cycles. This has been a remarkable investment in the poor. In 2001, the programme expanded to incorporate the Taguig community and now Five Talents has supported 10 branches around the city, helping almost 8,000 families to start and grow in business.

Reuben

Reuben is a father of 5 children. He used his successive loans to buy the ownership of his motorbike rickshaw. He has enjoyed the business training that accompanies the loan programme. He now sells registration permits to other taxi-drivers to supplement his family income.

Five Talents Partnership

Five Talents has partnered with the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) and the Episcopal Diocese of Central Philippines. CCT staff operate the loans programme which includes supervision and continuing technical support to borrowers.

Invitation

In 2008, Five Talents plans to contribute £40,000 to strengthen the programme with additional loan capital, particularly the new branches. The new branches in the Antipolo suburb are expected to be self-sufficient during 2008 - meaning that interest from the loans will be sufficient to cover the cost of the local branch and staff. 

Please consider supporting this programme. Your donation will achieve the following impacts:

• On average one job is created per every £100 loaned.
• Each job supports about six other people, mainly family and relatives
• A donation of £1,000 creates as many as 20 jobs in the first year because the money is loaned out twice (6-monthly loans).
• That means 100 jobs created in 5 years, impacting 600 other people.

More Information

To see the latest report (Q4 2006, pdf) on activity in this project click here.

Click here to read case studies from this country and other countries.