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German bank grants NATCCO P300 million soft loan for microfinance operations

ESSEN, GERMANY – Officials of German bank IM Bistum Essen and the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) recently signed a deal for a P300 million loan to boost microfinance in the Philippine countryside.

NATCCO launched in early 2007 an ambitious microfinancing program called Microfinance Innovations in Cooperatives (MICOOP) “to deliver microfinancing to the enterprising poor in areas where banks and even cooperative are reluctant to operate.”

“Many financial institutions are reluctant to provide loans to the poor because they believe they are bad borrowers. But MICOOP believes otherwise. We give the enterprising poor a chance to put up their own businesses by freeing them from usurious financiers,” MICOOP Group Chief, Evelia Tizon, said.

MICOOP makes waves in the surfing capital of the Philippines

DAPA, SURIGAO DEL NORTE – Co-op members in Siargao Island, considered the “Surfing Capital of the Philippines,” now have access to microfinance services, thanks to a new MICOOP branch.
The National Confederation of Cooperatives, through its Microfinance Innovations in Cooperatives (MICOOP) Program, opened last July 2 its 57th MICOOP branch in the country.

The NATCCO established a partnership with Socorro Empowered People’s Multi-Purpose Cooperative (based in Socorro) to put up a branch in the neighboring Municipality of Dapa in Siargao Island.
“Poverty is an enemy that we are eradicating. So in this partnership with SOEMCO, we will provide microfinance services to the poorest of the poor . . . those who want to engage in enterprise but simply need to be given a break. They just need an alternative source of financing aside from the informal lenders who charge usurious rates,” MICOOP Manager, Evelia Tizon, said.

“This Dapa MICOOP branch is solid proof that NATCCO is performing its mandate to “deliver superior, relevant and ethical products and allied services anytime, anywhere!” NATCCO President, Cresente C. Paez, added.

New CoopMart opens in Southern Visayas

MAASIN, LEYTE – The Southern Leyte Employees Cooperative (SLEMCOOP), with assistance from the NATCCO Enterprise Development Center (NEDC) opened a Coop Mart Retail outlet in this city recently.

The retail outlet features an area of 140 square meters. It is located on a major street, and is accessible to members and the general public. The store will initially be manned by a skeleton force of a manager and six support staff, who had undergone training with CoopMart Development Officer, Cecilia de la Cruz and Christopher Santos, Retail Operations Expert.

Under the CoopMart Franchise, the NEDC provided training for the staff and advised SLEMCOOP on details like the physical layout of the grocery to ensure that the shelves would ensure easy customer traffic. “We would stay in Maasin, sometimes for days, and familiarized them with CoopMart’s Point-of-Sale (POS) software,” said Christopher Santos, Retail Operations Expert.

“Normally, we provide other services prior to opening an outlet like market studies, but SLEMCOOP already had a grocery. Still, we started training them last December and then opened in May,” Santos added.