LANDBANK empowers woman-entrepreneur to grow Cagayan store

TUAO, Cagayan – Ginalyn Joaquin always dreamt of running her own retail store, similar to the ‘sari-sari store’ her mother used to own when she was a child. But having enough resources to pursue this dream proved to be difficult as her monthly salary was barely enough to make ends meet for the needs of her family.

Working as a full-time employee at a sugar milling company, Ginalyn’s salary was just enough to cover their family’s daily living expenses. And when her daughter contracted a serious illness and needed medical care, Ginalyn was forced to look for additional sources of income to afford the health care costs.

While keeping her day job, Ginalyn started buying sugar from her employer, which she repacked in smaller amounts and sold to her neighbors. This retail initiative soon evolved into a ‘rolling store’ aboard a tricycle, wherein she sold other essential grocery items across town, including the neighboring municipality of Piat.

Through hard work, Ginalyn was able to pay for her daughter’s health care and eventually, was financially stable to resign from her day job and focus on her store.

Ginalyn’s business—JP’s Enterprises—continued to grow and was tapped by a noodle brand as an official distributor in the province. However, this required additional working capital, which she did not have at that time.

Ginalyn then turned to the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) for credit assistance amounting to P30 million under the Emerging Female-Initiated Livelihood and Investment Projects via INclusive Financing to Accelerate Entrepreneurial Growth (FILIPINA) Lending Program, to finance the working capital for JP’s Enterprises.

The LANDBANK loan helped Ginalyn expand her business into a full grocery store and become a leading supplier of grocery items in Cagayan, catering to the towns of Tuao, Piat, Sanchez-Mira and Santo Niño, as well as the municipalities of Kabugao and Conner in the province of Apayao. It was also able to generate employment for around 102 locals, a significant increase from the initial 2 workers Ginalyn hired for her previous rolling store.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the grocery store remained open to service customers, and was even tapped by local government units in the province as a supplier of relief goods.

“Nagpapasalamat ako sa LANDBANK sa pagkakaroon ng tiwala sa akin at sa business ko. Malaking tulong ang pagkakaroon nila ng programa na sumusuporta sa mga babaeng negosyante tulad ko,” said Ginalyn.

Through the Emerging FILIPINA Lending Program, LANDBANK aims to support and empower female entrepreneurs to pursue business ventures such as traditional trade, e-commerce business and food services activities, among others.

The Program can finance the working capital, construction or renovation of buildings and facilities related to business operations, and financing of purchase orders from the borrower’s clients. For cooperatives and partner financial institutions, rediscounting and on-lending activities may also be financed.

Eligible borrowers include registered micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) majority-owned by women or with majority of its top management, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), composed of women. They may borrow up to 80% of the actual project cost and 85% for rediscounting and on-lending activities.

Short-term loans and term loans for permanent working capital are payable up to one (1) year and five (5) years, respectively, while term loans for fixed assets and construction of facilities are payable up to ten (10) years. An interest rate of 5% per year shall apply, fixed for the first three (3) years and subject to repricing thereafter.

As of end-June 2022, LANDBANK has extended P37.8 million to support five borrowers under the Emerging FILIPINA Lending Program, with the Bank’s outstanding loans to MSMEs totaling P46.6 billion to more than 6,000 borrowers.

Through the years, LANDBANK has grown into one of the leading universal banks in the country, while remaining faithful to its social mandate to promote inclusive and sustainable development.

On 8 August 2022, the state-run Bank celebrated its 59th anniversary, representing almost six decades of service to the nation.