SBCorp, DBP forge partnership for MSME sector recovery

The Small Business Corporation (SBCorp) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) recently forged a partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing at the DBP Building in Makati City.

The aim of the partnership is to develop a collaborative approach between the financing programs of both institutions to further facilitate the recovery and sustainable growth of the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Through marketing segmentation and strategic client referral process, the DBP’s MSME Recovery Program and SBCorp’s COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) Program, which are both designed to accelerate the recovery of MSMEs, will complement for the purpose of providing a more efficient assistance to their target beneficiaries.

These collaborative strategies will be implemented by reciprocally identifying the institutions’ market segments and designing a two-way client referral process which will be based on the asset size of the enterprises pursuant to the individual mandate of the institutions and existing lending guidelines.

DBP President and CEO Emmanuel G. Herbosa said the partnership will serve as a response of the DBP to the needs of their clients with nominal loan requirements and insufficient documentation. “Through this memorandum of understanding, we vow to get our act together to make sure that our programs work to serve the best interest of our target beneficiaries in a more effective and efficient way,” he added.

On the other hand, SBCorp President and CEO Ma. Luna Cacanando affirmed that the DBP’s MSME Recovery Program is a complementary facility to the CARES Program as both programs offer similar low financing cost features, longer repayment terms and grace period, and collateral-free loan for amounts not exceeding PhP 3.0 million. “The synergies that this partnership will produce will not only be mutually beneficial to our respective institution, but will ultimately go a long way in helping our MSMEs restart and rebrand their businesses,” PCEO Cacanando further said.

DBP Senior Vice President Paul D. Lazaro and SBCorp Executive Vice President Santiago Lim also shared their optimism on the potential of the collaboration.

The program interventions developed by the institutions for the MSMEs are pursuant to the enactment of the Republic Act No. 11494 otherwise known as the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (BARO) which ought to bolster the resiliency of the Philippine economy.

“We must build stronger alliances, not only to ensure the success of our corporate goals but to achieve the collective aspirations of our nation to help our MSMEs survive and ultimately recover from the economic challenges brought about by the national health emergency confronting the country in the past 15 months,” PCEO Cacanando added.