Pagasa Philippines Lending Company Inc. turns 10 this June.
In June 2007, ASA International established PPLCI, its first affiliate outside of Bangladesh. PPLCI was registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a Lending Company providing microfinance loan services to the poor under the Lending Company Regulation Act.
Expansion of Operations
Since its establishment, Pagasa has grown into a formidable microfinance industry player providing quality loan services to 262, 448 members in 16,373 groups in 250 branches nationwide.
With a total loan outstanding of PhP 1,709,544,497, Pagasa has come a long way since it started its operation in 2007. It is nearing its initial goal of setting up 350 branches to serve half a million people by 2020. In the first quarter of 2017 alone, eighteen (18) new branches were opened: fifteen (15) of which are PPLCI branches and three (3) are PMPFI branches.
Social performance
Cognizant of its nature and mandate as a microfinance company and guided by its social mission of “establishing a poverty-free society through microfinance,” Pagasa has been making strides in ensuring that its operation, ultimately serve the poor as it grows its portfolio and expands. Social performance management is just as important as the financial performance management aspect of the company.
In this spirit, the company has committed to uphold the Universal Standards of Social Performance, SMART Campaign’s Client Protection Principles, and just recently, affirmed its commitment to social and environmental governance through a set of policies directed towards protecting the environment; elimination of sexual harassment; preparing for emergencies; upholding integrity through identification of exclusion list, fighting anti-money laundering, and upholding whistle blower rights; eliminating discrimination; and developing proactive engagement with its stakeholders.
These policies are directed towards making the management more responsive not just to the clients but to the employees as well.
In 2016, Pagasa also intensified its corporate social responsibility with the initial implementation of the One Scholar per Branch Program that benefited 30 children of our members. The beneficiaries were given scholarship grant that helped them get through the final year of their studies in college or in a vocational course.
In 2017, the program was expanded and the company hopes to provide scholarships to 100 more members’ children.
A decade of development
All these efforts are directed towards ensuring that our client, women and men alike, are served better. A decade is a long time. The challenges faced by the company in making a dent in the Philippine microfinance industry have been plenty, but, PPLCI brave the challenges with the entrepreneurial poor Filipinos who hope with us in mind. Now more than ever, PPLCI is steadfast in fulfilling its social mission of establishing a poverty-free society through microfinance, through decades to come.
Join us in the continuing journey of the company to serve the poor and the marginalized. Join us as we create opportunities for the poor in decades to come.
#PPLCIat10
