Quarterly
Vol. 2 No. 3 July-September 2013
1st Phil-SME Business Expo co-presented by Esquire
True to its commitment to be the leader in
growth stage financing,
Esquire partnered with
MediaCom Solutions Inc.
to present the Philippine
SME Business Expo from
July 12 to 14, at the SMX
Convention Center (SM
Aura Premier).
More than 15,000 visitors
flocked to the expo to
see new business ideas,
check out products and
services from over 100
exhibitors, and learn from
industry experts through a
series of workshops and
seminars.
“Immerse yourself in inspiration and
ideas,” said EFI Chairman & CEO Rajan Uttamchandani.
Among the personalities
who attended the ribbon
cutting ceremonies and
who gave inspirational
talks were Esquire Financing Inc. CEO Rajan Uttamchandani,
SMX Convention Center Vice President and General Manager Dexter Deyto, PLDT First Vice President and Head of SME
Nation Kat Luna Abelarde, Geiser Maclang Founder Amor
Maclang, Actor and Lead Out President, Judah Paolo, Registered Financial Institute Philippines Director Randell Tiongson,
Wellness advocate Cory Quirino and multiawarded journalist
Wilson Lee Flores.
Esquire team with Mediacom CEO David Abrenilla (from L to
R): Rhona Hibionada, Leonardo Cayobit, Tina Uybarreta, Nitz
Panagsagan, Jun Nuyles, Czarina Nuyles.
Going where the growth leaders are: Esquire sponsors PRA
Career Expo and the 4th Pinoy Trepreneur Expo
September was a busy time for Esquire in its bid to find potential sales partners and affiliates, as well as entrepreneurs who
are looking to grow their businesses.
EFI sponsored the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) Career Expo at the Megatrade Hall 3 on September 25-26. The
expo aimed at getting prospective employees and qualified individuals to join the growing retail industry and contribute to
the government’s employment campaign. The 4th Pinoy Trepreneur Expo, on the other hand, held on September 28-29
also at the Megatrade Hall, showcased the products, services
and business ideas by leading and up and coming Filipino entrepreneurs. President & COO Navin Uttamchandani also spoke
at the event to share his expertise on growing one’s business.
Quarterly
Vol. 2 No. 3 July-September 2013
EFI on the PHILIPPINE
DAILY INQUIRER
Financier cites growth of Pinoy
traders
Amy R. Remo
July 13, 2013
Esquire Financing Inc. expects a surge in its loan
releases this year to about P6 billion, citing the growth in the
number of Filipinos who are putting up their own businesses.
The amount represented a 55-percent increase from the P3.86
billion worth of loans it released last year.
Esquire Financing, which provides financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), boasts of over 6,000 clients and investors here and abroad.
On the sidelines of the Philippine SME Business Expo Friday,
Esquire Financing Chair and CEO Rajan A. Uttamchandani
said there had been a pick up in loans as more entrepreneurs
are looking to grow their businesses.
“The banks are not really lending to the SME sector…. The
large sectors are served because all banks are targeting the
top 5,000 companies, while the 995,000 registered businesses that are classified as micro, small and medium enterprises
are really underserved. This is where Esquire comes in,” he
said.
A lot of the local banks have even started using Esquire as
“conduits” to comply with their mandate to provide financing
for the SME sector. This means that the banks lend to Esquire
which, in turn, lends to the SMEs, Uttamchandani said.
ESQUIRE and the
COMMUNITY
Esquire builds 1 classroom
for GK-Laura Drive pre-K
children
Esquire and Gawad Kalinga build another classroom for another GK-sponsored community, this
time in Laura Drive, Taguig.
On July 27 and August 9, Esquire officers and
interns put in a day’s work to help transform two
smaller classrooms into a single bigger space, to
house a classroom for the three and four year-old
pre-kindergarten pupils of GK-Laura Drive, a community of 105 families.
This project, slated to commence in the third
quarter of the current school year, aims to prepare the pre-K pupils for kindergarten in the
2014-2015 school year. Esquire, like it does for the
two other GK classrooms in Brgy. Pinagsama, will
provide for the school supplies and the salaries of
teachers.
EFI’s collaboration with Gawad Kalinga is through
the coordination of Esquire’s VP for Corporate Development Ravi Uttamchandani, Gawad
Kalinga Child and Youth Development Program
Volunteer Arnold Mackenzie, and GK-Taguig Projects Coordinator Raul Ramiterre.
He admitted that this underserved segment is so huge that he
is actually encouraging similar financing institutions to take on
SMEs.
“There’s more of a market than we can actually serve, and it’s
growing faster than Esquire is growing,” he explained.
Esquire provides financing for SMEs that have been operating
for at least a year and are looking to expand their businesses
over the long-term, Uttamchandani said.
Esquire currently has 50 direct sales partners and over a thousand sales affiliates. The target is to have over a thousand
sales partners in five years’ time.
Uttamchandani defined sales partners as “partners of Esquire
who recruit sales affiliates to be able to serve SMEs, providing
consultancy and easy access to financing.”
Esquire employees work together to build the hollow
block partition of the classroom.