Women Empowerment Through
Business Member Organizations
W OMEN EMPOW ERMENT THROU GH
BU SI NESS MEMBER ORGANI ZATI ONS:
PHILIPPINES LANDSCAPE
TH IS
COU NTRY BRI EF DES CRI BES TH E BUSI NESS
E NVI RO NM ENT FOR W OME N ENTR EP RENEUR S I N
T HE
PHI LI PPI NES .
IT
HI GH LIG HTS
T HE
K EY
P LAY ER S AND TH EI R I NITI AT I VES AT PR OMO TI NG
W OMEN ’S ENT R EPR ENEURSH IP AND OUT LI NES
T HE
G AI NS ,
G AP S
AND
P ERSI ST ENT
CH ALLENGES
TH AT
STI LL
NEED
TO
BE
ADDR ES SED . IT CO NCLU DES BY FOCUS I NG O N
W H AT BUSI NES S M EM BER O RG ANIZ AT IO NS CAN
DO
TO
IMP RO VE
TH E
P AR TI CIP AT IO N
OF
W OMEN ENTR EP RENEU RS AND T O M AK E MOR E
E QUI T ABLE T HE BENEFITS DU E TO W OMEN AND
T O T H E W I DER CO MMUNIT Y .
OVER VI EW : T HE B USI N ESS ECOSYST EM
FOR WOMEN
The Philippines is categorized as a lower
middle-income economy in South East Asia
with a population of 99.4 million1 and overall
population sex ratio (male/female) of 1.01.
Labour force participation rate is 53 % for
women, compared to 81 % for men. Women
earn an average of 79 % of what men earn. 2
The WEF 2015 Global Competitiveness Report
ranked the Philippines 47t h out of 144
economies based on 2014 data. Its estimated
GDP of U$ 284.9 billion GDP, and a GDP per
capita of U$2,865. 3
Doing Business 2015 ranked the Philippines at
95 out of 189 economies with a score of 62.08,
a regress from its 86th rank in 2014, and below
World Economic Forum (2015). Global Competit iveness
Report, 2015-2016.
2 World Economic Forum (2014). The Global Gender Gap
Report 2014, p. 302
1
3 World Economic Forum (2015). Global Competitiveness
Report 2015-2016:17.
the regional average score of 63.19. This ranks
the Philippines 4t h among 6 comparative
economies, trailing Malaysia, Thailand and
Vietnam. Its GNI per capita is estimated at
US$ 3,270 4.
Medium, small and micro-enterprises (MSMEs)
are considered a leading engine of job
creation in the Philippines. The Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor showed that four out
of 10 adult Filipinos, aged 18 to 64 are
engaged
in
business,
approximately
accounting for around 19 million (39.2%) of the
national population (2006-2007). It likewise
had the least gender gap among business
owners (55% male, 45% female). Women are
more active in starting a business than men,
comprising 51% of new business owners. Data,
however, suggests that as women start a
business, the husband takes on full-time
involvement until the business has stabilized.
Women
predominantly
own
nascent
enterprises (69%), men own established
businesses (66%). This trend reflects the
traditional view of the man as the
breadwinner in the Filipino family, while
women are seen to go into business only to
augment family income, usually pursued after
marriage. Results that reflect only a small
incidence of single females going into
business corroborate this. 5
World Bank (2015). Doing Business 2015: Philippines.
Washington, DC. USA. Economies are ranked from 1 to
189 by the ease of doing business ranking. The ranking of
economies is determined by sorting the aggregate
distance to frontier (DTF) scores. An economy’s distance
to frontier score is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100,
w here 0 represents the worst performance and 100 the
frontier.
5
Imelda M adarang and Cielito Habito. Global
Entrepreneurship M onitor. Philippine Report 2006-2007.
4
As of 2009, there are 780,437 business
enterprises operating in the country. Of these,
99.6% are micro, small, and medium
enterprises (MSMEs) and the remaining 0.4%
are large enterprises Of the MSMEs, 91.4%
(710,822) are micro, 8.2% (63,529) are small,
and 0.4% (3,006) are medium enterprises.
MSMEs comprise 60 percent of Philippine
exporting firms and contribute 25 % to the
country’s total exports revenue. MSMEs are
able to contribute in exports through
subcontracting arrangement with large firms,
or as suppliers to exporting companies. 6
The informal sector is officially defined as
“poor individuals who operate businesses that
are very small in scale and not registered with
any national government agency. Being
unregistered, informal sector workers are
presumably outside the reach of government
services. Thus, while most of them operate
without paying their taxes, they could be
exposed to exploitative working conditions,
including low wages, violation of workers’
rights, hazardous working environment, and
lack of social protection. 8 Informal companies
also pose unfair competition to formal
enterprises.
The 2014 Global Gender Gap report also
indicated that 69 % of firms have female
participation in ownership, and 33 % have
women as top managers.
The World Bank Global Findex 2014 reveals
that 31.3% of Filipino adults own a formal
account, up by 4.7 percentage points from
the baseline figure of 26.6% reported in the
2011 Findex. Formal account refers to an
account held in financial institutions such as
banks,
cooperatives
or
microfinance
institutions and can be a mobile money
account as well. The increase in account
ownership is slightly higher for men, although
the overall percentage with account is still
higher for women (37.9%) than men
(24.4%). 7
Women are more engaged in microenterprise
development
with
unregistered
or
unregulated establishments making up 62% of
microenterprises sub-sector of MSMEs. 9
When disaggregated according to size of
firms, small firms experience major constraints
in terms of “access to finance” and “high
electricity rates”. Medium-sized firm share
similar constraints with the added obstacle of
‘tax rates’. Large firms are more affected by
crimes, theft and disorder as well as the
bureaucratic procedures of licensing and
permits.
Gaps and Constraints
Business owners and top managers in 1,326
firms ranked the following top ten business
environment constraints. Across all types of
enterprises, the ‘practices of the informal
sector’ is the top constraint as shown in the
graphs below.
 Figure 1. Top 10 Business Environment Constraints
Definition according to the Social Reform and Poverty
Alleviation Act of 1988 (RA 8425) cited by Philippine
Commission on Women(2013). In the Women’s
Empowerment, Development and Gender Equality Plan,
2013 – 2016, page 29.
9
Philippine Commission on Women (2012). GREAT Women
Project. Why are We Pursuing Women’s Economic
Empowerment? – A S it uationer on Philippine Ent erprises
and Women. Manila, Philippines. August 2012, p. 2.
8
6
Philippine Commission on Women (2012). GREAT Women
Project. Why are We Pursuing Women’s Economic
Empowerment? – A S it uationer on Philippine Ent erprises
and Women. Manila, Philippines. August 2012, p. 3.
7 “ Number of Filipino Account Holders Increased” (April
28, 2015) in
http://w ww.bsp.gov.ph/publications/media.asp?id=3715
2
given to women’s reproductive responsibilities
over the enterprise, especially where there is
tension or conflict between the spouses or the
woman has small children; the women’s lack
of technical and financial capacity; and the
women’s lesser competitive nature and poor
marketing strategies. 12
Policy Framework
A series of laws and policies were issued to
spur gender-fair practices in entrepreneurship.
The major policies are:
In the Philippines, bureaucratic requirements
and regulations discourage firms from entering
the formal sector, which explains why a huge
bulk of economic activities (about 80 per cent
are considered as part of the informal
sector)10
The Magna Carta for Small Enterprises (RA
6977 of 1991, amended by Republic Act 8289
in 1997, and further amended by RA 9501 in
2008) is geared towards the development of
the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit by providing a
business environment conducive for MSMEs. 13
Enterprises are categories into the following:
For women entrepreneurs, the key constraints
are their lack of social preparation and
technical skills. Many women venture into
business without a thorough market analysis
and feasibility study of the enterprise to be set
up. A common observation among aspiring
entrepreneurs is the tendency to avall
themselves of government financial assistance
or dole- outs, despite their lack of skills and
technical and social preparation to do so.
Experienced entrepreneurs also point to the
lack of business discipline and low level of
interest of women to experiment and learn
new things to improve their products. They
have very little incentive or interest to be
competitive and expand their markets. 11
Micro: not more than PhP3 million, small: PhP3
million to PhP 15 million, medium: PhP15 million
to PhP100 million.
The law laid down the principles of:
 Minimal set of rules and simplification of
procedures and requirements;
 Participation of private sector in the
implementation of SME policies and
programs;
 Coordination of government efforts;
 Decentralization of regional and provincial
offices
to
coordinate
with
local
governments.
The Department of Trade and Industry’s
business name registration profile showed that
The law also created these mechanisms:
there were more women-registered businesses
 The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise
(around
54 p e rc e nt) c ompa re d to me n (46
Development (MSMED) Council that is
percent) in 2010. However, at renewal time
chaired by DTI, with members among 6
after five years, men outnumbered the
government
agencies
and
3
women (55 percent versus 45 percent). This
representatives from the private business
indicates that some women were unable to
sector; one from the banking sector and
sustain their businesses. Some of the factors
one from the labour sector nominated by
accounting for this situation are the priority
labour groups.
10
World Bank ( 2010) data cited in the Women’s
Empow erment, Development and Gender Equality Plan,
2013 – 2016, page 29
12
Philippine Commission on Women (2013). Women’s
EDGE, page 41.
11
Philippine Commission on Women (2013). Women’s
Empow erment, Development and Gender Equality, page
61.
13
http://philippines.smetoolkit.org/philippine/en/file/
content/6887/en/magnacartaformicrosmallandmediume
nterprises.pdf
3
 Small Business Guarantee and Finance
Corporation, or SB Corporation, which shall
have primary responsibility of implementing
comprehensive policies and 12 programs to
assist MSMEs in all areas, including but not
limited to finance and information services,
training and marketing. The SB corporation
is authorized with a capital stock of ten
billion pesos (U$200+Million), the initial
capital of one billion pesos shall be
established from a pool of funds to be
contributed in the form of equity
investments in common stock by the Land
Bank of the Philippines (LBP), the Philippines
National Bank (PNB), the Development
Bank of the Philippines (DBP) in the amount
of
Two
hundred
million
pesos
(approximately U$4.5 Million) each.
 Lending institutions are also mandated to
allocate 8% of its total portfolio to SMEs; 6%
for SEs, 2% for MEs).
 An Act Providing Assistance to Women (RA
7882 of 1995 — provides for women with
existing micro and cottage business at least
one (1) year, with a daily inventory of
goods worth not more than twenty-five
thousand pesos (P25,000 or U$550)14 or with
any business equipment with a book value
of not more than Fifty thousand pesos
(P50,000 or U$1,100) shall have priority to
obtain a loan not exceeding the value of
her business equipment at prime interest
rate or at the rate of twelve per cent (12%)
per annum, whichever is lower from any
government financing institution; That only
women with good track record in sales shall
be eligible to obtain such loan.
 The Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710 of
2009) states that all possible assistance shall
be provided to women in their pursuit of
owning, operating and managing business
enterprises towards the promotion of their
economic rights and independence.
Assistance shall focus on the availability of
the
following: credit, training
and
technology, information, packaging and
marketing, and social protection.
 The “Go Negosyo Act” (Republic Act
10644) was signed into law on 15 July 2014,
and took effect on 13 January 2015. The
law seeks to promote “job generation and
inclusive growth through the development
of MSMEs” in the country through the
following:15
 Establishment of “NEGOSYO Centres” or
common facilities in all provinces, cities and
municipalities to promote “ease of doing
business and facilitate access to services for
MSMEs within its jurisdiction.
 Technology transfer, production and
management training, and marketing
assistance for MSMEs.
 Establishment of a Philippine Business
Registry Databank under the Department
of Trade and Industry (DTI) to serve as a
database of all business enterprises in the
country.
 Establishment of a Start-up Fund for MSMEs
“to provide financing for the development
and promotion of MSMEs in priority sectors
of the economy to be sourced from the
MSME Development Fund and BMBE Fund.
 Re-composition of the MSME Development
Council and its additional functions. The
MSMED Council shall encourage publicprivate
partnerships
(PPPs)
in
the
establishment
and
management
of
Negosyo Centres.
Coordination
and
collaboration with the Local Government
Units (LGUs) and other agencies and
organizations is imperative to avoid
duplication of efforts and to foster
coordinated action.
Key Players/ Actors
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is
the primary government agency with the dual
mission of facilitating the creation of a
business environment wherein participants
could compete, flourish, and succeed and, at
the same time, ensuring consumer welfare.
 DTI reported that three out of five
beneficiaries who accessed DTI’s Enterprise
http://w ww.dti.gov.ph/dti/index.php/programsprojects/negosyo-center/go-negosyo-act
15
14
Approx imately U$1=PhP45 as of October 2015
4
The Department of Labour and Employment
(DOLE) serves as the policy-advisory arm of
the Executive Branch in the field of labour and
employment. It is the lead agency mandated
to
develop
the
competencies
and
competitiveness of Filipino workers, to deliver
employment facilitation services for full and
decent employment, and to promote
industrial peace based on social justice.
Some of its centres e.g. the
Occupation
Safety and Health Centre, Bureau of Women
and Young Workers, Bureau of Rural Women
and
Technical
Education
and
Skills
Development Authority (TESDA) have training
programs for workers that support MSMEs.
Development Program last year were
women entrepreneurs. DTI services that
were availed of included entrepreneurial
skills and technology upgrading and
training; product design; market matching;
participation in trade fairs, international
expositions and business missions; among
others. 16
 Women entrepreneurs also increased their
access to the financing programs of the
Small Business Corp., the SME financing
guarantee arm of DTI. Women comprised
43% of those who availed of small business
loans in 2014 equal to P274 million, a
dramatic increase from 17% in 2009 that
came to only P37M in 2009. 17
 DTI’s Export Management Bureau (EMB) is
the lead agency tasked to develop,
promote, and expand export trade.
Among its services are: a) Frontline Services
for inquiries and requests for assistance; b)
Export Assistance and Business Matching
Service;
c)
Specialized
Consultancy
Services; d) Business Missions Facilitation
Services; e) Regional Interactive Platform
for Philippine Exporters (RIPPLES); f) Doing
Business in Free Trade Area (DBFTA); g)
Philippine Export Competitiveness Program
(PECP). EMB has updated the Directory of
Philippine Exporters as of 2014. It highlights
priority
merchandise
exports
like
electronics, food, garments, furniture,
fashion accessories, and other consumer
goods. Likewise, it features services
providers of top Philippine services exports
in the fields of animation, game
development,
healthcare
information
management, IT services, and other
services including construction and related
engineering services, audio-visual, and
education, among others
The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) is
the national women’s machinery that
spearheads
gender-responsive
policy
development, capacity development and
coordinate gender-responsive programming
by all government agencies, including those
in the economic development sectors. It is
also the lead oversight agency for the
implementation of the Magna Carta of
Women. It has led a convergence project on
gender-responsive economic empowerment.
The People’s Credit and Finance Corporation
(PCFC) is a government corporation created
as an alternative banking, financing and
credit system that will provide affordable
credit to the marginalized sector of the
country. By virtue of the Social Reform and
Poverty Alleviation Act (R.A. 8425), it was
designated as the vehicle for microfinance
service delivery exclusively for the poor and
was authorized to mobilize financial resources
from both local and international sources. It
pursued wholesale lending coupled with
institutional capability development as the
strategy towards poverty reduction. It is also
the executing agency of the United Nation’s
Development Program’s (UNDP) Microstart
Program for institutional development.
16 http://w ww.dti.gov.ph/dti/index.php/resources/22featured-article/290-recognizing-the-vital-role-of-womenin-phl-grow th-dti-remains-supportive-of-women-seconomic-empowerment
The Department of Social Welfare and
Development
provides
livelihood/capital
assistance to poor families in the informal
http://www.dti.gov.ph/dti/index.php/22-featuredarticle/290-recognizing-the-vital-role-of-women-in-phlgrow th-dti-remains-supportive-of-women-s-economicempow erment
17
5
sector Kapit-
Bisig La b a n sa Ka hira p a n
–
Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of
Social Services (KALAHI– CIDSS) and the
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of
the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD). They promote microentrepreneurship
and
provide
the
corresponding support resources to the
program beneficiaries.
developed modules on entrepreneurship
training, i.e., the Business Start-up Course
(BSuC) and the Business Improvement,
Survival, and Expansion Course (BISEC). These
modules, first given in March 1999 at the
Women's Centre in the Technical Education
and Skills Development Authority (TESDA,
helped crystallize TESDA's Program of
promoting entrepreneurship.
TESDA sustained the entrepreneurship training
and start up program into a project called
Sari-Sari Store Training and Access to
Resources Program
(STAR) Program in
collaboration with Coca Cola Philippines. As
of September 2015, the STAR program has
helped over 36,000 women in 46 locations
through access to resources, peer mentoring
and
basic
entrepreneurship
training,
especially in post-disaster areas.
In the
coming years, the STAR program target is to
benefit 200,000 women who will own and
operate convenience stores and food stalls by
2020.
Among the private business sector, the key
players are:
The Women’s Business Council of the
Philippines (WBCP) was established in 1997 to
promote women-led and women-owned
enterprises through networking and through
the use of technology. Its purposes are:
 To influence economic policies and
advocate programs to address women’s
business concerns in such areas as
technology development, training, and
access to markets and finance.
 To monitor the status of women in the
economy and to advocate or undertake
programs to advance the status of women
workers,
entrepreneurs,
owners
or
executives.
 To forge business alliances and establish
commercial networks among womenowned, women-led or managed business
and with other business groups.
Noticeably, employer groups such as the
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and
Industries (PCCI) and the Employers’
Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) have
limited services for women’s entrepreneurship.
One of its program officers opined that
nevertheless, these organizations are open to
receiving and supporting some projects if a
good proposal that benefits women will be
submitted to them. 18
The WBCP also trail blazed the generation of
benchmark data on Asian women in business
through the conduct of a Three Country Study
(Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines) in
partnership with the Asian Institute of
Management,
the
United
Nations
Development Programme and the United
Nations Office of Project Services. It
participated as the private sector partner of
the Department of Trade & Industry and
Philippine Commission on Women in the
Organizing Committee of the APEC Women
and the Economy Forum (APEC-WEF) that was
held in September 2015 in Manila.
W OM EN ENTREPRENEURS’
ACCESS TO SERVICES
Women Entrepreneurs’ Needs
Access to Credit and Financing. Most women
in the informal sector and micro entrepreneurs
are not served by government financial
institutions (GFI) and micro finance institutions
(MFIs) for many reasons. One is the cost of
Phone Interview with Hermogena RamosAquino,
Chairperson of
the
Training
Committee, Employers’ Confederation of the
Philippines., October 27, 2015
18
It collaborated with the Japan International
Cooperation
Agency
(JICA),
WBCP
6
service delivery versus the capacity of women
to meet the stringent requirements, such as
minimum loanable amount, quality of
collateral, repayment terms, number of years
of business experience, submission of business
plans, and consent of the husband. Overindebtedness, multiple borrowing, and credit
burdens also affect the women’s capacity to
access services.
unit (LGU) in which they are located.
However, since there are no regulated,
standardized registration procedures at the
LGU level, the time and cost required in
registering a business may vary from one LGU
to another. The need to simplify business
registration is vital in encouraging micro and
small enterprises to register and obtain
licenses that will formalize them as business
establishments. At present, it is estimated that
it will take an entrepreneur 48 days to
complete the 11 required procedures.
Faster and broader program implementation.
The implementation of the government's
enterprise development laws and programs in
terms of their targeting and reach need to be
hastened. For example, a special credit
window has yet to be created for women
micro-entrepreneurs as per Republic Act No.
7882 or Assistance to Women Engaging in
Micro and Cottage Business Enterprises Law.
At present, most women access credit from
microenterprise
lending
windows
of
government and those operated by nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that have
small, non-collaterized loan ceilings. At the
local level, there is a need to harmonize the
implementing guidelines and circulars on
microenterprises from various concerned
national government agencies.
Initiatives for Business Development Services
The Philippine Franchise Association, a
member of ECOP (Employers’ Confederation
of the Philippines), is providing training and
mentoring services to entrepreneurs and
would-be
entrepreneurs
in
order
to
encourage them to grow their business via
franchising. It offers business mentoring, trade
promotion and networking to its members, 30
% of who are women. They specifically
targetted the provincial areas of the
Philippines were there are fewer economic
opportunities. The programme is called
Franchising Regional Enterprises by Women
(FREE Women) Project, the first phase of which
was funded by the US Embassy in Manila. Its
beneficiaries are women entrepreneurs,
women-beneficiaries of
entrepreneurship
programs by government agencies and
NGOs, graduating students with awardwinning business ideas and graduate students
who are 35 years and below taking graduate
studies in business and entrepreneurship. The
second phase involved mentoring a select
few beneficiaries and prepare them to
participate in the Incubation Pavilion of
.19
Franchise Asia Philippines 2015
Broader access to information/ awareness of
macro perspective and potential of their
businesses. Women entrepreneurs have
limited information and awareness of the
macro perspective and potential of their
businesses. Their capacity to increase their
productivity and profitability is limited because
they lack information and training in product
development and product costing, as well as
access to affordable market windows. Access
to strategic business resources is further
hindered by the remoteness of their area and
poor infrastructure, such as communication
and transport facilities, farm- or factory-tomarket roads, and the like.
Gender Responsive Economic Actions for the
Transformation of Women (GREAT Women)
Need for less bureaucratic and less costly
business registration. In the Philippines, every
firm must register at both the local and
national levels. At the local level, all businesses
are required to secure a mayor's permit or
municipal license from the local government
http://www.itcilo.org/en/thecentre/programmes/employersactivities/world-map-goodpractices/promoting-womenentrepreneurship-through-franchising
19
7
Project, 2006-2012, is a convergence project
led by the Philippine Commission on Women
(PCW) in partnership with 19 national
government agencies and over 40 local
government units in eight provinces as pilot
sites. It received technical and financial
support from the Canadian government that
amounted to (Cdn$ 7 Million) in development
assistance. Private social enterprises and
business groups were likewise engaged in
selected areas to provide interventions to
women micro-entrepreneurs. The project
focused on building capacities of partners to
be able to look at the needs of women
entrepreneurs from a gender perspective. The
assistance was heavy on entrepreneurial skills
training, technical assistance on product
development,
production
equipment,
marketing including packaging and labelling,
subsidies in social protection (health
insurance),
environment
management
practices and providing access to financial
support. Since 2006, the GREAT Women
Project reached out to some 9,000 women
micro-entrepreneurs,
capacitated
18,302
government officials and other stakeholders
on various areas of gender-responsive
economic governance and evolved a
‘GREAT’ Women Brand which is now a
platform that brings women’s products to new
markets.
In 2015, the project started
implementing another six-year plan that aim
to make Filipino women’s microenterprises
more sustainable and competitive. 20
alliances. The program also assists in
establishing common service facilities that will
allow the beneficiaries access to low-cost
inputs, wider market, and higher technology;
and that will promote the setting up of selfhelp mechanisms for social security among
informal workers.
DOLE also launched the “Balik Pinay! Balik
Hanapbuhay! Program” in 2011 to enable
women overseas Filipino workers (OFW
returnees) to start and to operate livelihood
undertaking for self-employment. The Program
consists of livelihood skills training and the
distribution of the starter kits. With a $539,000
budget allocation, it aims to prioritize 2,400
women beneficiaries accessing short-period
training
on
production
skills
with
entrepreneurship and business management,
marketing linkage and networking services,
business advisory, and consultancy services,
social protection
services
and other
alternative social protection schemes and job
referral system covering local labour markets
to ensure the employability of target women
beneficiaries. In 2013, the Program was
expanded to include women OFWs in the
Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos
Resource Centres (MWOFRC). In four years,
the Program has reached more than 4,000
beneficiaries who have established their own
business or used the gained skills for
employment.
The Philippine Centre for Entrepreneurship
(PCE), a non-stock, non-profit organization,
has been conducting its ‘Go Negosyo’
advocacy and education to nurture the
entrepreneurial spirit and culture among
Filipinos. The word “negosyo” is the Filipino
term for “business.” For the past 10 years, it has
conducted caravans, seminars, multi-media
(TV and web) campaigns and books
to
popularize entrepreneurship as an alternative
to unemployment, job seeking or migration. It
provides links to partner entrepreneurs'
businesses, to business opportunities, to
entrepreneurship-related training programs,
and to funding sources. Now on its 7th year, it
The Department of Labour and Employment
(DOLE) has an Integrated Livelihood Program
for informal sector workers that provide
productive resources such as equipment, raw
materials, and tools that can be used by
eligible beneficiaries; as well as training,
orientation,
and
advisories
on
entrepreneurship
development,
business
planning, productivity improvement, worker’s
safety and health, networking, and business
20
This section had inputs from the Luvy Villanueva, GREAT
Women Project Director based at the Philippine
Commission on Women.
8
women entrepreneurs dubbed ILAW (light)
to mean Inclusive Lending for Aspiring
Women Entrepreneurs. The loan product
was conceived with the assistance of
Women’s Business Council of the Philippines
(Womenbizph) and a MOA was signed
between the two groups to promote this
access to finance to women in business.
Sole proprietorships, partnerships and
corporations, which are women-led, are
qualified to borrow.
has been organizing the GO NEGOSYO Filipina
Entrepreneurship Summit with the international
celebration of the Women’s Month, which
usually attracts more than 5,000 attendees.
This annual event features an awarding of
inspiring female entrepreneurs who are
exemplary in the field of business and the
individual mentoring sessions provided by
expert entrepreneurs.
CARD (Centre for Agrarian Reform and
Development) is an institution that comprises
both NGO and a bank. It is committed to
empower
socially-and-economically
challenged women and families through
continuous access to financial, microinsurance, educational, livelihood, health and
other capacity-building service that train
them as responsible citizens for their
community and the environment. It was
organized on December 10, 1986 as a social
development foundation. It established its
credit arm in 1990, the Landless People's
Development Fund (LPDF), an adaptation of
the Grahmeen Bank. Eventually, its ultimate
vision of establishing a formal banking
institution owned, controlled and managed
by its landless rural members was formally
launched in September 01, 1997. CARD Bank,
Inc. is now a microfinance-oriented rural bank
that has 54 branches and with 329 Micro
Banking Offices (MBOs) located nationwide
that serves more than 900,000 clients across
the country. 21
IM PROVING BM O’S ASSISTANCE TO
W OM EN IN BUSINESS
Filipino women entrepreneurs, led by the
Women’s Business Council of the Philippines,
projected the following recommendations
during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) Women and the Economy Forum
(WEF) in 2015: 22
 At both the national and local levels, there
is a need for stronger monitoring and
evaluation systems to track gender
equality, in addition to women's economic
empowerment.
The
lack
of
sexdisaggregated data at all levels makes it
difficult to ascertain how men and women
are differently affected and benefitted. A
stronger monitoring and evaluation system
for
gender
equality
in
economic
development is necessary. Along with data,
consider opportunities for BMOs in the
following areas: a) increasing formality by
implementing business-friendly registration
procedures and tax structures; and b) desegregation, as well as increased women’s
participation in innovative and growing
sectors of the economy.
 Considering that both women and men are
involved at many different stages of the
value chain, be it as workers or
entrepreneurs, in marketing, and as
consumers, BMOs can employ genderresponsive value chain analyses to product
Mapping of financial services
 For credit and capital, women turn to
government financial institutions, rural
banks, non-government agencies and
microfinance institutions as major sources of
microcredit or microfinance loans. From
July 2004 to April 2008, a total of Php 93.75
billion had been released to finance the
livelihood projects of 3.95 million active
microfinance clients.
 The Development Bank of the Philippines
recently launched a special loan for
22
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?sectio n=
Opinion&title=closing-gender-gaps-in-the-apecregion&id=116837
http://w ww.mixmarket.org/mfi/cardbank#ix zz3q8njC000
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can be creative ways to engage them in
the value chain of production and
distribution of goods and services.
or service development, and increasingly
use them as a basis for strategic
interventions, to enhance capacity growth
and competitiveness.
 BMOs can facilitate women entrepreneur’s
affordable
access
to
innovative
technology that can change the way to
do business, connect with others, innovate,
and build networks and relations.
The
establishment
of
information
and
communications technology infrastructure
that will connect more businesswomen to
customers and markets, value chain
support,
mentoring
and
networking
initiatives, as well as
e-commerce
programs. Mothers are able to work from
home because of virtual office setups and
online communication tools. It is also easier
for women to build their start-up businesses
because technology helps substantially
reduce their capital requirement.
 BMOs can identify role models among their
women members who can serve as
inspiration for young women in pursuing
their goals and objectives. BMOs such as
WBCP can pursue continuous mentorship
and training programs on various areas of
entrepreneurship.
 BMOs and government can support and
promote
more
inclusive
businesses,
particularly
those
with
women
empowerment in their business strategy.
Support can be in the form of providing
direct capital to inclusive businesses and
social enterprises that are women-owned
or women-led, and offer products and
services benefiting women and girls. 23
 Increase women’s representation in BMO
board.
The presence of women on
corporate boards can enhance firm
performance and taps women’s potentials.
 BMOs can have increasing consultations
with low-income women’s organizations in
order to discover more effective ways of
economically empowering them. There
CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOM M ENDATIONS
BMOs, in collaboration with DTI and other
government agencies, have to invest more
resources and expertise in undertaking a
systematic analysis of gender issues
to
illustrate
the
link
between
women’s
empowerment and innovation towards better
firm performance and economic growth.
Through
data
and
case
studies,
businesspeople can be made to realize that
women empowerment can serve as a
mechanism to achieve inclusive growth and
promote corporate social responsibility.
WBCP will have to train and organize more
women to engage mainstream BMOs such as
ECOP and PCCI to be more inclusive in
investing in gender-responsive entrerprises and
allocating more spaces for women in
decision-making so that
the specific
recommendations in the previous section can
be fully explored.
Brief prepared by Ms. Luz Lopez Rodriguez.
Women Empowerment Through Business
Member Organization Series.
International Training Centre of the ILO, 2015.
Coordination: Ms. M. Carolina Marques
Ferracini
Produced by the International Training Centre
of the ILO and the Dutch Employers
Cooperation Programme in 2015.
For further information, please contact Ms.
Jeanne Schmitt, ITCILO Programme for
Employers’ Activities actempturin@itcilo.org
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