Through a project called Microinvestments for Development and Sustainability (Midas), the org will be reaching out by teaching small business owners, like sari-sari store nanays (mothers), the proper way to handle personal and business funds.
“Among the business cluster orgs, social responsibility projects don’t occur often,” Monica Camille Co (IV AB MEco), MEcO associate vice president of community development, said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Midas will be the org’s own form of social investment. Instead of literally doling out money, MEcO and Midas volunteers will teach and empower the nanays to earn a profit and lift themselves from their lifestyle, said Co.
Co said that Midas will also train their volunteers to teach basic accounting, financial literacy, and proper financial management to the sari-sari store owners, most of whom are part of Hapinoy.
Hapinoy is a microfinancing venture aimed to create the largest sari-sari store chain in the Philippines.
Midas recruited volunteers through its exhibit and awareness week on November 17 to 21 at the Social Sciences Foyer.
Think rich
Midas aims for long-term change, which will manifest itself in growing small businesses to mini-groceries.
“We’re focused on helping these people,” said Midas volunteer Mia Camille Sta. Ana (III AB MEco) in a mix of English and Filipino.
“Students can share what they learned in school…they can teach business people with sari-sari stores how to manage their capital well,” said Reana Carmella Saavedra (II AB MEco), another volunteer.
Ultimately, the goal is a lifestyle change for the nanays, said Co. “Instead of thinking poor, they’re going to think rich,” she said.
Midas also aims for a change of business mindset by teaching sari-sari store owners to separate business funds from personal funds. Co said Midas hopes to lift the nanays out of their debt mentality, where they borrow money to pay borrowed money.
Microfinance kuwentuhan
The project is open to non-Management Economics majors. The org prepared easy-to-understand financial modules, written last summer, for both the volunteer trainers and nanays.
The modules will begin a very casual discussion or, as they call it, kuwentuhan of microfinance, said John Oliver Go (IV AB MEco), MECo’s vice president of community development.
As of press time, around 40 to 60 nanays have signed-up to be taught by more or less 70 Atenean volunteers.
There will be eight insertions to the sari-sari stores, and two sessions will be dedicated to a low-income sector. The insertions occur every Saturday, beginning December 13 to February 21, 2009 excluding holiday weekends. Each insertion will include five to 10 nanays from the Quezon Province and Batangas low-income areas.
Another exhibit and a culminating fair will showcase the project’s results in February 2009.
Investors for others
Go said that Midas will expand to more than just Hapinoy sari-sari stores. MEcO is looking for other micro financing institutions whose debtors might benefit from financial training.
According to Go, Midas is a practical application of what Management Economics majors learned in the Ateneo. “We’re doing the best we can with what we have to empower [the nanays] to be more than they are,” he said.
More than meeting the needs of low-income entrepreneurs, Midas trains students to become investors for others, Go added.
