The offer was said to have been widened in scope to enable more private sector organizations in the country to have a good start in their chosen livelihoods.

This involveds Australian Government-funded grants coursed through the Enterprise Challenge Fund (ECF) for the Pacific and South East Asia.

The program was initially made available for interested Mindanao groups.

The fund, managed by Coffey International Development, provides grants for developing successful business ideas which improve people’s livelihoods, incomes, and access to vital goods and services.

The ECF, an Australian Government, AusAID-funded initiative, involves "business risk sharing" that would ultimately bring about improvements among the ranks of the poor.

Businesses are provided with grants for sound business ideas that also have a positive impact on poverty reduction.

Through the funding made available through grants, potential beneficiaries will be given opportunities to start and undertake commercially successful ventures.

By providing up to half of the project’s funds, it shares the project’s costs and some of the risk.

Grants range from P3.8-million up to as high as P57-million ($A100, 000 to $A1.5 million).

Beneficiaries may however only avail themselves of the grants after undergoing competitive screening, to ensure that those who would be given grants are qualified and ready.

Assessment panels, which are primarily made up of private sector representatives, select the winning proposals.

To be awarded a grant, businesses must complete a two stage application process.

Stage one is the submission of a brief concept note which is reviewed by a panel. Business projects that best satisfy the assessment criteria will be invited to submit a full application and the best applications are awarded a grant after further assessment by a panel.

Initially covering only the island of Mindanao, the ECF area of coverage for the Philippines has recently been expanded to include projects in the entire Visayas group of islands.

Aside from the Philippines, ECF also operates in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Cambodia, Lao PDR, East Timor and selected provinces of Indonesia.