CEBU CITY – With more microfinance institutions mushrooming in the country, a local industry player has chosen to upgrade its products and services, offering clients perks that other lending institutions could not give.

“Competition has affected the organization and we see more clients drop out of our program and transfer to other microfinance institutions,” said Ma. Theresa Catipay, Executive Director of the Cebu Micro Enterprise Development Foundation Inc. (CMEDFI), a non-stock, non-profit organization.

CMEDFI, which has been in existence for 10 years, is a microfinance program of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI).
Catipay noted that in Lapu-Lapu City alone, it has around 27 competitors, including rural banks, other microfinance companies, and informal lenders.

In order to drive more clients to capitalize on its microfinance program, Catipay said CMEDFI is mulling the establishment of linkages with other programs of the foundation.

At present, CMEDFI and the RAFI cancer center is in negotiations to help materialize the project.

“As long as we are creative, we can do a lot of things even though we are a small microfinance institution,” she said, “and while competition abounds, we want to focus on giving the marginalized sector access to working capital and addressing the problem of poverty.”

Next year, CMEDFI is planning to provide livelihood training so that clients can diversify their business. A sari-sari store owner, for instance, can venture into hog raising at the same time so that if one business fails, she still has another activity to fall back on.