More than 100 young women from low-income families will undergo skills training to become microentrepreneurs under a program that will also provide them with livelihood starter kits, and access to financial and non-financial services.
The RAFI Microfinance, Inc. (RAFI MFI) and the Banilad Center for Professional Development (BCPD) on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021, signed a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the program. The aim is to help the beneficiaries and their families rise above poverty.
Iris Louise Rosellosa-Dorado, vice president for business development of RAFI MFI, said the financial bridging aspect of the program will benefit graduates, alumni or scholars of BCPD.
"With the graduates coming out of this program, we hope to handhold them and mentor them in their education to entrepreneur or education to employment tracks," she said.
Asked on how long the program will be implemented, she said both parties would like to continue their partnership for as long as it is working to achieve their shared goal of helping young women become microentrepreneurs.
Around 90% of RAFI MFI’s estimated 500,000 clients are women, according to chief operating officer Jonar B. Dorado.
“We will work together. We have laid out the program to implement the program to help these young women embark from a journey of education to becoming self-employed microentrepreneurs,” he said during the virtual signing ceremony Thursday.
Elizabeth A. Lopez, BCPD school director, said they were grateful for the partnership “because BCPD graduates are assured to break the cycle of poverty within the family and uplift their living condition through the various programs of RAFI.”
Under the program, the beneficiaries will undergo Tesda-accredited skills training and mentoring by the BCPD.
RAFI MFI, on the other hand, will provide them with the opportunity to undergo on-the-job training to prepare them for employment.
The beneficiaries will also have access to the Clustering Livelihood Program, which provides livelihood starter kits, and allow access to financial and non-financial services. (Ventures Cebu)
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