Insol helps Philippine entrepreneurs
Trias-partner Insol rolled up its sleeves also in 2011 to help insure an improved existence for the Philippine entrepreneurs. Last year the number of Insol members rose sharply and many of them are slowly rising out of poverty.
Insol helps local entrepreneurs to develop their business.
Mrs. Teresita Reyes of Tess Dress Shop is a satisfied businesswoman. For years she had a tough existence: her small clothes shop did not deliver sufficient revenue and Teresita just muddled along. She drifted between living and surviving. Large expenditures were very difficult. She joined Insol and very soon realized what the problem was. Because she bought too many clothes, she often had obsolete inventories. Therefore potential clients often did not buy her products.
Insol changed Teresita’s life. Under guidance of the Philippine entrepreneur’s organization she started to track purchasing and sales figures. After a few months of membership her sales figures rose. Since then she has her inventory under control and business is running smoother.
For Philippine entrepreneurs with little schooling, poverty is a widespread problem. Owning a healthy business is a dream for many people, a dream that Insol helps to achieve. The organization realizes this by establishing 'Enterprise Centers', amongst other things. These are local counters where entrepreneurs can obtain assistance for all their business needs: training and coaching, product development and trade fairs, credit, help in registration, networking and exchange between businessmen. In this way Insol guides poor entrepreneurs in all aspects of their growth.
Teresita Reyes is one of the many entrepreneurs that joined the Insol Development Foundation during the past months. Insol had a difficult year in 2011. The business plan of Insol stated that the number of members should grow from 535 to 789. Also the revenue from the members needed to rise to 34% of the operating funds. This was caused by the fact that the contribution from a Dutch ngo ended in the second half of the year, due to cuts by the Dutch government.
In order to increase the number of members, Insol has started entrepreneur-groups in the communities where it is active. Satisfied entrepreneurs applied to form a local group of micro-entrepreneurs with an independent board. This new approach works. By the end of last year Insol had over 800 members. Insol also provided 139 training sessions around business issues. Some examples of these issues are cash flow recording, understanding a financial statement and costing. Momentarily 172 entrepreneurs are using the Insol-software to keep simplified accounts for business operations. Around 300 entrepreneurs received an individual corporate loan through mediation by Insol at Ashi, another Trias partner. Their credit application includes a business plan that calculates the growth strategy they want to achieve.
The revenues have increased as planned, due to the hard work done by Insol. Financial sustainability is what the organization wants to guarantee through the newly established Insol Trading Company. This commercial social company will sell selected regional products, manufactured by Insol members, under a common brand name. In this way Insol itself can grow financially and provide a market for the products of its members.
The guidance of Insol remains essential for many small entrepreneurs. Competition between entrepreneurs is hard. As Nenita Tamayo discovered. She operated a cafeteria in franchise in a hospital in the metropolitan Manila. With the support of Insol she made this cafeteria a real success. An administrative employee of the hospital however succeeded in removing Nenita, in order to give the now successful cafeteria to his nephew. Nenita, without a contract, was powerless. Insol however did not abandon her and helped her to start another business elsewhere. Insol also restructured her current loan. Up to now Nenita has been able to pay off the loan with the limited income of her new business. Without Insol, here situation could have had an entirely other outcome.