Category: Feature Stories

FOR MANY, a zigzag road is symbolic of a long and winding journey that can be compared to a difficult life.  But for 36-year-old Edita Muhi, she considers living beside the zigzag road as a blessing, despite the many challenges. Ironically, for Nanay Edita, she opened up a small business along the Old Zigzag Road located at the foot of the Quezon National Park, which gives you a preview of her difficult life. “My business is a canteen, a sari-sari … Continue reading “LIFE’S MANY ZIGZAGS”

PRACTICALLY everywhere in Bicol, endless rows of coconut trees seem to dominate the landscape.  Some TSPI clients are seizing opportunities from this abundance to help transform once-sleepy communities into thriving areas of business. From the upland town of Manito in southeastern Albay, the Mayon Volcano towers above Legazpi City and the serene gulf.  The view is one-of-a-kind, but some barangays, like Cabacongan, suffer from a chronic lack of job opportunities aside from copra production and soft broom making. “If you’d go … Continue reading “HOPE FROM COCO HUSKS”

MEMBERS of various Nepal-based microfinance institutions (MFI) recently visited the country to study the microfinance practices and the regulatory system of microfinance in the Philippines.  The Centre for Self-help Development (CSD) and the Rural Microfinance Development Centre (RMDC), two organized MFI networks in Kathmandu, were recently in the country to be a part of a week-long exposure visit organized by the Microfinance Council of the Philippines (MCPI). Part of the exposure trip is a visit to the Bangko Sentral ng … Continue reading “TSPI HOSTS STUDY TOUR FOR NEPAL MFIs”

LIKE MOST people in Luisiana, Laguna, Nanay Purificacion “Puring” Tagulinao has grown quite familiar with the pandan tree all her life. According to estimates, around 1,300 households in the small town derive their livelihood from the tree as planters, weavers, or handicraft makers.  It was through Nanay Puring’s partnership with TSPI, however, that opened up opportunities, not just for her and her family, but also for the entire community. Nanay Puring grew up surrounded with pandan.  The palm-like tree grows … Continue reading “WHEN FAMILIARITY BREEDS OPPORTUNITY”

OPPORTUNITY International Australia, together with its partner organization Tulay sa Pag-unlad, Inc. (TSPI), recently organized a visit to the Philippines for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), to see the impact of microfinance to small entrepreneurs in the country. Mr. Michael Bergmann, DFAT’s Assistant Secretary in the NGO and Volunteers Branch, visited a client center meeting in Taguig City and was able to observe how TSPI client groups make their weekly loan repayments.  Mr. Bergmann also learned how … Continue reading “AUSTRALIAN GOV’T MEETS WITH TSPI CLIENTS”

“Hindi lang tayo nanghihiram. At least, sa mga ganitong events, nakakatulong tayo sa kapwa at nakikilala natin yung mga kasama natin dito sa TSPI.  Na-enjoy mo na yung life mo, at the same time, nagiging healthy pa tayo [We are not just borrowers.  At least, through events like this, we are able to help others and we also get to know our fellow clients and the TSPI staff.  You get to enjoy while you also become healthy].” This was how … Continue reading “FLOOD-PRONE COMMUNITY BENEFITS FROM TAKBO, INDAK, TANIM”

  IT ALL starts with a piece of land, a passion for farming, and a dream of living a comfortable life.  But for most small Filipino farmers, the land and the passion have always been there as staples but the comfortable life that they long for remains a dream. But in the case of Tatay Samuel Ejan, a 56-year-old palay farmer from Barangay Taposo in Candelaria, Zambales, he has learned to explore the available opportunities that life has to offer … Continue reading “REAPING A GOOD HARVEST WITH SOIL ANALYSIS”

I grew up with the idea that fashion is a highly competitive and glamorous world, with waif-like, picture perfect models and members of the elite class for its citizens.  Maybe this is partly true, but what I saw from the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Sikat Pinoy National Fashion Fair at the Megatrade Hall in SM Megamall showed me a different side of fashion. For TSPI’s second Lakbay Aral, the Planning and Business Development Team invited clients whose businesses … Continue reading “WATER LILY BAG MAKER AT THE SIKAT PINOY NATIONAL FASHION FAIR”