BPI Foundation, the social development arm of BPI, recently launched the second run of BPI Sulong, a learning program on financial management and entrepreneurship targeting overseas Filipino workers. The event was held in Hong Kong, which has a large population of Filipina migrant workers.
“As a leading Filipino financial institution, BPI—through the Foundation—is in a unique position to advance financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills among Filipinos, not just in the Philippines, but around the world,” said Maricris San Diego, executive director, BPI Foundation. “Migrant workers, specifically domestic workers in Hong Kong, are among the most financially vulnerable sectors we have identified. Given their above-average salaries and desperation to improve the lives of their families, they are prey to loan sharks both here and abroad. We started BPI Sulong to reach out to these women and empower them with the discipline, perspective, and skills to uplift themselves as individuals and their families back home. This way, they can make financially sound decisions, open more job opportunities for themselves, and maybe even start their own ventures here in the country, where they can be together with their loved ones.”
Since it started last year, BPI Foundation has already reached 500 overseas Filipinos in Hong Kong and 150 families in the Philippines. This year, it aims to expand to reach 1060 overseas Filipinos in Hong Kong and their 250 families back in the Philippines.
Rowena Anggaco is a domestic worker in Hong Kong who, since having graduated from BPI Sulong, has already started her own business venture CROP Marketland Limited in her home province Kalinga, Apayao. With the financial management and entrepreneurial skills BPI Sulong has imparted to Anggaco, she is now able to handle the business while working in Hong Kong.
“I had worked in Korea and Hong Kong for several years but have never saved much,” Anggaco confessed. “Since my participation in the financial education course, I have improved my financial management and increased my savings. BPI Sulong gave me and my husband hope, financial skills, and a clearer timeline on when I can go home. Now with my business plan, we can cultivate our ancestral land for the Tanudan Tribe and make it productive.”
Anggaco designed CROP Marketland Limited as a one-stop show for agricultural needs, such as training and micro-financing of indigenous peoples. She developed her business plan while completing the BPI Sulong program and had received an award at the Sulong Entrepreneurship Business Plan Recital in Hong Kong.
Learn more about BPI Sulong program by following BPI Foundation on Facebook (www.facebook.com/BPIFoundation) or visit the official website (www.bpifoundation.org/