Transforming Communities

By Vanessa Velasco
Photos by Greg Morales

(published in the February 2006 issue of Enterprise Magazine)


That particular weekday morning started out with a trek along what was obviously a place of commerce. It is not the usual scenery that greets office workers in the larger business districts where stylish glass buildings tower above a wide avenue. It does not have the sophistication of Ayala where sedans and SUVs form part of the business landscape.

Here, at Kalayaan Street behind the Commonwealth market, the road is narrow and covered with mud. The edifices you see are but small structures made of shoddy coco lumber. The only vehicles that can pass through are bicycles, motorcycles and wooden karitons.

Walking along the street, however, one can notice that the place is bustling with several small businesses. Sari-sari stores are sporadically scattered along the main road. Several people are seen having merienda at small tables and benches where the only meals on the menu are ham sandwiches and orange juice. Women shop for ten-peso clothes in the small ukay-ukay shop while kids enjoy a five-minute virtual battle with spaceships just by dropping a peso coin in a rusty amusement machine.

It is a community of micro entrepreneurs. Some have already sought expansion by venturing into several other micro-businesses: a registered midwife has her own sari-sari store and rooms for rent; the owner of the small gaming shop also operates her own FX unit; and the ukay-ukay shop proprietor has already established three store branches.

What is the moving force behind the proliferation of their small businesses? They had one answer: “The Center for Community Transformation has greatly helped raise capital to fund our businesses.”


Some of the women microentrepreneurs at Kalayaan Avenue.


FINANCING MICRO BUSINESSES

For several years, the Center for Community Transformation (CCT), through its micro-finance programs, has helped support the small businesses and housing needs of poor families. It owns one of the largest credit cooperatives in the country, having 97 branches nationwide and supporting more than hundred thousand families through their livelihood programs. Micro entrepreneurs are able to sustain – and even expand – their businesses, allowing to have modest living conditions and pay for their children’s college education.

“Eradicating poverty cannot be done by the government alone,” says CCT president Ruth Callanta, “We have to do our part so that those living below the poverty line – which comprises 70% of the country’s population – may be given a chance for a better future.”



In one of CCT’s membership meetings, members pay their dues for their loans or deposit money for their savings accounts.


The future has indeed been brighter for the cooperative members when they joined CCT. Cora, a sari-sari store owner, managed to make all her children graduate from college by simply maintaining a sari-sari store which CCT helped finance. Ofelia was able to build a second floor for her house which she now rents out to people who need a place to stay. Pichie used the small amount she loaned from CCT to establish her third ukay-ukay branch in another barangay, which eventually helped increase her income.

But the micro-finance programs are just part of CCT’s bigger effort in community transformation. Values formation and character building are at the core of their operations, where they require their members to attend Bible studies at the start of their membership meetings before they proceed with the actual business transactions. This is one way that CCT achieves its goal in transforming communities – by instilling in each individual member, a genuine love for God and for their fellowmen.

“Real transformation should start from within the individual,” Callanta explains, “Once they have gained the right attitude and the right heart, their changed lives can ultimately transform communities.”


Values formation is part of CCT’s membership meetings where attendance of the Bible studies and prayer times are a requirement.
THE ROLE OF BIGGER CORPORATIONS

The role of corporations has been increasingly significant in helping CCT achieve its mission. Aside from helping CCT finance the businesses of more than a hundred thousand micro-entrepreneurs, corporations have also been essential in giving support through technology training and commodity trading.

Cityland Incorporated, aside from financing the housing loans of the members, also lends its expertise in real estate development in CCT’s housing projects. Moreover, the corporation provides computer training to enable the CCT staff and members to gain additional skills that can earn them more opportunities in developing their businesses.

Several companies have been active in providing low-cost products to CCT members. Through its trading company, CCT purchases basic commodities such as soap, detergents, cooking oil and other products at discounted prices from its corporate partners, and then re-sells these products to the community members at very affordable prices. This way, the poor has access to quality products at prices within their budget.

Companies such as DLI Generics provide medicines and vitamins to the communities for as low as one peso per tablet.

Maya Advertising donates used tarpaulin billboards and banners to the micro-entrepreneurs, who then transform these tarps into bags that can be sold at their stores.

Other companies such as United Neon and Stateland Condominium help fund the business and housing loans of the micro-entrepreneurs and the scholarship of their children.
“CCT serves as an intermediary between the corporations and the poor,” says Callanta, “our role is to match what the corporations could offer with the present needs of the poor.”

THE JOURNEY

And what are indeed the pressing needs of the poor? A CCT staff who left a high-paying job in the corporate world to join CCT in its mission sums it up in one sentence: “They don’t need to be given fish, they need to be taught how to fish.”

And that is what organizations like CCT has been doing for years. The scene along Kalayaan Street revealed a different kind of business landscape. It may not be as glamorous as Makati or Ortigas, but its beauty lies not in what is seen – it is felt in the community’s spirit. A restless energy that is trying to catch up with the rest of society; where its constituents are continuously exploring the vast ocean of opportunities before them.

As the day came to a close, what started out for us as a trek on the muddy street behind the Commonwealth Market ended on the high-end district of Makati City. The day’s excursion showed us a sharp contrast between two worlds – from coco lumber houses and karitons on a narrow dirt road to towering glass buildings and the latest automobile models along a wide and paved avenue.

But, perhaps, nestled somewhere in these modern buildings are companies that once started out as micro-businesses. And it is through cooperatives like CCT that the entrepreneurial poor are given access to resources and skills that have brought their more affluent counterparts to the larger business districts.

Who knows, maybe one of these days, because of the efforts of the cooperatives and the support of the bigger business corporations, one of these micro-entrepreneurs will find themselves in the same journey: from a small coco lumber structure on that muddy street, into a bigger and better office space in one of the skyscrapers of Makati and Ortigas.

It is a dream that we can all share with them.