PSFI Programs

Sanayan sa Kakayahang Pangangalakal

Sanayan sa Kakayahang Pangangalakal (SKP) was launched in 1994 and has benefited 164 individuals during its first year of implementation. SKP provides residents in poverty-stricken areas the technical assistance and access to microcredit necessary to establish and expand small enterprises. As such, SKP helps improve income especially in areas where employment opportunities are limited.

PSFI also proceeded to develop its own innovative training modules to impart business principles in the simplest means. In 2005, PSFI and SciP designed an SKP course that specifically focuses on developing the enterprising skills of the Filipino youth. The Shell Youth Business Camp (YBC) drafts aspiring young entrepreneurs for a three-day camping to impart business ideals and management skills through games and simulation activities. After the camp, aspiring entrepreneurs defend their business plans for critiquing. YBC provides access to microfinance necessary to put up the youth participants’ dream businesses.

The National Youth Business Camp was held in Pililla, Rizal in April 2005, where 150 young minds from Manila, Rizal, Batangas, Bulacan, Palawan, Mindoro, and Mindanao participated. In recognition of the success of the program and the opportunities it can bring to the Mindanao youth, three smaller groups (i.e., echo camps) were held in Bonggao, Tawi-tawi; Jolo, Sulu; and, Zamboanga City on 8-11 and 24-27 September, and 15-18 November 2005, respectively. The echo camps in Mindanao were made possible with the active participation of Mirant Foundation - Philippines, Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy (AMORE), and British Embassy.

Home-Based Skills Training

Aside from its regular entrepreneurship programs, PSFI also conducts technical skills development for home-based industries on need basis. PSFI has held numerous training programs on candle-making, dressmaking, furniture-making, therapeutic massage, basic cosmetology, hairstyling, and food preparation, among others, designed to promote self-employment.

In the past, PSFI has facilitated such short-courses to benefit families of military service personnel through Lingap sa Kabuhayan (LIKHA), and homemakers through Maghanap-buhay sa Bahay (MAGBUHAY). More recent courses include mobile phone repair, and small appliance repair, among others.

Suporta sa Buhay

Suporta sa Buhay (SUHAY), first implemented in 2000, provides poor enterprising families access to low-interest credit facility. SUHAY aims to improve their capability to save and to do business.

In Batangas, SUHAY extends credit, training, and technical assistance necessary for the start-up and expansion of micro-enterprises through partner cooperatives which serve as loan conduits that manage the credit system and collection scheme. SUHAY continues to improve the lives of over 1,000 families in TALIM-TSR, Batangas since its initial implementation in 2000. Over the years, total loaned funds reached more than P4.5M.

SUHAY is expanding its coverage to include other communities in Batangas City. SUHAY is also being implemented in Pandacan, Sulu, and Tawi-tawi, and shall be introduced as a component of the Movement Against Malaria in hopes of sustaining the services of volunteer health workers and microscopists by augmenting their incomes.