About ASA Philippines

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ASA Philippines is a non-profit, non-stock corporation specializing in microfinance. The first

branch that the foundation started with was in Camarin, Caloocan in August 2004, and as of today
the foundation has already expanded its operations nationwide. The foundation caters to more than
a million clients who are called by ASA as Micro Entrepreneurs.

Brief History
In the younger years of his life Mr. Kamrul H. Tarafder worked in ASA Bangladesh. Starting in
1998 he worked both under ASA and the United Nations Development Programme for five
years, teaching the ASA methodology to more than twenty microfinance institutions (MFIs) in
the Philippines.

The former employee of ASA Bangladesh met with Ambassador Howard Dee (former
ambassador of the Philippines to the Vatican) sometime in August 2003, when they discussed the
social and economic benefits received by the poor from microfinance operations. Soon after, in
2004, with donations from Assisi Development Foundation and the Benigno Aquino Foundation,
ASA Philippines Foundation came to be. With its excellent performance in the field, ASA soon
became one of the youngest, fastest growing and best performing MFIs in the Philippines.

Vision
We are a not-for-profit organization devoted to helping an increasing number of poor Filipino
families rise out of poverty by providing microfinancing to help them establish or otherwise
improve their own micro-enterprises that shall result in increasing family incomes and savings
while giving them greater access to life support goods and services, in the most cost-effective
sustainable manner.

We will be able do this because we will be the best managed MFI offering the best value for
money MFI packages in the Philippine market.

Mission
ASA Philippines Foundation has made its commitment to three sectors. The first is a
commitment to the marginalized poor sector for which the Foundation exists. The second
commitment is to the staff members who are dedicated to the Foundations mission. We are also
committed to making our founders and patrons vision a reality. To these ends, we shall:

deliver the highest value for money and client-responsive microfinance and
supplementary products and services to the poor through the enterprising women of the
family;
create the best place to work in, where every staff member has the chance to live in
dignity, develop a career path and have the fulfillment of changing peoples lives and
their own;
eventually develop other sustainable interventions supplementary to microfinance such as
providing scholarships for deserving children of clients; and
be self-sustaining and be the best managed microfinance institution in the Philippines.

Primary Services
There are three major service products being offered to the enterprising poor for the
improvement of their economic condition. The following services are being offered:

Loans
Evenly divisible by a thousand (Ex. 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 etc.)
No upfront deductions (ex: if the loan is 5,000, then this exact amount is released)
Loan is initially between 6,000 to 10,000 (depending on the business or pay off
capacity of the borrower)
Interest rate is 15% (for six months)
The payments are made weekly (50 for every thousand pesos borrowed by the client).
There are 23 repayments made for each cycle of six months.

Capital Build-Up (CBU)

CBU is an alternative micro savings service for the clients. This serves to promote the
idea of poor families saving for the future in order to meet family emergencies and other
needs.
This CBU is withdrawable any time based on the client's convenience and need.
Clients can deposit an amount of 50 or more during the weekly collection meetings at
their doorsteps.
The CBU accounts of the clients earn interest at 7% per annum.

Locked-in Capital Build-Up (LCBU)

Locked savings is fixed and mandatory and serves as a monitoring tool of the client's
performance whereby we base our decision for her loan renewal and if an additional
amount of loan can be given.
Client deposits 10 a week.
Non-withdrawable but 100% refundable
Once the accumulated deposit amount reaches 2,400, 50% or 1,200 shall be transferred
to the client's CBU account where she can withdraw it.
Refundable on the day a client wishes to leave the program
We are a Christian microenterprise development NGO, and our mission is to provide individuals, families,
and communities the opportunities to experience fullness of life in Christ through Christian microenterprise
development. Our vision is to see people live Christ-centered lives with dignity, sufficiency, integrity and hope;
demonstrating this through love and service in their families and communities.
As a Christian organization, we believe we are called in order to fulfill Christs commission to give His hope to our
neighbors, to proclaim the good news of His saving grace and loving kindness to all (Luke 4:18). We recruit, train and
empower our field personnel so that they can provide genuine, authentic, and effective witnessing of Gods love,
knowing that whatever we do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters, we do it for Jesus (Matthew 25:40).
We work with the rest of society to help alleviate poverty by contributing our expertise in microenterprise
development. We reach out to microentrepreneurs and farmers and offer a variety of services that help them
establish, sustain or grow their enterprises and farms. It is our belief that this source of livelihood for them could be
their bridge out of poverty (tulay sa pag-unlad).
Mahal ka ng Diyos. Ang iyong negosyo (o sakahan) ay pagpapala na nagmula sa kabutihan Niya. Ito ang iyong
tulay sa pag-unlad. -Message to Microentrepreneurs and Farmers
To these microentrepreneurs and farmers, we provide microfinance and micro-agri loans. We offer various trainings
from financial literacy, to microenterprise management, to yield-enhancing agricultural techniques, to courses on
setting up specific livelihood enterprises. We find ways to link their microenterprises and farms to better markets,
lower sources of production inputs, and better methods of production. We help shield these microenterprises from
shocks such as calamities, illnesses or unexpected cash drains, by offering support services to address basic needs for
healthcare, housing, education, micro-insurance and other non-financial services.

Our core values guide our relationship with all our stakeholders, employees, and the conduct of our services to
clients. These are:
Servanthood Each one working with a servant heart.
Stewardship Each one taking responsibilities as faithful stewards.
Integrity Each one doing what is right despite the cost even when no one is looking.
Excellence Each one working for the glory of God.

RELATED LINKS:
TSPIs Programs and Services
TSPI Board of Trustees
 TSPI Partners
Publications
TSPI Mutual Benefit Association, Inc.

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