The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in partnership with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), is set to launch a P500-million loan financing program for micro businesses, such as sari-sari store owners and market vendors, who may easily access the fund through e-wallet applications GCash and Maya.
In an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the Asia SME Forum 2025 in Pasay City on Thursday, DTI Secretary Cristina Roque said the DTI and DBP will sign a memorandum of understanding for the initiative, either within this month or by the first week of April.
Under the program, sari-sari or variety store owners and market vendors will be able to easily access financing, which they can use for their businesses, with just a few taps via mobile wallet apps GCash or Maya.
“We’re going to be launching a partnership between DTI and DBP so that the sari-sari stores and the palengke (market vendors) can also loan through GCash and Maya, a quicker way to (access financing) using the digital platform,” Roque said.
“We might pilot it in Cebu since I’ve already spoken with the sari-sari store owners there, and the market is quite significant,” she said, adding that it will also be launched in Metro Manila days later.
Roque said that further details, which would include the funding source, financing terms and loan limits, will be disclosed during the program launch, which will happen “very soon.”
Roque said this initiative aims to provide financing focused on micro businesses alone, rather than on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in general, so that “we can uplift the micro on a specific basis.”
The DTI defines micro enterprises as businesses having assets up to P3 million and employing one to nine people in the Philippines. Small enterprises are those with assets of over P3 million to P15 million and with 10 to 99 employees. Medium enterprises are those with assets over P15 million to P100 million and with 100 to 199 employees. Of the close to a million businesses registered in the Philippines as of 2020, 88.8 percent are considered micro enterprises.
“We’ve been going around markets and we really check what the needs of these people are, and the most important one for them is really financing,” Roque said.
However, the DTI chief said many struggle with the traditional process, such as filling out forms and physically applying for loans, especially as most micro-entrepreneurs are also the ones running the day-to-day operations of their businesses.
“Using digital platforms like GCash and Maya makes it much easier for them (to access funding),” Roque said.
The Asia SME Forum is an annual event organized and hosted by the Asia CEO Forum, to provide small and medium-sized enterprises with a platform to learn from successful entrepreneurs and leading businesses, build partnerships, and be informed on the entrepreneurial landscape of the Philippines. The Asia SME Forum 2025 was held at the Manila Marriott, Newport City Complex, Pasay City, Philippines on March 27, 2025.
