The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)’s SMALL Business Corp. (SBCorp) targets to release P11 billion in loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in 2025, higher than the average of between P8 billion and P10 billion it released per year over the past five years, the top official of the DTI financing arm said.
”We have increased our target for this year and we are confident in surpassing it, especially with the new programs of SB Corp,” the government corporation’s president, Robert Bastillo, said in a text message on Sunday.
SBCorp was created in 1991 to implement policies and programs to assist MSMEs in all areas, including, but not limited to, finance and information services, training and marketing.
Bastillo said a new loan program launched last year — the Enterprise Rehabilitation Fund (ERF) to help MSMEs recover from calamities — is becoming popular and is the most established among the agency’s programs.
Open to new and existing SBCorp borrowers, ERF offers a loan of up to P300,000 with zero interest on the first year, and 1 percent per month on the second year, as well as the third. The loan is payable monthly for up to three years, inclusive of a three-month grace period.
The Women’s Enterprise Fund (WEF), launched only in June, is also gaining traction, SBCorp said.
SBCorp said it has set aside P1 billion for the WEF to establish a special “fast lane” for women MSMEs across SBCorp’s major financing programs, including the Franchising Loan Facility, Purchase Order Financing, and Business Expansion Financing. These are new programs launched by SB Corp. in 2024.
The WEF offers loans of up to P20 million at a 1 percent monthly interest rate on a diminishing balance and a repayment term of up to five years.
“All our new programs are still growing in numbers and size of portfolio. They are still to take off, which we expect this second half. We are processing many applicants,” Bastillo said.
The biggest part of SBCorp’s retail portfolio is the RISE UP, a regular multi-purpose program launched in 2022, he added.
He did not provide the details but said the program was crafted to sustain the gains of MSMEs that have survived the pandemic. It caters to multi-sectoral MSMEs, including existing SBCorp borrowers, with a maximum loan of P300,000 payable up to three years and a 12 percent interest per annum.
“This program is the one most familiar to our clients as it is already over four years old,” Bastillo said.
Bastillo said SB Corp is working to continuously make application easier and processing time shorter.
SB Corp. has an outstanding balance of about P17 billion in its portfolio to 82,031 borrowers as of June 2025, its website says.
Bastillo declined to provide SB Corp.’s non-performance loan ratio and only said “the outstanding portfolio is what is currently lent out as loans under continuing collections. We have to collect so we can lend again.”
He said to promote the new programs, SB Corp has set up dedicated sales people and works with institutions and organized groups such as women’s groups, chambers of commerce, Go Negosyo, local governments to mount loan application roadshows.
“We are working hand in hand with our mother agency, the Department of Trade and Industry, to finance participants in trade fairs and graduates of its training programs such as the Kapatid Mentor Me,” Bastillo said.
“We are continuously promoting our programs, especially to focus on target clients such as women, youth, OFWs, enterprises in small islands and poor provinces, micro retailers, halal-certified enterprises, and the like,” he added.
