SMALL Business Corp. (SBCorp), the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) development financing arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), expects its net operating income in 2025 to reach P500 million, surpassing last year’s estimated P431.1 million
Roberto Bastillo, SB Corp. president, said in an interview yesterday the higher net operating income will come from increased loan uptake for new programs which will expand the lender’s portfolio and revenues.
SB Corp. launched two programs on Jan. 17, 2025, with a total of P1.5 billion worth of loans: the Business Expansion Program and the Purchase Order Financing Program.
SB Corp. will also launch three new programs by February: the Receivables Financing, the Creative Industry Fund, and the Halal Financing.
Bastillo said SB Corp. sees an overall increase in loan demand from existing borrowers as the country’s economic conditions improve, prompting MSMEs to expand and to borrow more for working capital
“SB Corp. expects better collection rates from businesses that have fully recovered from the pandemic and are now able to repay their loans, coupled with more efficient collection efforts,” Bastillo told Malaya Business Insight.
He declined to disclose the collection rates but in a report released on Jan. 17, 2025, SB Corp. said revenues are expected to exceed P1 billion in 2024, the first time in the corporation’s history that it will breach the billion-peso level.
This is triple SB Corp.’s pre-pandemic performance of P358.5 million, the report added.
Operating income almost doubled pre-pandemic levels, from P228.6 million in 2019 to about P431.1 million in 2024, the report added.
“These milestones reflect the government’s commitment to level-up the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector and make them the real drivers of the Philippine economy,” said DTI Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque in the report. Roque is the chairperson of SBCorp.
The report said SB Corp. disbursed P16.7 billion in 2024, surpassing the target of P16.3 billion and served 61,000 borrowers, slightly higher than its target range of between 59,000 and 61,000.
SBCorp credits the positive results to streamlined and faster loan application and approval processes and commitment to financing 100 percent of all approved loan applications.
Under the Purchase Order Financing program, MSMEs operating for at least one year may borrow up to 80 percent of the indicated value in their purchase orders.
SB Corp offers loan amounts of between P30,000 to P 20.0 million, with only 1 percent monthly interest rate. Loan terms are from 30 days up to 360 days.
The Business Expansion loan program supports newly established businesses where loan amounts range from P50,000 to P3 million, with flexible payment terms of up to three years. Loan repayment comes with a zero interest rate for the first 12 months, followed by a monthly interest rate of 1 percent based on a diminishing balance for the remaining months.