Seven outstanding micro entrepreneurs from across the country were honored in the 2015 Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards (CMA) during rites held at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas late last year.
The CMA is conducted yearly by Citi Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and the Micro Finance Council of the Philippines.
Named National Winner was Lydia Malot, a public school teacher turned nata de coco producer from Davao City. She is the first national winner in the program’s 12-year history to come from Mindanao.
Regional winners were: Esther Shiela Vitto who with her husband was able to set up a thriving footwear business using recycled old tires (winner for Luzon); Jordan Inalisan, who makes pastillas and other delicacies in Carigara, Leyte (Visayas), and Maternidad Salili, who fabricates coil springs for big manufacturing firms (Mindanao).
Special awards for agricultural micro-business were won by mushroom and organic rice grower Victoria Bantilan of Negros Occidental and knife fish trader Laarni Ditablan of Binangonan, Rizal.
Citi Philippines CEO Aftab Ahmed hailed the winners as “men and women who have displayed exceptional commitment, determination, and ingenuity to create businesses that have contributed to better lives for themselves and their families as well as to the communities in which they live.”
BSP Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr. cited micro entrepreneurs for the “gold mine of lessons and information that has been helping us transform and improve the lives of millions of Filipinos through microfinance.”
The winners received close to PhP2 million in cash and non-cash prizes including life and health insurance coverage; a four-week entrepreneurship training; and laptops and IT training.
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