By Johanna Sampan/Manila Times
Filipinos working abroad or those who have left their foreign employment and returned home for good, can start their own business with the help of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon yesterday urged returning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to start their own business by availing themselves of the agency’s reintegration fund programme. She said OWWA has 1.4bn pesos to lend, at low interest, to OFWs who need not worry about collaterals in order to enjoy the financial assistance.
In an exclusive roundtable discussion with The Manila Times, Dimzon said that P2bn was allotted for the reintegration fund which was launched in June 2011. The agency set aside P1bn for the project, while the LandBank and the Development Bank of the Philippines each put P500mn. She said the welfare office wants Filipino workers to stay in the country and open a business of their own.Under the programme, each active or inactive OFW can borrow money from the government agency to be used as capital for business. The loan is payable in seven years. Until now, only P600mn had been disbursed for 552 OFWs and their dependants.
“This programme is non-collateralized and 7.5% per annum interest is payable in seven years,” Dimzon explained.
The OWWA chief said President Benigno Aquino had given orders that returning OFWs should have access to a credit programme.
Dimzon said that those who want to apply for a loan would need to submit a business proposal that is feasible and sustainable. “We have to make sure that their (OFWs’) plan is feasible. We do check the feasibility and sustainability of the business and we screen the proposals,” she said.
Dimzon explained that OWWA has monitoring teams composed of productivity specialists who examine and screen the business proposals of the loan applicants. After the business is launched, these productivity specialists also regularly inspect the establishment to keep OWWA updated.
The OWWA chief revealed that those who have availed of the loan programme have established various business undertakings such as trading of agricultural products, spa and wellness establishments, T-shirt printing, duck raising, piggery and fishery, which has generated 2,193 jobs.