Like a mustard seed
Published Feb 13, 2023 12:05 am
FROM THE MARGINS
Last Jan. 24, I attended the general assembly of the Kabalikat Para Sa Maunlad Na Buhay, Inc. (KMBI), a faith-based microfinance non-government organization. This was their first face-to-face annual membership meeting since the pandemic. Some 170 field-based and head office staff attended. Their board of directors were there, as well as some microfinance industry leaders who were invited as guests. The gathering was quite unique, kicking-off with an opening ceremony where the participants joined a band in singing praises to God. Witnessing the dynamic interaction of KMBI’s leaders and staff was very heart-warming.
KMBI is a Christ-centered development organization that provides microfinance and non-financial services to low-income women, their families and communities. Their very energetic president, Ed Jimenez, explains: “At the heart of KMBI’s microfinance operations is the compassion to serve and facilitate transformation beginning with these women. We put a premium on values formation, capacity building and women empowerment.”
KMBI’s operation covers 47 provinces and NCR, with 75 branches and 18 satellite units all over the country.
Starting small
For decades, KMBI has been helping poor Filipino women microentrepreneurs have access to loans, microinsurance and capital build-up (CBU). Like the proverbial mustard seed, KMBI started with only a handful of clients in 1985, as a microcredit project of the choir of the Valenzuela City Methodist Church. From that informal set-up, it was registered as a non-stock, non-government development organization in 1986. By 1997, it decided to become a formal MFI focused on delivering microfinancial services to very poor subsistence entrepreneurs using the trust banking approach, that is, working through Christian, self-help groups of 15-35 members. This, coupled with a standardized operating and accounting system, has led to the phenomenal expansion of KMBI throughout the Philippines
From serving only 37 clients in 1986, KMBI’s outreach has expanded to more than 156,800 active clients nationwide as of December 2022. Its members have a CBU of ₱601 million, while KMBI’s loan portfolio is at ₱1.12 billion. KMBI was recognized as one of the four awardees of Digital Champions–MFI Category during the 1st Digital Financial Inclusion Awards in 2022, in recognition of its efforts in adopting and implementing digital technologies to better serve its members in these changing times.
More plans are in the offing. “We are still trying to catch up with the changing industry platform and the global situation. Consistent with its core value of continuous improvement, KMBI is innovating a lot of things, bordering on re-engineering our organization,” Ed explains. KMBI has undertaken reforms ranging from incremental changes to breakthroughs. Much of these, says Ed, pertain to product development and process enhancements, as well as digitalization.
Digital transformation
Since 2003, KMBI started institutionalizing a more holistic set of products and services, providing a range of financial and non-financial interventions. This includes microenterprise loans, agricultural microfinance loans, microinsurance products, CBU, business skills development, and scholarships.
“This is in line with KMBI’s mission to be a sustainable Christian development organization that contributes significantly to a poverty-free and Christ-centered Philippines,” says Hazel Christine Bayaca, their deputy executive director.
KMBI’s digitalization efforts started as far back as 2003 for its core banking system and 2010 for its digital financial services. Ed admits that it was the pandemic that hastened the implementation and integration of their digital initiatives in KMBI’s mainstream operations. Happily, digitalization has had a very positive effect in the organization. “We have noted growing satisfaction for both staff and clients, plus cost and time efficiency in our business processes,” says Ed.
KMBI’s inhouse system, the Dynamic Unified Network and Management Information System (DUNAMIS), transformed their business processes, accelerating KMBI’s daily banking transactions and financial records through automation. In partnership with the ILO, KMBI also developed a digital payment and financial services platform via DigiPay, which allowed clients and merchant-agents to carry out payments, remittances and e-loading services. Recently, they launched an automated collection system in partnership with UBx to help in lowering transaction costs and streamlining the payment process for their members.
Forging ahead
The general assembly closed with a commitment setting by KMBI’s leaders, officers and staff. This is a manifestation of the organization’s efforts toward achieving its goals for 2023, in line with its five-year business plan dubbed, ARISE KMBI! Journey to 40 and Beyond, the roadmap leading to its four decades of service to microenterpreneurs, farmers and other marginalized sectors.
KMBI is like the mustard seed whose faith was not defined by its small size. From being “the least of all seeds,” it grew into a tree so big that it provides rest for the “fowls of the air.” The same way that KMBI strives to serve thousands of client-members belonging to poor and marginalized communities.
Let me end with this famous Biblical passage that, like KMBI, we need to take heed:
"For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20-21)
Last Jan. 24, I attended the general assembly of the Kabalikat Para Sa Maunlad Na Buhay, Inc. (KMBI), a faith-based microfinance non-government organization. This was their first face-to-face annual membership meeting since the pandemic. Some 170 field-based and head office staff attended. Their board of directors were there, as well as some microfinance industry leaders who were invited as guests. The gathering was quite unique, kicking-off with an opening ceremony where the participants joined a band in singing praises to God. Witnessing the dynamic interaction of KMBI’s leaders and staff was very heart-warming.
KMBI is a Christ-centered development organization that provides microfinance and non-financial services to low-income women, their families and communities. Their very energetic president, Ed Jimenez, explains: “At the heart of KMBI’s microfinance operations is the compassion to serve and facilitate transformation beginning with these women. We put a premium on values formation, capacity building and women empowerment.”
KMBI’s operation covers 47 provinces and NCR, with 75 branches and 18 satellite units all over the country.
Starting small
For decades, KMBI has been helping poor Filipino women microentrepreneurs have access to loans, microinsurance and capital build-up (CBU). Like the proverbial mustard seed, KMBI started with only a handful of clients in 1985, as a microcredit project of the choir of the Valenzuela City Methodist Church. From that informal set-up, it was registered as a non-stock, non-government development organization in 1986. By 1997, it decided to become a formal MFI focused on delivering microfinancial services to very poor subsistence entrepreneurs using the trust banking approach, that is, working through Christian, self-help groups of 15-35 members. This, coupled with a standardized operating and accounting system, has led to the phenomenal expansion of KMBI throughout the Philippines
From serving only 37 clients in 1986, KMBI’s outreach has expanded to more than 156,800 active clients nationwide as of December 2022. Its members have a CBU of ₱601 million, while KMBI’s loan portfolio is at ₱1.12 billion. KMBI was recognized as one of the four awardees of Digital Champions–MFI Category during the 1st Digital Financial Inclusion Awards in 2022, in recognition of its efforts in adopting and implementing digital technologies to better serve its members in these changing times.
More plans are in the offing. “We are still trying to catch up with the changing industry platform and the global situation. Consistent with its core value of continuous improvement, KMBI is innovating a lot of things, bordering on re-engineering our organization,” Ed explains. KMBI has undertaken reforms ranging from incremental changes to breakthroughs. Much of these, says Ed, pertain to product development and process enhancements, as well as digitalization.
Digital transformation
Since 2003, KMBI started institutionalizing a more holistic set of products and services, providing a range of financial and non-financial interventions. This includes microenterprise loans, agricultural microfinance loans, microinsurance products, CBU, business skills development, and scholarships.
“This is in line with KMBI’s mission to be a sustainable Christian development organization that contributes significantly to a poverty-free and Christ-centered Philippines,” says Hazel Christine Bayaca, their deputy executive director.
KMBI’s digitalization efforts started as far back as 2003 for its core banking system and 2010 for its digital financial services. Ed admits that it was the pandemic that hastened the implementation and integration of their digital initiatives in KMBI’s mainstream operations. Happily, digitalization has had a very positive effect in the organization. “We have noted growing satisfaction for both staff and clients, plus cost and time efficiency in our business processes,” says Ed.
KMBI’s inhouse system, the Dynamic Unified Network and Management Information System (DUNAMIS), transformed their business processes, accelerating KMBI’s daily banking transactions and financial records through automation. In partnership with the ILO, KMBI also developed a digital payment and financial services platform via DigiPay, which allowed clients and merchant-agents to carry out payments, remittances and e-loading services. Recently, they launched an automated collection system in partnership with UBx to help in lowering transaction costs and streamlining the payment process for their members.
Forging ahead
The general assembly closed with a commitment setting by KMBI’s leaders, officers and staff. This is a manifestation of the organization’s efforts toward achieving its goals for 2023, in line with its five-year business plan dubbed, ARISE KMBI! Journey to 40 and Beyond, the roadmap leading to its four decades of service to microenterpreneurs, farmers and other marginalized sectors.
KMBI is like the mustard seed whose faith was not defined by its small size. From being “the least of all seeds,” it grew into a tree so big that it provides rest for the “fowls of the air.” The same way that KMBI strives to serve thousands of client-members belonging to poor and marginalized communities.
Let me end with this famous Biblical passage that, like KMBI, we need to take heed:
"For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20-21)