The country’s largest foreign bank and its top university have formed a partnership to equip microentrepreneurs with the necessary skills to succeed in business.
Citi Philippines CEO Aftab Ahmed and University of the Philippines (UP) Chancellor Michael Tan both expressed their commitment to the partnership, when they met after the launch of a bridging program for social entrepreneurship and financial inclusion to benefit microentrepreneurs. This landmark program aims todevelop certificate courses to help build and enhance capacities of practitioners in micro and small enterprisedevelopmen
Aftab spoke on the significance of the partnership as Citi Foundation continues to further enhance and expand its efforts to develop a more inclusive financial system throughout the country.
He said, “Citi has always been a champion of the microentrepreneur. With Clark Freeport Zone being one of the growth centers in the country, the entrepreneurship courses being developed in the University of the Philippines Diliman Extension Program in Pampanga (UPDEPP) comes at an opportune time. We hope the pilot proves to be successful, so our efforts in educating microentrepreneurs can then be replicated in UP colleges across the country.”
Chancellor Michael Tan and UPDEPP Director Grace Jamon both emphasized that the UP campus in Clark serves as the ideal strategic base for the program considering its location and environment of diverse investments from business locators in the Freeport Zone. This unique advantage can be harnessed through potential collaboration of UPDEPP with large firms on how they can support programs transforming livelihoods and small and medium-sized enterprises in the region to become more competitive and resilient.
Professor Gerardo Agulto, Executive Director for University of the Philippines Foundation Inc. expressed their thanks for the support given by Citi: “We at U. P. Foundation appreciate this initial engagement andsupport from Citi Foundation. We hope to develop updated and relevant learning materials on the subject of social enterprise management in the region and work with government and non-government organizations implementing livelihood and small enterprise programs. We intend to offer the courses initially under UPDEPP and we look forward to sustain this process under our non-degree and degree programs. We look forward to a lasting and mutually gratifying relationship.“
With the partnership between the two foundations, the program hopes to promote the exchange of knowledge-among