The COVID-19 pandemic has radically transformed how Filipino youth increase their income and achieve financial freedom. Apart from getting a degree or upskilling themselves to better compete in the job market, Filipino youth have increasingly ventured into small businesses. This, as the surge in use of technology and social media amid the pandemic paved the way for new enterprises that came in simple forms like online selling.
InvestEd has seen this reality on the ground. In 2016, InvestEd was born as one of the first known student loan providers in Southeast Asia. Since inception, InvestEd has provided education financing to thousands of Filipino youth, helping them increase their family’s income by 2.3 times in 2019, InvestEd started providing repeat loans to borrowers who have graduated, but still continued to request funding for developmental needs such as business ventures. InvestEd learned from these initial borrowers that the journey towards financial resiliency extends far beyond graduation. By 2021, InvestEd had solidified its identity as an institution servicing the youth’s financing needs from education to adulthood.
With the growing number of students venturing into entrepreneurship, the impact business is moving beyond its financial offerings and counseling support to help students who are running their own small businesses to find more resources. And it has found an ally in this initiative in finance company iGlobal Financial Services.
There are currently about 5,000 large enterprises in the Philippines, and iGlobal envisions this figure to increase to 10,000—acknowledging the vital role of businesses in providing opportunities for Filipinos to climb the economic ladder.For years, iGlobal has been financing medium sized businesses, but sees the gap in getting Filipino businesses from small to large. To close this gap, iGlobal is committed to financing our nation’s pipeline of entrepreneurs- no other than our young high potential dreamers.
InvestEd and iGlobal’s Youth Entrepreneurship Program will provide capital to finance the establishment or expansion of businesses of InvestEd’s borrowers. The program will also provide business counseling and create an Investee entrepreneur community.
“There is undeniable synergy between InvestEd’s vision of Education for All and iGlobal’s vision of Economic Development. At InvestEd, we understand that financing for ‘experiential’ education such as entrepreneurship is as important as financing for traditional learning,” InvestEd CEO and Co-founder Carmina Bayombong said. “We are excited to partner with iGlobal, who equals our passion in helping young people succeed. With this fund, Investees in our portfolio will have more opportunity to establish and grow their businesses.”
“Building the iGlobal.ph entrepreneur community involves four key components – educators, connectors, clients and funders. By combining our resources to provide the right financial platform and education, we accelerate the development of high potential entrepreneurs. We are grateful for this opportunity to partner with Invested in building the community for growth, allowing us to move a step closer towards our combined goals,” iGlobal President Sandeep Chandiramani said.
A globally-awarded impact business, InvestEd partners with individuals and institutions to finance the education of unbanked learners. Since its inception, the organization has raised over P150 million ($3M) in capital from funders who seek to invest in education or build on specialized lending programs together with InvestEd; partners include family funds, corporate foundations, and impact investors. To date, InvestEd has helped thousands of low-income Filipino youth from 400+ schools increase their income and navigate success in a fast-changing world. If you would like to partner with the organization or start a fund for education, please contact capital@invested.ph.
iGlobal seeks to unlock opportunities for entrepreneurs so they can achieve their full potential. It connects a community of partners and funders to deliver a trusted stack of financial solutions. This allows the company to provide bank and non-bank funding at an affordable, predictable price.