Increase your chances of getting a bank loan

What’s the best way to find out how to nail that loan that you need to expand your business or develop your product? Ask the bank of course!

BPI Foundation, which is turning 30 next year, helps small to medium-scale enterprises through seminars and mentoring sessions on how to get loan applications approved.

Banking is, after all, a business. Banks can’t just lend to you because they want to help. The loan officer you will be talking to will have to justify their decision to lend money to you. What does he have to show for his decision?

He will need your books, your cash flow statements, your business plans, your business projections, and your product designs. In short, documents that not a lot of you small businesses have at the tip of your fingers.

It doesn’t have to feel like crossing EDSA in the middle of the night without the help of the pink overpass, BPI Foundation is saying. A program called “Show Me, Teach Me” has BPI Family Savings Bank employees reaching out to communities near their branches to teach them such things as basic accounting. This project is also in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry.

I checked with the BPI Foundation office here in Manila if this is done on a scale that can make a real difference. I am all too aware that this can look good in an annual report, but not much on the ground. Officials said they themselves go down to ground level and teach accounting in Filipino. It makes sense at the business level because this activity also helps the branches find small entrepreneurs that can turn into big depositors in the long-term.

How I wish, however, that BPI Foundation has a list of contact persons in the provinces on their website so that people can look them up and find out how to join these seminars. The Internet nowadays is a great resource, and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to come up with ways to use it more effectively! Sigh.

So those interested will have to make do with their Contact Us website. Here is the link: http://www.ayalasocialinitiatives.com/getinvolved.asp. If you think you need this kind of help, join those seminars. After all, they’re free.

Oh, and another interesting tidbit. BPI Foundation has announced that it is developing a trainor’s kit that will help families of overseas Filipino workers cope with the escalating social cost of migration, gain financial literacy, and engage in entrepreneurial endeavors. The trainor’s kit is in partnership with the non-profit Atikha Overseas Workers and Communities Initiatives, Inc. This kit will be unveiled during its 30th anniversary celebration next year.

Read more about BPI Foundation in this article and in this website.

Share This