Cebuana Lhuillier, the country’s leading microfinancial company, has already educated and helped more than 16,000 Filipinos through its financial literacy program. Successfully completing the company’s free financial literacy education program called CebuanAsenso Negoserye, the graduates are now considered better informed on financial management.
The CebuanAsenso Negoserye campaign, which was rolled out nationwide early this year, aims to promote financial inclusion and help inform the public about proper management of finances, whether it is for personal purposes or for small, medium, or micro businesses. It has attracted 19,069 participants where 16,950 learners or about 88.89% passed the examination given at the end of each class.
“When we launched this program, we set a target of 10,000 graduates for 2016. But after only about seven months of implementation, we already reached the 15,000 mark. I am really glad that our financial literacy program is well-received by the public and many have shown interest and willingness to learn the topic. This only strengthens our determination to further thrust for financial inclusion among Filipinos,” Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier said.
Reaching 514 communities, free CebuanAsenso Negoserye financial literacy classes were held in various barangays and the Department of Education Alternative Learning System centers all over the country. Each class is comprised of seven modules about financial management, educating participants about topics such as saving and debt management. The most number of graduates are from Mandaluyong City where over 200 individuals completed the one-day crash course.
Going beyond educating the participants, Cebuana Negosyo Starter Packs were also given out to top graduates of each area to encourage entrepreneurship. They each received a Cebuana Lhuillier 24k Loyalty Card, Php200 worth of e-money, and a Cebuana Lhuillier SIM Card. The Cebuana Lhuillier SIM is pre-installed with the Cebuana Lhuillier App, which allows the user to access remittance and e-load services. It also enables the user to view 24k loyalty points, check e-money balance, check online appraisal estimates, and view transaction history. The user can earn a profit of as much as 20% with online or SMS remittance transactions and 5% with e-load transactions.
“I hope that after having been educated on the importance of proper financial management through CebuanAsenso Negoserye, these Filipinos would better appreciate the value of having their finances in order and would feel empowered to take advantage of the various financial services and products made available to fit their individual needs,” Lhuillier said.
Cebuana Lhuillier employees, including company executives and the management committee, actively participated in the program as class teachers. In 2017, the company is set to partner with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to target 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) beneficiaries as CebuanAsenso Negoserye learners.
Also, in the second goal to be pursued by Cebuana Lhuillier for the ALS learners in the DepEd – Cebuana Lhuillier ALS Community Learning Centers (which will total 66 nationwide before the end of 2016), Financial Literacy is one of the Five Important Functional Fields of Knowledge, along with Livelihood, Disaster Resiliency, ICT Competitiveness and Sports Development, where around 7,000 ALS learners will be empowered. Same empowerment will be pursued for all employees of the P.J. Lhuillier Group of Companies and their families, also totaling around 7,000.