Support for MSMEs

In his younger years, he was idealistic and wanted to be a soldier to serve the country. However, he soon realized that he really could not bear the hardships that a soldier has to go through, and instead ended up going into the field of banking and finance, where he eventually found the best way to render service to the country, by helping the sector that needs help the most – the micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs.

Robert B. Jordan, RBJ for short, had always felt the need to render service to the country as he had grown up quite poor, the eldest of seven children, living in a tough neighborhood in Navotas, where his schoolmates were more interested in doing drugs.

He initially thought he would become a soldier so he could help defend the country. However, during training for the then mandatory Reserved Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC)  in the then forested Tanay hills, he realized he really could not bear the hardships required to be a soldier, the physical demands,  and having to sleep in the jungle and get bitten by mosquitoes.

The best option, he decided, was to get an education and find some other way of rendering service to the country.

He  finished his Bachelor of Arts in Economics degree in UP in 1985. A lot of his classmates went to the military, while some went to the old Central Bank. He ended up going to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) where he got to work with former secretary Ramon Lopez who was then also working under former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, then a DTI undersecretary.

But once again, RBJ had to reckon with the reality that a government salary was too small and that he needed to find a better paying job, and so he continued to study and obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business in 1990.

RBJ then embarked on a banking career, first in Urban Bank for a couple of months as a marketing officer, working with Archit Bartolome and the late Ted Borlongan, before moving on to  RCBC as an assistant manager, and then to UCPB, where he stayed for eight years and was involved  in small and medium enterprise lending.

However, RBJ was frustrated by the fact that the bank’s MSME lending did not really cater to small businesses as the bank’s portfolio limit range was a high P10 million to P20 million. It was then that he had the idea to go into financing, but catering more to the MSMEs that required loans of as low as P500,000  up to P1 million, the so-called  “sweet spot.”

It is RBJ’s belief that MSMEs, being the backbone of the country’s economy – accounting for 60 to 70 percent of economic output and providing employment for up to 40 percent of the population – is the most deserving of government support.

The reality, however, is that based on a report by the Asian Development Bank, financing support for Philippine SMEs amounts to a mere $23 billion, a far cry from the $78 billion Vietnam provides to its own SMEs.

RBJ, along with entrepreneur Ruben Lugtu II and finance executive Wilfredo Anastacio, thus ventured into consumer financing in 1997 with an initial P3 million capitalization and put up Asialink, which primarily offers financing support for small businesses that require loans of as low as P500,000 to P1 million, but of which they are capable of now extending up to P10 million in financing support.

Asialink quickly found its niche helping small businesses get the financing to further grow their business without having to deal with the rigorous documentation required by the banking sector.

While financing comes at a slightly higher margin than bank loans, it offers more flexibility in terms of documentation and collateral requirements. According to RBJ, Asialink basically requires a chattel mortgage, providing easier compliance compared to a real estate collateral.

Giving much needed support to Asialink has been the Land Bank of the Philippines, which has extended up to P3 billion for on-lending to RBJ’s MSME clients. Likewise, RCBC has also been a key partner in offering financing for MSMEs.

RBJ, however, hopes that more local commercial banks would extend more support for the MSME sector, which is considered risky because they are more susceptible to risks.

Asialink has proven quite successful in its chosen niche, having grown its assets now to a robust P11 billion, with a nationwide reach and having expanded to three companies that now include Global Dominion and Southeast Link.

Asialink is now one of the country’s leading non-bank financial institutions offering secured loans to Filipino individuals and MSMEs nationwide and P2.15 billion in revenues.

RBJ has his sights on expanding to the rest of Asia. An initial attempt to buy into a financing firm in Cambodia failed to push through, but Asialink is definitely set to move in that direction and probably raise more funds by venturing into the capital market and doing an initial public offering.

Who knows? At 58, Bobby Jordan and Asialink have room to grow.

Gracie at 77

Former Philippine STAR vice president for marketing Gracie Glory Go just turned 77 last Monday, March 20, and held a double celebration of her birthday and the launch of the Philippines Yearbook 2023 at the Hilton Hotel in Newport City. Among those who greeted Gracie were Sen. Cynthia Villar, businessman Peter Coyuito, former banker Flor Tarriela, and niece Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte. Also in attendance as they were featured in the yearbook were bowler Paeng Nepumuceno, lawyer Chel Diokno and fashion designer Ditta Sandico.