By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
MSMEs were the ones that were badly hit by the pandemic that resulted in shutting down of their business while others decided to close temporarily due to the fact that many non-essential establishments were not allowed to operate under the enhanced community quarantine.
The case of Raquel Ramos, owner of Lemonology, was hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. With the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, businesses like Raquel’s were forced to temporarily close. Continuing operations meant it was tough: they had to face paying for significant expenses such as rent despite their business situation at that time. However, Lemonology knew their suppliers were just as affected by the pandemic. Raquel decided to look for assistance through business loans.
As expressed by Raquel, “SeekCap is my 2021’s great blessing. I’ve been trying to find a business loan for a small business owner like me. It’s kind of hard to find one that is very friendly, one that doesn’t require much unlike others in which you should have a record of more than six months. It is also very user-friendly. I submitted all the requirements and I got approved A DAY AFTER! They reimbursed the loan for about three days after and I can say that they are very efficient, very quick, and they have a heart for us who own small businesses and support us in achieving our dreams for our businesses.”
Raquel is just one of the thousands of Filipino entrepreneurs (or micro- to small and medium sized enterprises, collectively MSMEs) in the Philippines who have been affected during the pandemic. The global phenomenon that is COVID-19 generated a major economic crisis in the country, forcing many businesses to shut down. Some tried to battle the waves of the lockdown but ended up exhausting remaining resources. These businesses, especially small ones, need access to working capital now more than ever, especially with many of them stepping up to play a key role in revitalizing our economy.
“With the ongoing crisis, managing your business financial stability is kinda difficult. Not to mention applying for a quick loan in any bank will take you forever. With the help of SeekCap, I have managed to keep my business stable. Thank you SeekCap for keeping things easy for us business owners,” said Kevin Jay Paras, one of SeekCap clients.
SeekCap, UBX’s online lending platform and the first online lending marketplace in the Philippines, has been a supporting pillar to MSMEs during these unprecedented challenging times. Since launch, over 38,000 MSMEs have registered on the platform and over P1.5B worth of business loans have been processed.
With SeekCap, applying for a loan is easy and entirely digital. Its capacity and capability to help lenders digitize and automate their lending processes shortens processing time and lowers lending costs. MSMEs complete their application and get approval quickly within the comfort of their home or workplace. By eliminating submission of physical documents and personal appearance at the bank, approvals which used to take days if not weeks are processed within the day.
UBX’s end-to-end digital lending technology allows the partner lenders to offer business loans as high as Php 20 million and interest rates as low as 2% to businesses nationwide. In just a few clicks, Filipino business owners can apply for a loan product tailored to their needs, including finance for their inventory, equipment, payroll, marketing, receivables, and similar activities.
SeekCap has partnered with popular platforms used by MSMEs such as Lazada, FoodPanda, Sprout HR & Payroll Solutions, AlliancePOS, Taxumo, and Moneygment to tap and serve more MSMEs. New lenders are constantly being added to SeekCap such as Bangko Kabayan and RAFI Microfinance joining UnionBank, Esquire, SeedIn, Right Choice Finance, and Zenith Capital.
About UBX PH – UBX PH is the financial technology venture studio and fund of Union Bank of the Philippines. UBX is predicated on a future where financial services are invisible: seamlessly embedded into the experiences and activities that truly matter to businesses and people. In addition to SeekCap, other ventures include i2i, offering digital transformation to financial institutions and community based financial service providers; Bux, an embeddable end-to-end payment platform with the most extensive network of payment options and locations in the Philippines; Sentro, a free online shop builder; and QLab which offers digital transformation services to businesses.
Visit https://www.ubx.ph/ for more information or please contact hello@ubx.ph.