Part of a series of posts from Bachelor of Commerce student blogger, Danny Hertz, written during a Loran Scholarship outreach project in the Philippines.

Two weeks ago I travelled to a town called Merida on the island of Leyte to witness the launching of a mobile money project in the area. The residents of the town were quite accommodating, and insisted that they cover my expenses to stay at the nearby “Merida Beach Resort” since there were no hotels nearby. Initially I thought this was more extravagant than I needed, and only at their persistence accepted the offer. Upon my arrival at the “resort”, I found out there were only 3 rooms there. I was checked into room #1 by the owner and his son, neither of whom seemed to speak English. After unpacking my bag, I turned on the light to the bathroom and noticed that there were about 2000 ants marching from a drain near the bottom, up the wall, and disappearing somewhere in the roof over my bed. While I have grown somewhat accustomed to having a few bugs around, I didn’t think I would be able to sleep that night in the middle of an ant colony, so I went to request bug spray from the owner. He shook his head and smirked that I was even thinking that was a possibility, but indicated that I could have room #2. I decided to give it a shot; regardless of what was there I was sure it couldn’t be worse than the ants. However, after opening the door and flicking on the lights, two green lizards ran across the floor and under my bed. Having already been on edge from the ants, I jumped about two feet in the air, and turned around to see that the son had joined his fathering in having a hearty laugh at my expense. About at that point I decided that living with 2 lizards was safer than sleeping with 2000 ants, and that I wasn’t willing to take a chance on room #3. Needless to say, it was not the best sleep I had ever had.

The next week was a long weekend, as the country was celebrating their Independence Day. I took advantage of the extra day off of work, and travelled a couple hours South of Manila to another resort, but had learned my lesson and actually did some research on it before I went. It was a great weekend, and my first experience swimming and snorkeling near a coral reef. I spent a total of 9 hours in the water that weekend, and saw many interesting fish, including a jelly fish, sea urchin, and a few of Nemo’s clown fish relatives, and was also pretty amazed by the soft coral. Perhaps most surprisingly, the rates were less expensive than it would be to stay at a Howard Johnson hotel for a hockey tournament or cattle show back home in Canada.

Corporate Perks???

The last story will be a short one. While looking through the financial statements of Seed Finance’s partner MFIs , I came across an item that I had not seen before in any of the annual reports that I’ve read on companies and non-profits in Canada and the US. Listed under the note titled “Staff Compensation” was a description of the allowances and benefits they were allotted. After reading the usual “retirement benefits, sick pay leave, housing allowance etc.” came one that I had not, and likely will not, ever see again: Rice Allowance. I had to ask the rest of the Seed Finance team if that was a joke or not, but apparently it’s quite common here in the Philippines. So for all of you who are, are soon to enter, the corporate working world, don’t forget to ask if you can get your Filipino Rice Allowance before signing the next contract…

Part of a series of posts from Bachelor of Commerce student blogger, Danny Hertz, written during a Loran Scholarship outreach project in the Philippines.

It has been a busy few weeks here in the Philippines since my last update. I’ve spent most of my time in the field interviewing partner microfinance institutions as well as the end-borrowers. Several of the towns I have been travelling to have rotating “brown outs” where the electricity is only available to the residents for a certain number of hours per day, so internet access is occasionally hard to come by. However, working away from the office has allowed me to learn more than I otherwise would by strictly staying in the city.
Microenterprises

One of the common questions I have been asked by friends and family is what types of businesses microfinance loans go towards. Having visited a number of them, and used the services of a few as well, the short answer is that it varies greatly by community. In the more rural areas, small farmers who plant crops such as coconuts and rice are common, while in the semi-urban and urban municipalities, vendors who sell food or small items are the most frequent borrowers. There have also been quite a few random, but interesting, microenterprises I have come across including a lady who travelled throughout the village performing manicures for her customers, and a gentleman in a mountainous region who purchased a “habal-habal”, which is a mortorbike used to transport customers to areas that cars and tricycles cannot get to because of the lack of suitable roads.

Part of a series of posts from Bachelor of Commerce student blogger, Danny Hertz, written during a Loran Scholarship outreach project in the Philippines.

As many of you know, I’ve accepted an internship working this summer based out of Manila in the Philippines. I am currently in my second week working for a wholesale microfinance institution here, and am planning to send out updates on a bi-weekly basis. Your comments and questions are appreciated, and I will try to respond to them when I have internet access and a computer nearby.

Background Information

Q: Why on earth are you working in the Philippines this summer? Wouldn’t it be much easier to stay at home in Canada?

A: As part of my Loran scholarship, I am required to do three summer experiences: public policy, international personal and community development, and enterprise. Last summer was my public policy summer where I worked for the Canadian Embassy in Washington, this will be my international personal and community development summer, and next year will be my enterprise internship. After looking into a few different possibilities throughout the school year, I decided to pursue a position in the microfinance field this summer and wanted to spend some time in Southeast Asia. I had the good fortune to receive an offer from Seed Finance, and haven’t looked back since.

Q: What is microfinance?

A: Microfinance is the provision of basic financial services (lending, savings, insurance, money transfer) to the lower-income segments of society that the traditional, formal finance sector does not serve. Microfinance is being used as a tool to combat poverty in the developing world, and in my opinion, has the potential to make a greater, longer term impact than other types of development funding. Microcredit, the loans aspect of microfinance, has largely been a private sector initiative that has been proven that it can be self-sustaining and does not necessarily rely on continual external sources of grants or subsidies.

Q: How is microfinance used to help the poor?

A: By providing the financial services that we in the western world tend to take for granted, microfinance allows for individuals and families to increase their financial security and increase both their income and their wealth levels. Loans are provided for entrepreneurs to start or grow their own small businesses to provide for their families, savings products allow for families to put aside funds for sudden demands for cash that everyone faces (sickness, weddings, education expenses, etc.), while microinsurance helps reduce the vulnerability to external shocks that would otherwise devastate the family’s financial security.

Part of a series of posts from Bachelor of Commerce student blogger, Danny Hertz, written during a Loran Scholarship outreach project in the Philippines.

I left the Calgary Airport on a clear and cool, -2° C morning, and stepped out of the plane into the 38°C heat of a Manila afternoon some 40 hours. After arriving at the office, I was briefed on Seed Finance (SF), the organization that I am interning with, and given a full schedule of my itinerary for the following three weeks by Mr. Jun Perez, the CEO of the for-profit financing company. To my surprise, they had already organized a busy three weeks worth of activities for the duration of May, including meetings with some of Seed Finance’s loan providers, business partners, and clients. As a wholesale financial institution, SF provides loans worth a total of $9 million and training services to 70 retail microfinance institutions who then provide financial products to over 1.2 million people throughout the Philippines. Mr. Perez discussed the four main projects that I will be working on for the duration of the summer, which will be discussed in more detail in future updates.

Living in the Philippines

At least for the first month, I will be staying at a hostel in a residential (read: non-touristy) area of Metro Manila. The place is only a few steps down from first-year residences at Queen’s, but is working well for me so far. The most important thing is that it has an air conditioner, as I would probably not be able to sleep without one (night time temperatures only dip down to 25°C). I’ve only seen two cockroaches in the building and a handful of other bugs since checking in, which is actually not too bad. The price is right though, and I only pay $7.50 per night for a single room. Eating regular meals here has been an ongoing adjustment for me, and I try to eat a mix of Filipino food and “normal” fast food from good ol’ McDonalds and Pizza Hut. It’s customary to eat rice at least two times a day here (and often for breakfast), as it’s the replacement for bread products that we would normally have back home. People here eat a lot of fish, which has also been a pretty big change for me having grown up on a cattle ranch. Last week I had one stretch of 6 meals in a row with only fish as my meat product, I don’t think I would have had more than 6 meals in my entire life that had fish in them up until that point.

Jeepneys and “Balut”

The two most memorable completely new experiences that I’ve had so far have been riding jeepneys and eating the local delicacy in Southeast Asia, balut. Jeepneys are the main form of public transportation for local Filipinos, and are essentially a really off-road, low-cost looking version of a van. So far I’ve been the only North American that I’ve seen ride one, and judging by the looks I get from fellow passengers, I very well could be the first white person ever to climb into one. During rush hours, it’s common to squeeze 14 or 16 people into one that should normally hold about 8 comfortably. No seatbelts, no padded seats, and I pretty much go on a hope and a prayer that it’s travelling in the right direction. However, I’ve found that people here are always willing to point you in the right direction when you’re completely lost and in a different part of the city than you’ve ever seen before (which has happened to me on numerous occasions).

Last week, I travelled to Ormoc City with some colleagues from Seed Finance for a dialogue to hear what their suggestions and concerns with the business were. After our meetings one night, we went out to a karaoke bar and then proceeded to find some local “street food”, and in particular “balut”. Apparently it’s quite a popular thing to do here for Filipinos to try and get Europeans and North Americans to try to eat balut, but few manage to convince them to do so. I did not have the distinction of being told exactly what it was prior to opening up the egg, and it took me a while to find out. After drinking the juice (which I had to put a ton of salt on to be able to choke down), I then decided to eat the yolk because it looked like the next safest thing in comparison to the dark mass at the bottom of the shell. Upon closer inspection, I then realized that there were feathers on that dark mass. It was at that point that I was informed that balut is actually a fertilized duck egg that is 17 days old. They can hatch as young as 25 days, so you can imagine how developed they were at that point (feathers, beak and feet all intact). Thankfully I didn’t eat that part of the egg, but I was the only one in the group who took a pass on it.

Summer, summer, summer! My apologies for disappearing after my last blog update back in April, but let me explain to you what I’ve been up to…

We received exam marks a few weeks ago and thankfully, I pulled in the grades I need to go on exchange this fall! (In order to study abroad, Commerce students need to pass all courses and maintain a minimum cumulative average of 70%.) As I’ve mentioned in my past updates, I’m moving to Norway for 5 months beginning in early August! I’m very excited, and really, in no way prepared for it…there’s still residence permits, visas, and a ton of other paperwork to do before my flight.

Since early May, I’ve been working full time in brand strategy and consulting in the heart of Toronto’s financial district on Bay Street. I’m also interning at a fashion magazine for Canadian girls, whose office is over in the entertainment district. Both jobs are completely different, but still provide a lot of great learning experiences for me.

Apart from work, so far I’ve been enjoying the time off from school by spending time on Toronto patios, going out to clubs, meeting up with a lot of old (and new) friends, going shopping,and watching hockey on TV. There’s also been quite a lot of networking. I’ve also been helping out with the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition, planning for our final gala weekend in January 2011.

As I type this, I’m just about to have lunch with a fellow Queen’s Commerce student who is flying to Finland for a 3-month internship abroad. After I finish up at the office this afternoon, I’ll be meeting with more Queen’s students for drinks at a local downtown bar. I’m really looking forward to catching up with my Kingston friends and to hear about their summer experiences so far! Tomorrow, I’ll be volunteering my time at a small local business before heading out for dinner and to the theatre.

Hope you’re all getting excited about coming to Queen’s in the fall! I would love to meet the incoming Commerce students when I return from my exchange semester in January 2011. As always, if you have any questions before then, feel free to email me at katwong@business.queensu.ca

Kat