MINDANAO receives many grants for peace and development, and the assistance never ceases to amaze me because of the impact on the community of major foreign donor-assisted projects.

There is a new program that caught my interest and it is aptly called the Enterprise Challenge Fund (ECF).

The fund is backed by Australia Aid, which has committed to provide Pacific and Southeast Asian countries with $20 million in project funds over the next six years.

In the Philippines, the program will be concentrated Mindanao. I would like to think that the island was chosen as a focus area, over the Visayas and Luzon, because the island has a greater need for such a program.

The fund is meant to support private businesses that cannot access funds from banks and other financial institutions.

Unlike other grants that support nonprofit organizations and entities, the ECF will focus on for-profit corporations — not the ordinary for-profit corporations, but those that that have the potential to be of big help to the community.

This is where the challenge lies.

Business persons have to think of a commercial activity that will reduce poverty, create sustainable employment and have positive multiplier effects in the community.

That’s not all. The business must be “high risk” or one that banks and other financial institutions will not easily lend to. For these businesses, ECF can extend a grant worth between $100,000 and $1.5 million.

Mindanao stands to benefit from this challenging fund since there are hundreds of innovative business activities that can be done, but cannot be funded by the regular channels of credit because of the high risk.

ECF should then motivate businesses to really seriously think about how they can balance profitability and social consciousness.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mindanao stands to gain so much from the election of Representative Prospero Nograles of Davao City as the new Speaker of the House.

We can now expect the Mindanao agenda to be one of the priorities. This is perhaps the time we have all been waiting for — to have a true Mindanaoan bring our voices to the halls of power.

I have encountered many powerful figures who claim they are from Mindanao. I have always found this odd because they don’t even live here nor do they visit us regularly.

Representative Nograles, in contrast, is one politician I often see moving around Davao City, talking to the people and touching base with the community.

* * *

Elena Hao, the newly elected vice president for Mindanao of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has just concluded the planning session for the chambers of south Mindanao.

These chambers include those in General Santos City, Sultan Kudarat, Tacurong, Saranggani and these drew up the regional plans for 2008.

Chambers from the central, western, eastern and northern parts of the Mindanao will soon follow suit.

The output will be consolidated into the Mindanao Business Agenda for 2008-09.

* * *

I have just arrived from Sydney, Australia, where I signed an Educational Partnership Agreement with Tafe NSW Southwestern Sydney Institute. The agreement will pave the way for the delivery of Australian Certificate 111 Hospitality (Commercial Cookery) in my school, JIB College of Business and Tourism, in June 2008.

Mindanao will now have access to global certification without going to Australia.

Education is an investment for the future and so this is welcome news to all of us here.

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