GCredit transforms borrowers to business owners amid pandemic
As the country plunges into a technical recession, GCash, the undisputed leader and preferred mobile wallet in the Philippines, has helped enhance the lives of entrepreneurial Filipinos by providing them with flexible financing deals that jump-started their now-thriving business.
Through GCredit, Filipinos have found a new way to fund their entrepreneurial ideas. A special feature in the GCash app, GCredit functions like a flexible loan or credit card. It can be used to shop with QR partner merchants or even to pay utility bills.
During the pandemic, GCredit became more than just an extender of budgets–it provided hope to ordinary Filipinos by giving them an accessible credit line to secure loans to shoulder different needs, from as simple as buying supplies for a sari-sari store to set up their own establishments.
GCredit has helped over 175,000 small merchants and online sellers gain access to funding for their businesses, disbursing over P1.7 billion in loans to date to small business owners.
Jason Arevalo, 24, said that his using the credit line has made a positive impact on his life. As both a sales clerk and a part-time online seller, the safety net provided by GCredit frees him from worrying about running out of money.
“While I save some of my profits, I usually use the money I make online as capital. When I run out of money for my daily needs such as groceries, GCredit is always there to help,” he said.
Gonzales Carmela, a sari-sari store owner, prefers GCredit over other ways of accessing a credit line because it does not make her dependent on other people. Instead of borrowing money from her friends and family, she can simply make use of her own credit limit instead and even work towards expanding its maximum.
Aside from using this feature to improve their business, merchants also turn to GCredit when it comes to family expenses.
“I can use GCredit to pay bills, groceries, and gas. Once, I even used it to buy school supplies for my child,” said Marly Cortes, a rent-a-van business owner.
Like Cortes, Margarita Alunam also uses this feature as an extension of her monthly budget. As an online seller, having an accessible credit line also allows her to keep a revolving fund.
“My family was really happy about this feature when I told them how much it helped me. In fact, they also said they’d be using GCredit for their next expenses,” she said.
Needless to say, GCredit has inspired many Filipinos to start their own enterprise despite the bleak economic landscape brought by the pandemic.
“It’s easy to access and easy to understand. During times like this, GCash is always happy to have at least helped alleviate the burden of ordinary Filipinos by coming up with new ways to secure them financially,” GCash President Martha Sazon said.
Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt), which operates GCash, is part of the portfolio companies of 917Ventures, the largest corporate incubator in the Philippines wholly-owned by Globe Telecom Inc.
GCash is available for download on the App Store and Google Play. For more information, kindly visit https://www.gcash.com/.
