PinoyME, in its pursuit of increasing the outreach of the Microfinance Capacity Building Program, has the University of Makati (UMak) as its latest academic partner for the National Capital Region (NCR). UMak, in cooperation with its microfinance institution (MFI) partners, will soon offer an equivalency program for Bachelor of Science (BS) in Microfinance. Responsive to the needs of its partners, the program is designed to upgrade the academic qualifications of existing MFI staff for them to have better career prospects in the growing microfinance sector.

For the pilot class, five NCR-based Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) committed to enroll their selected middle managers to the said equivalency program. These MFIs are Alay Buhay Community Development Foundation, Center for Community Transformation (CCT) Credit Cooperative, Ecumenical Loan Fund (ECLOF), Kasagana-ka Development Center, and UPLIFT Philippines. Microfinance experts from five NCR-based MFIs will also be joining the faculty complement of UMak in the conduct of Microfinance modules.

UMak is the latest academic institution to support the implementation of the Dual Training System Competency-based Education (DTS CBE) for Microfinance. Aside from its equivalency program, UMak also offers a BS in Finance major in Microfinance program starting this school year. The program offerings of UMak are part of the DTS CBE of the Microfinance Capacity Building Program, a joint initiative of the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF), PinoyME and Hanns Seidel Foundation/Germany (HSF).