{"id":5385,"date":"2024-10-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385"},"modified":"2024-10-08T17:27:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T09:27:01","slug":"daily-markup-1092-first-circle-secures-us7m-investment-from-world-bank-group-member-to-empower-more-smes-in-the-philippines-to-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385","title":{"rendered":"Daily Markup #1092: First Circle secures US$7M investment from World Bank Group member to empower more SMEs in the Philippines to grow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXf9luGQNu4sjCho_xdNdndLfzFrTMPjwdtj4IxbP17v5QHY_iedYXLutDf8ft4XbkGQngto7Lf3ye_uIsmT8KUHCZmtNP8xmqM9GGUZTmWEObeYSiN_OLqwuI5vzF_UozNi8bHmHnYQQO_rHsGfz5fu49Pl?key=6-lgn_ZxPIZQz4jL2ta0lg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo credit: First Circle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&nbsp;Financial freedom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Small businesses often lack access to financial services, and this holds them back from growing and scaling. A US$7M investment into 500-backed fintech company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstcircle.ph\/\">First Circle<\/a> from The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will address this challenge head on.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The fresh capital coupled with IFC\u2019s deep technical expertise in helping fintech companies expand their services will unlock First Circle\u2019s capacity to expand credit lines and deliver smarter banking solutions for underserved small and medium enterprises (SMEs).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Since 2016, the team has funded over 3,000 unique customers, and more than two-thirds are SMEs accessing credit for the first time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>First Circle\u2019s innovative credit systems enable them to provide higher credit limits, flexible repayment options, and the lowest unsecured pricing in the market. They also recently expanded their services to include fee-free business banking and payment solutions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The team has a proven track record \u2014 SMEs are achieving an average of 80% growth in their first two years as customers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the education space, they have also been offering financial literacy programs to equip SMEs with the resources they need to thrive.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Congratulations to the First Circle team!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read the full story <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/4eQwV3U\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;Financial freedom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[322],"tags":[398],"class_list":["post-5385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily","tag-first-circle"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Daily Markup #1092: First Circle secures US$7M investment from World Bank Group member to empower more SMEs in the Philippines to grow - Markup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Daily Markup #1092: First Circle secures US$7M investment from World Bank Group member to empower more SMEs in the Philippines to grow - Markup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp;Financial freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Markup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/500southeastasia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-09T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-08T09:27:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/462002363_932027988952491_4604611289171129952_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1207\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ching Yee Ho\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/\",\"name\":\"Markup\",\"description\":\"Serving bite-sized news on 500 Southeast Asia&#039;s portfolio companies and insights to fuel your momentum in life and business.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/462002363_932027988952491_4604611289171129952_n.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/462002363_932027988952491_4604611289171129952_n.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1207},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385\",\"name\":\"Daily Markup #1092: First Circle secures US$7M investment from World Bank Group member to empower more SMEs in the Philippines to grow - Markup\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-09T16:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-08T09:27:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#\/schema\/person\/519b865263ce8210988e9676b536923f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Daily Markup #1092: First Circle secures US$7M investment from World Bank Group member to empower more SMEs in the Philippines to grow\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#\/schema\/person\/519b865263ce8210988e9676b536923f\",\"name\":\"Ching Yee Ho\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a65dd4b61125a19ff989c4d621a9a0a8f9e7d34b0118d60e00ecec7fd41e330?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a65dd4b61125a19ff989c4d621a9a0a8f9e7d34b0118d60e00ecec7fd41e330?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ching Yee Ho\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?author=5\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Daily Markup #1092: First Circle secures US$7M investment from World Bank Group member to empower more SMEs in the Philippines to grow - Markup","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Daily Markup #1092: First Circle secures US$7M investment from World Bank Group member to empower more SMEs in the Philippines to grow - Markup","og_description":"&nbsp;Financial freedom","og_url":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385","og_site_name":"Markup","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/500southeastasia","article_published_time":"2024-10-09T16:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-08T09:27:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1207,"url":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/462002363_932027988952491_4604611289171129952_n.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ching Yee Ho","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/","name":"Markup","description":"Serving bite-sized news on 500 Southeast Asia&#039;s portfolio companies and insights to fuel your momentum in life and business.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/462002363_932027988952491_4604611289171129952_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/462002363_932027988952491_4604611289171129952_n.jpg","width":1600,"height":1207},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#webpage","url":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385","name":"Daily Markup #1092: First Circle secures US$7M investment from World Bank Group member to empower more SMEs in the Philippines to grow - Markup","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2024-10-09T16:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-08T09:27:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#\/schema\/person\/519b865263ce8210988e9676b536923f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?p=5385#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Daily Markup #1092: First Circle secures US$7M investment from World Bank Group member to empower more SMEs in the Philippines to grow"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#\/schema\/person\/519b865263ce8210988e9676b536923f","name":"Ching Yee Ho","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a65dd4b61125a19ff989c4d621a9a0a8f9e7d34b0118d60e00ecec7fd41e330?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a65dd4b61125a19ff989c4d621a9a0a8f9e7d34b0118d60e00ecec7fd41e330?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ching Yee Ho"},"url":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/?author=5"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5387,"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5385\/revisions\/5387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailymarkup.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}