HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Hagdan sa Pag-uswag Foundation Inc. is a non-government development organization promoting Christian values through microfinance services operating in Mindanao, inspired by Opportunity International Network and other local and foreign partners.

HSPFI is one of the eleven partners all over the Philippines under the banner of Alliance of Philippines Partners in Enterprise Development (APPEND), and one of the 52 partners all over the world under the support of the Opportunity International Network (OI) based in Chicago, USA.

PBC’s Microfinance Project redirected the objectives of the FRIEND Foundation, for it has now found a more meaningful assistance program, not only among its original target beneficiaries, but also to the marginalized groups of women in the region. The organization of the Project Abante Barangay Para sa Kauswagan (PABK), a microfinance program, made it imperative for PBC to make FRIEND operational, if it were to truly realize its vision of social uplift in the countryside. As one of the two surviving founders of FRIEND, PBC President Carmelita B. Bilaoen made a vow to make the Foundation more than it wished to be, for the benefit of the poor in the rural communities.

HSPFI was established by a group of concerned businessmen of Cagayan de Oro City in September 1987. It was registered with the SEC on January 22, 1988 and started its microfinance operations on March 16, 1988.