MANILA, Philippines – A Filipina entrepreneur was hailed as South Asia and Oceanian laureate in the 2019 Cartier Women’s Initiative awards.
The awarding ceremony held in San Francsico, California on Thursday, recognized Carmina Bayombong, who established InvestEd – a student loan service.
Carmina Bayombong
In a statement on Cartier’s official website, Bayombong said she launched the program to cater to students from low-income and poor families.
“Most marginalized and unbanked students’ parents have informal jobs, they cannot prove their household income,” Bayombong said.
Cartier said InvestEd also “developed a three-tier platform to select likely candidates, draw investors and ensure repayment.”
Aside from Bayombong, Cartier Chief Executive Cyrille Vigneron said six other laureates were selected by an independent international jury among 2,900 applicants from 142 countries.
Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards was established in 2006 to identify and encourage projects of female entrepreneurs. /gsg