Baby Aquino, Chief Product Officer and Strategy Head of Fuse Financing Inc. shared insights on how small business owners can gain access to fair and transparent digital credit options.
Fuse Financing, Inc., the lending arm of #GCash, led a discussion on fair borrowing options for Filipino micro-retailers and agri-entrepreneurs at the recently concluded Agriverse Summit 2025 held in Pasay City. The event brought together agripreneurs, government officials, innovators, and small business owners to explore how technology can support business growth, boost agricultural productivity, and promote sustainable farming.
Organized by the Asia Small Business Federation (ASBF) and Philippine Association of Stores and Cardinderia Owners (PASCO), Fuse Financing Chief Product Officer and Strategy Head Baby Aquino highlighted the company's commitment to restoring dignity and fairness to borrowing for the Filipino micro-retail and agricultural sector.
In a fireside chat "Digital Wallets,
Local Markets: Unlocking Growth for Micro-Retail and Agribusiness,"
Aquino also shared how Fuse is redefining access to finance through digital
technology. The company replaces exploitative informal lending with fast, fair,
and transparent credit products that can be accessed real time, anytime,
anywhere, through a mobile phone via your GCash e-wallet.
Fuse’s innovation lies in its end-to-end digital process. By using data-driven credit assessment and digital collection tools, the lender removes the need for physical documents or in-person applications. This allows MSMEs to access funds within minutes, validating what Aquino describes as "true empowerment."
From Left: the panelist’s moderator, Dr. Jessica Domingo Rey, Co-founder, PARJV Grosolutions
VP Planning, Research and Extension, Pamantasan ng Cabuyao; Gilda Maquilan, VP and Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, GCash; Baby Aquino, Chief Product Officer and Strategy Head of Fuse Financing Inc.; Ms. Elilyn S. Gadia, Founding and National President of the Philippine Association of Stores and Carinderia Owners (PASCO); and Ms. Arlene Padua-Martinez, Founding Trustee & President of ASBF Philippines during the discussion about Digital Wallets and Local Markets, unlocking Growth for Micro-Retail and Agribusiness
As of the second quarter of 2025, Fuse has extended credit to 9.5 million Filipinos and disbursed P287 billion in loans. Fuse is able to extend credit to segments underserved by traditional institutions such as MSMEs and women, with one in three are small business owners
and three in five borrowers are women while four out of five
are from the masses (SEC C2DE), underscoring the company’s wide reach
and deep impact on inclusion.
The lender’s suite of products is designed to meet the different financing needs of small entrepreneurs. GLoan offers larger cash loans for business owners of up to P350,000, to support their business capital and growth, while GLoan Sakto, a sachet-type loan, enables eligible customers to borrow for as low as Php 100- an ideal option for the regular customers or the “sukis” of sari-sari stores, instead of them constantly borrowing from sari-sari store owners. This also relieves them of the hassle of collecting those small loans owners.Often used as “pambale,” borrowing even as small as P100 can give customers who were traditionally sidelined by formal credit institutions, an opportunity to build a formal credit history. This approach helps everyday Filipinos transition from informal borrowing toward long-term, sustainable growth.
The Agriverse Summit 2025 brings together MSME owners, agripreneurs, officials, innovators, and small businesses to discover the powerful role technology plays in accelerating business growth, maximizing agricultural productivity, and promoting sustainable farming.
Aquino emphasized that Fuse’s mission is to make formal lending accessible to every Filipino entrepreneur. "’Yung philosophy kasi talaga ng GCash is to allow Filipinos to borrow with dignity. Dapat ‘yong mga produkto namin ay klaro, fair, and transparent. (GCash operates on a philosophy that aims to allow Filipinos to borrow with dignity. Our products are clear, fair, [and] transparent),” she said.
Aquino concluded that the future of small businesses in the Philippines, especially in the agri-tech sector, depends on three essentials: access to finance, access to markets, and access to technology. Through digital innovation, Fuse and GCash aim to make these opportunities available to every Filipino entrepreneur.
For more information, please visit www.gcash.com.