In the name of God, most beneficent and especially merciful! As we usher in the New Year, we are strongly optimistic about the progress and prosperity of our institution, our bosses, our staff and the country as a whole. This is the year we projected to achieve our long awaited milestone of having 2 million active borrowers in the book. This same year we envision extending a new service as we venture into commercial insurance. While we may start our commercial insurance operations, we will continue our CCS activity of extending death assistance. So let us be inspired by the sacrifices made by our heroes in the year 2019. We will continue to remember them and preserve their legacy; we commit to take care of the families they left behind.
As we look back now, the year 2019 was not easy for us. Despite all the odds, we still need to thank our Almighty God for all the blessings showered upon this foundation. Though we might not have achieved the outreach that we planned, we were however able to achieve our financial goal in full. Our loan portfolio has increased by close to ₱4 billion, which constitutes a 22% growth. 2019 is the year we recorded over 10 thousand full-time staff in our HR pool. This is a landmark achievement in creating jobs, and our foundation is one of the highest employment generating not-for-profit organizations in the Philippines. We are so proud that almost 1/3 of our staff are the children and siblings of our clients.
The natural calamity of earthquake devastated several provinces in Mindanao. Typhoon Tisoy and Ursula massacred most parts of Samar, Leyte and Bicol and some parts of Cebu, Negros and Mindoro. Management is so proud of the selfless action of the staff who spent the entire holidays to continue the relief activities, serving the victims of typhoons and earthquakes. I am personally thankful to all of you, because you have manifestly demonstrated what ASA is. It is to put our bosses before us. That makes ASA true to the service of its clients. We will continue to help rebuild and repair the houses of our clients.
Let us make a commitment to continue to innovate and progress towards always providing the best services to the clients as they are at the center of our vision and mission, and stay ahead in the market. Our ultimate goal is to improve the lives of the poor of the country. We are also committed to mentor our staff to become the best faces of ASA Philippines before the clients. We will build them as successful professionals and as responsible family men and women. The success of our staff either in their profession or family life is our success. When they fail, it is also where ASA fails! Let us help our staff so that they succeed for a good cause always.
Welcoming all of you to a wonderful, progressive and prosperous 2020!
Kamrul Hasan Tarafder
President and CEO
Monday, 6th January 2020