Manila: A growing number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) have reinvented themselves and have evolved into successful entrepreneurs, the labour department said.

According to Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, a growing number of former overseas Filipino wage earners have cast their lot at becoming entrepreneurs as evidenced by figures on the government’s reintegration programme for OFWs.

Dimapilis-Baldoz said that the first quarter of the year marked an increased number of OFWs who availed themselves of the two billion pesos (Dh177.87 million) reintegration programme provided by the government to jumpstart their chosen livelihood projects and entrepreneurial undertakings.

“At the start of the year, more OFWs continue to benefit from the government’s efforts of facilitating the smooth reintegration of returning OFWs through favourable terms of increased investment and productivity, thus making them productive upon their return,” Baldoz said.

Under the Peso 2 billion OFW National Reintegration Programme, OFWs are provided loans that they can use as seed money to start up their own business.

“Starting strong in 2013, the intensified reintegration programme turns more returning OFWs into entrepreneurs; start-ups generate 2,995 jobs,” Dimapilis-Baldoz said.

“At the start of the year, more OFWs continue to benefit from the government’s efforts of facilitating the smooth reintegration of returning OFWs through favourable terms of increased investment and productivity, thus making them productive upon their return,” the official said.

Dimapilis-Baldoz cited the report of the National Reintegration Centre for OFWs (NRCO) which showed that during the first three months of the year, the Peso 2 billion reintegration programme has benefitted 113 OFW borrower-beneficiaries out of the 130 loan applications approved by the Land Bank of the Philippines.

OFW Borrower-entrepreneurs from Central Luzon region topped the most number of approved loans and largest amount, with Peso 81 million for 146 business projects.

The report showed that overall the various business ventures funded by the loans have increased the generated jobs to 2,995, from a recorded 2,193 jobs in 2012. OFW borrower-beneficiaries have ventured into diverse businesses, ranging from trading of grains, agricultural and farm inputs, auto and motorcycle parts; general merchandise, dry goods, variety and retail stores; livestock raising, fishpond and/or fish, and egg production; and other service businesses.

“We are bringing out to the surface the resourcefulness and ingenuity of our OFWs as they craft their own businesses which they believe are viable and profitable, not only for themselves, but also for the economic and social development of their communities. This is inclusive growth in action,” Dimapilis-Baldoz emphasised. Launched in 2011, the National Reintegration Programme for OFWs aims to support OFWs and their families who plan to put up businesses to maximize the gains of overseas employment, mitigate the social cost of migration, and cushion the impact of forced repatriation.