THE Madrigal Center for Social Entrepreneurship (MCSE), an educational and business center located at the Ateneo de Naga University Campus in Naga City will soon open its doors to its clientele on June, 2006.

        The center will become the institutional structure of the Consuelo Chito Madrigal Foundation (CCMF-Bikol Branch), a private foundation that aims to provide opportunities for poor families through sustainable programs and helping them become self-reliant and become productive members of the community.

        Fr. Wilmer Tria,chief executive officer of the MCSE, said during a press conference that the inauguration and blessing of the center has been postponed after Dona Consuelo Chito Madrigal informed CCMF-Bikol that she could not come on the 18th of May because she could not travel upon the advise of her doctor.

        The building will have an amphitheater, a coffee shop, function rooms, dormitories of the Madrigal scholars and houses the CCMF-Bikol offices.

        CCMF-Bikol which was established in 2004 has been lending livelihood and housing loans to implementing partners for re-lending to enterprising poor. Qualified micro-entrepreneurs may then borrow from the implementing partners for additional capital while the housing loans may be used for core house construction or house renovation.

        In its ten-year plan, CCMF-Bikol aims to work with a total of six implementing partners that will be at the forefront of providing affordable houses and financing for entrepreneurial endeavors. At present, there are four two-hectare villages built under the housing program. Two more villages are soon to be developed.

        CCMF-Bikol has partnerships with various institutions in four of the six provinces of Bicol, namely: Social Action Center of the Diocese of Legazpi, based in Albay; Bicol Habitat for Humanity and the Community Development Foundation, Inc. in Camarines Sur; Countryside Multiline Cooperative in Camarines Norte; and, Diocese of Masbate Social Action Foundation, Inc.

        CCMF-Bikol, will be implementing new programs beginning June, 2006. First, it will create microfinance centers that will directly lend to the enterprising poor. Second, it will develop communities that provide affordable housing and opportunities for livelihood. Third, it will conduct trainings and seminars for entrepreneurship for small enterprises, organizations that promote business and entrepreneurship.