Inspired by the development of micro credit by Professor Mohammud Yunus of Grameen bank in Bangladesh, micro-credit was established in the Philippines in 1989. A Grameen replication called “Ahon sa Hirap Inc.” began lending small loans to women for income generating activities.

As the institution grew, a special group of these poor women began to emerge, they stood out, displaying characteristics others did not, these were the true entrepreneurs, and they saw enterprise as their route to a new life, their family’s future, so they worked to reach the dream for themselves.

But lacking in confidence, management skills, marketing experience and technology their enterprises struggled, often falling prey to the oppressive tactics of opportunistic traders and businessmen.

The women however had their determination on their side, while some quit, others kept working, but the lucky few only reached success.

ASHI contracted the services of training consultant with experience in developing management training programs, to address the problem of their lack of knowledge in an effort to increase the success ratio.

• 1997 Began partnership with ASHI (a micro finance org) to develop management training for selected women entrepreneurs

• 2001 After successful trials of the Family Enterprise Development Program (FEDP), registered INSOL development Foundation as an NGO with Securities Exchange Commission in the Philippines to engage partners supporting the program for micro enterprises.

• 2005 Established the first INSOL Enterprise Center in Antique as a “one stop shop” offering Business Development Service to micro entrepreneurs.

• 2007 Opened three more enterprise centers in the provinces of Rizal, Laguna, and in South Metro Manila. Change our training program adapt to the needs of our entrepreneurs

Thus INSOL was founded in 2001, initially to provide this training for the women of Ahon sa Hirap which displayed the special characters that make an entrepreneur.

As many of the successful enterprises included the husbands and families of these women, the focus of the program extended to include family members who were involved in the enterprise. In those early days INSOL staff would travel to towns and villages to conduct the training, we called this the “family Enterprise Development Program”.

INSOL staff began to recognize that more inputs were needed for these entrepreneurs and their enterprises to become stable and competitive in the market place. Before long they were recommending more programs and services in response to the needs of the growing number of entrepreneurs joining INSOL.

In order to serve the entrepreneurs more efficiently INSOL opened and Enterprise Center in the province of Antique, where the members could access more services.

Finally INSOL has one head office located in 8th Avenue Cubao and four IEC found in, Sta Cruz Laguna, San Jose Antique, South Metro and Rizal.