After launching the “Ipon Challenge” for its app users this year, Lista, a free financial management tool for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) in the Philippines, found that when given the chance, Filipinos value the idea of savings.

The challenge concluded with almost 20,000 of app users joining and a cumulative total of P198 million in recorded savings through the app.

Based on the profiles of the participants, the top three priorities were: savings for the future, tuition/education, and emergency funds. 

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“At Lista, we’re being guided by what is important to the users,” said Khriz Lim, co-founder of Lista. “Coming from the Ipon Challenge, it is uplifting to see that people are now saving for things that have a long-term impact on their lives. We hope that our Ipon Challenges, along with the app, continue to encourage more people to be proactive in saving their money and being mindful of their finances.”

Some of the top savings goals identified by Lista users were for personal use such as emergency funds, a house, a motor, and a cellphone, but the No. 1 savings goal was for tuition. Lista is currently running the second leg of “Ipon Challenge (Tuition Challenge),” this time offering up to P25,000 which the lucky winner can use to redeem for tuition costs.

Savings goals

The first Ipon Challenge campaign lasted for more than a month, with users sharing their savings goals for an entry into the campaign’s raffle. Raffle winners received grand prizes such as additional funds for their business, motorcycles for riders, and a brand-new laptop to help them manage their businesses.

“We are overwhelmed with how many of our users participated in the Ipon Challenge,” said Aaron Villegas, co-founder of Lista. “The fact that we managed to help our users save shows how much of a difference it makes to properly manage your finances. Lista was originally meant to help small businesses, but we’ve seen many people use Lista to manage their personal finances just as effectively.”

Lista is a free financial management tool that aims to improve Filipinos’ financial wellness by simplifying bookkeeping for small businesses and individuals alike in one accessible and powerful app. The app also sends an automatic SMS to people that owe the user money, created after the founders’ observation that Filipinos tend to shy away from following up on loan repayments.

The company recently closed its latest series of funding raising over $5.1 million for use in team expansion and expanding beyond business management tools to developing more products for regular individuals looking to manage their personal finance.