In 1998, CEVI was conceptualized through prayer and God's word in response to a pressing need for livelihood among families that the World Vision Development Foundation(WVDF) was assisting in the province of Bohol. With the desire to give fullness of life to the children through empowering families and transforming communities, the WVDFinitiated income-generating projects (IGP) to help improve the economic condition of the poor people it was serving. Through the IGPs helped augment the people's income assessments and periodic evaluation proved them adequate to enable the families to provide for all their basic needs.

Furthermore, the sustainability of these projects in terms of operations, finances and impact was uncertain.This realization called for a need to change the traditional livelihood and income generating programs into a dynamic and sustainable initiative that would uplift people's economic life. The micro-enterprise development (MED) concept answered this concern. It provided a new direction for a viable and sustainable program that will enable people to live better lives now and for the generations to come.