Miguel Achury, vice-president of Planning at Bancamía, and Jackeline Rincón, director of Sustainability, receive the “Shared Value Award”
The award is granted to companies who have contributed to solving social and/or environmental problems through successful businesses. Bancamía has been shortlisted for its two “Agromía” credit lines, aimed at reinforcing the productive activities of the rural population by providing working and investment capital for underprivileged entrepreneurs in the livestock and agriculture sector.
Bancamía was declared a finalist for the “Shared Value Award”, granted by the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, for creating and continuing to improve specific financial solutions to generate productive development at the base of the economic pyramid, thereby reducing poverty –its mission objective– by means of Productive Finance. Bancamía has promoted effective strategies of financial inclusion and generated economic, social and environmental value in its different interest groups, with a particular focus on micro-enterprises.
The “Agromía” credit lines are a direct result of this concept, and have been recognized in the “Shared Value Award”. The aim of this product is to provide working and investment capital to underprivileged entrepreneurs in the agriculture and livestock sector in order to boost their businesses, as a tool for their productive development on the path to wealth creation.
This innovative idea –which is a watershed in a bank’s relationship with its customers– was recognized by the Bogota Chamber of Commerce as an important initiative based on shared value, seeking to contribute to reducing the rural poverty in Colombia that affects 41.6% of the population. The chosen initiatives are notable for their impact, development potential and replicability. “Agromía” was selected from among 60 candidates presented in the second edition of the awards.
The “Agromía” payment plans are individually adapted to cash conversion cycles by means of flexible payment plans that are designed to follow the cash flows of the multiple activities comprising the productive units of agriculture and livestock. For example, if a producer grows a crop that takes six months to mature, or farm animals that are raised in three weeks, Bancamía receives the loan repayments in those periods, thus adapting the payment plan to the actual possibilities of its customers.
Bancamía delivered 33,234 “Agromía” productive loans in 2014, with disbursements of $93.485 billion and an increase of 13% in the share of “Agromía” in its total portfolio.
The “Agromía” credit lines are articulated with the EbA concept (measures for adapting to climate change) by providing financial products and services that enable farmers to exploit opportunities and develop resilience to the impacts of climate change. These are also complemented with technical assistance for customers offered through strategic alliances and financial literacy training in decision-making skills on the use of money. Bancamía thus pursues the responsible economic and social development of its entrepreneurs while safeguarding the environment.
The bank has succeeded in measuring its mission impact, confirming that 30% of its customers improve their revenues after the second year of the financial relationship, enabling them to rise out of the category of economic poverty. Moreover, year-on-year growth of customer sales was 20%, while the figure was 49% for assets, 61% for wealth, 46% for surpluses and 12% for savings.