Emprende made a 17% growth in loans last year, and particularly increased its financial support for young women, a segment requiring smaller and more flexible loans.
Since 2011 the institution has trebled its activity and currently provides financial services to over 15,000 entrepreneurs in vulnerable sectors in Chile who run businesses in a range of sectors such as commerce, arts and crafts, agriculture and transport. The organization’s process of expansion has meant it has more than doubled its credit portfolio to a figure of 7.5 billion pesos, with an average loan of 565 thousand pesos (approximately US $1000).
Pablo Coloma, General Manager of Emprende, explains that “what we’ve been doing as an institution is to concentrate on providing credit to the most vulnerable sectors of society, with loan amounts far below the average for the industry. We are the only business in Chile that focuses on developing productive financing for disadvantaged sectors with individual credit methodologies”.
“In particular” says Coloma “we are very proud of having increased our support in 2013 for young entrepreneurs from vulnerable sectors. Whereas our customers numbers are up by 17.2% as a whole, the figure for those under 30s has grown by 36%, and if we consider only women under 30, our support for them has increased by 44%. In fact, on average these new customers request a loan of 429 thousand pesos. In other words, we are engaging in financial inclusion by extending our activity precisely to those people who encounter the greatest barriers to accessing formal credit, in order to promote the economic and social development of our customers”.
Coloma recalled that the BBVA Microfinance Foundation group is present in Colombia, Peru, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Panama, Puerto Rico and Chile, and that its aim is to promote the economic and social development of entrepreneurs at the base of the pyramid by delivering financial services adapted to their needs, and geared to the development of their microbusinesses.