The general manager of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation in Chile announced that it would study alternatives to ensure that all the institution’s customers are able to refloat their businesses as soon as possible.
A group of executives from Emprende Microfinanzas went on a working trip to Valparaíso in order to offer specific support to entrepreneurial customers affected by the catastrophe caused by the serious fire in Valparaíso in recent days.
Pablo Coloma, general manager of Emprende Microfinanzas, said “We’ve been contacting all our customers living in the area right from the start to find out how they are and whether they’ve been affected by the fire, and to give them our message of support”.
The institution, whose activity consists of providing loans to entrepreneurs and self-employed workers in vulnerable sectors of the population, has said that all entrepreneurs who were affected by the catastrophe and who have current loans will be able to reschedule their future repayments, and that the institution will also analyze the best way to get their business back to work again.
“We understand that it’s still very early to think about the future of the business. The people affected by the fire are still sorting through the debris and clearing up the places where their homes and businesses once stood. That’s why we’ve come here to give them some words of support and reassurance, as well as to deliver some essential items they’ve told us they need. However, the most important thing is that we’ve come here to tell the entrepreneurs that in few days’ time we want to sit down with them to talk about how we can help them relaunch their businesses, because we know their business activity will be the means that helps them overcome this terrible setback and will serve as their future support, and we want them to have all possible backing in this task”.
The general manager of Emprende went on: “We’re very keen to ensure the availability of formal financing for entrepreneurs who have to overcome this catastrophe. Emprende’s mission is to provide financial services adapted to the needs of the most vulnerable entrepreneurs in the country, in order to further their economic and social development. We are part of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation group, a non-profit organization that provides loans to over 1.5 million entrepreneurs in Latin America. So establishing loan conditions that make it possible to sustain the businesses affected by the fire is part of the reason for our existence”.
Also present on the visit to Valparaíso were the institution’s risk manager, Rodrigo Urra, the manager of the Valparaíso branch office, Bárbara Alegre, and the local credit executives.