Claudio González-Vega, Chairman of the Trustees of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, said at the annual meeting of the European Venture Philanthropy Association that the Foundation has been exceptionally adept at disseminating among its group of institutions the importance of sharing and effectively managing knowledge in benefit of the more vulnerable sectors of society.
In his talk at the 11th Annual Conference of the European Venture Philanthropy Association, González-Vega said that “given the speed of change, increased uncertainty and great complexity we will see in the future, the goals of social investors can only be achieved by acquiring and accumulating all types of knowledge and using it in decision-making. We also need to embrace diversity, and develop the ability to coordinate teams”.
According to the chairman of the trustees, the BBVA Microfinance Foundation has been exceptionally proficient at coordinating various levels of knowledge; on the one hand, universal knowledge (analytical methods, management practices, technology applications) inherited from its philanthropic founder, the BBVA Group, which the Foundation has conveyed to the institutions in its Group through its employees.
And on the other hand, it has valuable local knowledge (economic circuits, value chains, the local culture and environment) thanks to the financial intermediaries acquired by the Foundation, in addition to the immense reserves of knowledge of its individual customers. “By combining these sources of knowledge, the Foundation has succeeded in reaching out to 1.7 million vulnerable microentrepreneurs, their families, and their communities” concluded González-Vega.
With the sponsorship of BBVA, on December 1 and 2, 2015, the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) in Madrid was attended by around 500 people linked to the world of social investment. The EVPA is a European non-profit association set up in 2004 with the aim of promoting philanthropic investment in Europe. Comprising almost 200 members from 25 countries, its goal is to act as a catalyzing network of the main actors working to generate social impact all over the world.
Its members include the leading social venture capital funds, social investors, foundations, social impact funds, private equity firms, professional service firms, advisers, banks and the top business schools.