BBVA Microfinance Foundation receives award for the story of the female entrepreneur that travelled around the world

Half of the million people served by the BBVA Microfinance Foundation (BBVAMF) in Colombia through Bancamía are women; mostly heads of households, single mothers, or victims of the armed conflict. Their stories have made the Foundation’s institution worthy of the Best Initiative Award under the Premio Corresponsables Responsible Communication Category. The prize was received by BBVAMF, in representation of Bancamía, during the IX Premios Corresponsables en Iberoamérica ceremony, organized by Fundación Corresponsables in Barcelona.

“This initiative came up to acknowledge and give more visibility to stories of female entrepreneurs, and to inspire others to put their talents and abilities in action, through enterprising. The aim is for other media outlets in our country, and in the world to take more interest in similar stories about enterprising women”, explains Christian Quiroga, head of Communications for Bancamía.

One example is Jessica Hernández’s testimony, a young Colombian mother, 28 years of age, who travelled to the United Nations’ New York headquarters, to give voice to enterprising women like her. In that forum where development, innovation and women’s empowerment were discussed, her courage, her capacity to overcome challenges and the way she deals with difficulties, did not go unnoticed, making her story travel around the world. More than 10 million people in America, Europe and even in Asia have heard about Jessica may it be on print, radio or television, and her testimony has served to encourage other women who also work incessantly to give their children the best they could, and to break down gender barriers.

In the IX Premios Corresponsables, a technical advisory committee and a jury of experts chaired by professor and director of the Business Ethic Department and academic director of IESE Center for Business in Society, Joan Fontrodona, saw these initiatives as, “inspiring practices that are worth sharing because they make this world a better place.”

“Our job as communicators gain a whole new meaning with stories like this, which motivate other women and their communities to pursue a better future, to create awareness on the work that still needs to be done; but that it’s also possible to change things if there are opportunities, no matter how small”, assured Julia Ortega, spokesperson for the Communications Department of BBVA Microfinance Foundation.

BBVA Microfinance Foundation’s internal communication efforts, also acknowledged

The internal campaign launch of the Foundation’s new web page has been finalist in the III Premios OCARE, organized by the Observatorio de la Comunicación y la Acción de la Responsabilidad Empresarial. This organization, propelled by Medialuna consulting firm and CEU San Pablo University, awards best practices in Corporate Social Responsibility Communication since three years ago.

In 2017, BBVAMF kickstarted a comprehensive campaign to publicize its corporate web launch among the 8,000 employees that make up the BBVA Microfinance Foundation Group, to strengthen a sense of belongingness among all. The web is a meeting point for its six microfinance institutions and a place from which people can consult data on social measurement, latest news and life stories and testimonies of more than 2 million people the Foundation serves in Latin America, the real protagonists.