An early achievement in 2009 was the agreement with the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) to hold a “Training Program for Microfinance specialists”, to prepare officers in the microfinance specialty, in response to the lack of professionals in the sector at the time, which represents an obvious obstacle to expansion and growth. By the time the program ended in 2013, the Foundation had trained 1,669 microfinance specialists on courses that were run across Peru, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Panama.
Two years ago the Microfinance Campus was opened, a global project to train Group employees in our Productive Finance methodology [Finanzas Productivas] and put a value on sector best practices. The professional qualifications of the people who work with us have a direct impact on their clients’ development, thus making it possible for us to satisfy better our mission of offering opportunities to disadvantaged people and of helping those entrepreneurs who are already with us to make progress.
The Campus consists of a virtual LMS (Learning Management System) platform that has been rolled out in all 6 of the Group’s institutions. Every year it provides over 500,000 hours of teaching, making use of creative and innovative training solutions. There are plans in the medium term to share contents with clients and other interest groups.
One of these solutions, “Simón”, based on a gaming tool for team management, was selected recently by the journal Compromiso Empresarial as one of the 10 most innovative social initiatives in 2016. It is the fifth year this ranking, carried out in conjunction with CAF- Development Bank of Latin America, has been published.