If Colombia wants its microbusinesses or microenterprises to move forward and become another engine that contributes to the economy becoming more dynamic, credit needs to flow to that sector, but under conditions of favorable access, with low interest rates, greater education financial and technological support, as can be seen from the approaches made by several experts, who participated in the panel ‘The voice of popular businesses’, developed on the third day of the 58th Banking Convention that ends this Friday in Cartagena.
Daniel Schydlowsky, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and former Financial Superintendent of Peru; Nancy Tueros, president of Mibanco; Hernando Chica, president of Banco Agrario, César Ferrari, Financial Superintendent of Colombia, moderated by Ricardo Ávila, economist and Senior Analyst of El Tiempo, analyzed the opportunities that the country has to support and advance a sector, such as microbusiness, which represents more than 90 percent of the country’s productive force and one of the main generators of employment, especially for the most vulnerable population.
”The best credit for small businesses is the one that has the lowest interest rates and that can be paid,” the panelists were heard saying insistently, who agreed that one of the barriers that must be overcome in the country It is this conviction that microbusinesses have an implicit greater risk and that is why they must be lent at higher rates, when what they need is lower-cost financing that allows them to make their productive units profitable and, in turn, be able to meet their obligations. financial obligations.
But this is only one of the obstacles to overcome, since it is not only about reaching this economic segment with credit, it is also necessary for microentrepreneurs to recognize that to advance, most of the time, they need financing and make the decision to do so. and this is achieved only through a field visit strategy, with advisors and that they have technological tools and artificial intelligence to make the work of offering and supporting the businessman more efficient, which in turn, contributes to lowering the cost of the credits.
The proposals
Hernando Chica Zucardi, president of Banco Agrario
Photo:Asobancaria
The manager added that it is essential to give greater confidence to this businessman, to offer him support and financial education so that he can understand the scope and commitments he acquires when accessing formal credit, compared to other modalities that may be more expensive and this must be a task that has to be done using all available channels.
He revealed that currently 70 percent of this segment of the population does not have access to formal credit and of that percentage, 80 percent do not want to take it, “that is the challenge, reaching those people so that progress can be made.” in this process of greater credit inclusion of microentrepreneurs,” said the banker.
Reduce the cost of money
Precisamenge, within the framework of the annual convention, which this year brings together more than 2,100 figures from national and international banking, César Ferrari, Financial Superintendent, highlighted the evolution that microcredit has had in countries like Bangladesh, which has allowed microcredit portfolio has very low interest rates, which compete with other segments.
For this reason, the official said, this branch that is offered to people at the base of the pyramid should not be as expensive as it is in Colombia, but with everything and that, it is a segment that continues to grow in the country.
“Although in recent months it has grown very little, it has always been doing so, even during the pandemic it did not drop, and in microcredit it registered a small advance as it went from 2.6 to 2.7 percent.
He recalled that 95 percent of the clients of Gramen Bank in Bangladesh, where there has been extensive development of microcredit, are poor. “Delinquency is very low due to loyalty, because women attend all training and financial education meetings and are more compliant in payments and the type of credit is productive, not consumption,” she said.
That bank, said Ferrari, “advises the person on what they can do with the credit according to their knowledge and capabilities and the credits end up being paid in a large percentage based on production, from what the clients know.”
