OMJ Portfolio ENG 2010

DELIVERING

business solutions

FOR THE 360 MILLION PEOPLE IN L AT I N A M E R I CA A N D T H E CA R I B B E A N AT T H E

base of the pyramid Opportunities for the Majority 1300 New York Ave. NW Washington, DC 20577 USA +1.202.623.1819 OM-IDB@iadb.org www.iadb.org/om

We're very pleased to present a portfolio of projects supported by the iDB's Opportunities for the Majority initiative. taken as a whole, these projects will reach millions of low-income residents of Latin america and the Caribbean, from Mexico to peru, from Guatemala to Chile. ey represent an important milestone for Opportunities for the Majority as well: in only two years of operation, the initiative has surpassed $100 million total in approved loans and guarantees. each individual project also adds to the priceless store of knowledge and experience Opportunities for the Majority is developing on what works best when it comes to engaging with the base of the socioeconomic pyramid. several of the projects represent new directions for microfinance, one of the most successful antipoverty tools of the past decade. peru’s highly effective microfinance networks are supplementing public solutions to the persistent housing shortage there by offering mortgage and home improvement loans. el salvador’s state-run low-income housing fund, FOnaVipO, is working through microlenders to make home ownership attainable for a segment of the population that never would have been eligible for traditional mortgages. also in el salvador, FiDeMype is reaching microenterprises that are so small they were not previously able to access microcredit services. and “Mejora tu Calle,” devised by Mexican cement company CeMeX, allows residents of low-income neighborhoods to pool their microloans together to help pay for paving their streets.

Other projects show how existing institutions can serve as distribution channels for additional services. e Global partnerships social investment Fund 2010 will use the robust network of microfinance institutions across the region to enable them to move beyond working capital loans and provide needed health, education, and insurance services to their clients. in Mexico, Mi tienda, a network of stores in low-income, rural areas, is able to offer job training and a variety of services along with basic food and household products. another exciting new development is the consumer loan program now available to qualified clients of the Colombian utility company empresas publicas de Medellin that is extending financial democracy by leveraging the distribution network of the company.

Opportunities for the Majority, which focuses on finding entrepreneurial solutions to the challenge of engaging with the base of the pyramid, is also supporting projects that serve as incubators for the entrepreneurial spirit of Latin america and the Caribbean. peru’s Mibanco is reaching out to support female entrepreneurs through loans and training. Chile’s Banco de Credito e inversiones is helping microentrepreneurs, by innovating in the use of non-financial information available through suppliers’ distribution networks, to build credit histories and gain access to a wide array of financial services. and the iGnia Fund is leading the way in demonstrating that investment in companies that serve the base of the pyramid is profitable as well as socially responsible.

While these projects are each unique in many ways, they share one thing in common: the demonstrated power of working in partnership. $100 million is a figure to celebrate, but it’s only the beginning for the Opportunities for the Majority initiative as the 2010 project pipeline starts to take shape. We are excited about the work ahead, what we will learn and the partrens we will meet in the coming months.

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new tools for Housing Finance in peru peru has one of the world’s most sophisticated and effective systems of microfinance institutions in the world, serving many of the small businesses that constitute the economic lifeline for 70 percent of

Support for Low-Income Homeowners e microfinance institutions supported by iDB resources will work actively with the national housing fund, Fondo Mivivienda, to expand the number of low-income homeowners by helping them to participate in government subsidy programs.

the country’s population. yet this effective financing network, functioning throughout the country, has so far had only a minimum involvement in housing and mortgage lending for the low-income population, a us$12 billion majority market with a housing deficiency of up to 2.1 million units. an iDB project under the Opportunities for the Majority initiative is designed to unlock the investment potential of a network of close to 40 peruvian microfinance institutions, enabling them to serve as a platform to provide a much greater number of mortgages and loans for home-improvement, major engines of economic development. as a first phase, the iDB is providing a us$10 million investment, supplemented by a us$500,000 grant from the Multilateral investment Fund for technical assistance, to enable peru’s microfinance institutions to either initiate or expand their housing finance operations. peru’s Corporación Financiera de Desarrollo will provide counterpart funding of an additional us$10 million.

e project is the first major iDB lending program in which the Bank resources, dedicated to housing solutions, flow directly to microfinance institutions. if the operation is successful in its initial scope of providing around 6,000 housing solutions, it will serve as a model for expanded investments that will benefit a much larger number of low-income homeowners. in many cases, the financing solutions will not only enable a lowincome borrower to purchase or upgrade an existing house, but they will also enhance the infrastructure of existing small businesses, many of which are operated from the home. e program offers participating microfinance institutions three product lines: financing for mortgage loans, financing for home improvement loans, and loans to strengthen the lending institution’s equity position. e MiF grant will support the design and application of standardized mortgage and home improvement loan products and the design of a securitization program, which has the potential of expanding housing finance opportunities in capital markets. among the institutions eligible to participate in the program are the Cajas Municipales de Ahorro y Crédito (Municipal savings and Loan Banks), Cajas Rurales (rural Banks), and eDpyMes, which are regulated financial institutions that serve microenterprise and small business.

For more information about the program contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

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public-private partnership for Low-Cost Housing investments FONAVIPO combines subsidies with solid business practices el salvador has developed a unique and sustainable financial business model that enables low-income consumers to improve and expand their homes by mobilizing resources from both the public and private sectors, including commercial banks and multilateral institutions. ese resources are subsequently channeled to microfinance institutions around the country, serving a market of low-income borrowers and homeowners who otherwise would be without access to credit.

Central to this financing model is FOnaVipO, the state-owned national Low-income Housing Fund. it acts as a second-tier financial lender to 55 microfinance institutions, including cooperatives and other nongovernmental organizations, which operate under a different set of rules compared with regulated, commercial banks. FOnaVipO also administers a government subsidy program that provides homeowners with grants of up to $3,000 to enable less affluent consumers to participate in the housing market.

a $7 million iDB loan for a five-year term, from its Opportunities for the Majority facility, will enable FOnaVipO to provide new financing to microfinance institutions, which in turn will provide loans to 2,300 low-income families. ese customers will be empowered to buy a lot or progressively construct, expand or improve an existing structure. e average loan will be about $3,000. e program will be strengthened by technical assistance, including the establishment of an information and advisory center and mobile administrative units, which will help low-income homeowners or potential homeowners submit the proper documents and complete the required paperwork to qualify for loans and subsidies. training also will be offered to personnel of the participating microfinance institutions to improve customer service and lending methods and to expand the client base.

Lessons learned from the project will be applied to additional expansion of FOnaVipO’s low-income housing program, which has already demonstrated a sustainable capacity to invest in the low end of the housing market, a sector that traditionally has been ignored by large, formal and regulated banks. e lowcost housing market remains underserved and accounts for an important part of the national housing deficit. e Opportunities for the Majority financing is part of a much bigger national lending program for el salvador’s housing sector that will be supported by an additional loan from the iDB and by resources from other international organizations. el salvador’s president Mauricio Funes described the government’s inclusive housing investment plan, known as Casa para Todos (a House for all), as fundamental to achieving “universal social protection” and to combating a cyclical economic slowdown.

FOnaVipO, which operates 150 agencies throughout the country, has earned a reputation for combining rigorous financial practices, including an innovative risk assessment model and sustainable lending policies, with technical assistance for consumers at the bottom of the economic and social pyramid.

For more information about the program contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

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self-Help for the poor through Microcredit FIDEMYPE Offers Innovative Financial Solutions Microenterprise and small business companies account for 59 percent of el salvador’s work force and 49 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. yet the vast majority of these firms, particularly those with small incomes and in rural areas, do not have access to credit. experience has demonstrated that properly managed microcredit programs can achieve an adequate return on capital while fulfilling a social need, enabling lowincome producers to survive and expand. a unique institution in el salvador is addressing this challenge: the trust for the Development of Micro and small enterprise, or FiDeMype.

established in 2000 with support from the european union and the el salvador government, FiDeMype lends funds to, among others, financial institutions outside of the formal banking system that in turn provide credit to microenterprises and small businesses. it is the only second-tier trust in el salvador that provides credit to nonregulated microfinance institutions, which by law are not allowed to accept deposits from the public other than credit unions and cooperatives. recognizing the importance of FiDeMype in offering financial alternatives to underserved businesses, the iDB is supporting the institution through a $4 million loan, with resources from the Bank’s Opportunities for the Majority facility. e iDB’s support will help expand access to financing by approximately 10,000 urban and rural microentrepreneurs.

Advantages of IDB participation e iDB loan, in addition to enabling FiDeMype to further develop its operations and meet unfulfilled demand, illustrates the wide range of Bank products

and resources that can be mobilized to empower underserved, low-income entrepreneurs. prior to the loan, FiDeMype received $1 million in financing and $250,000 in technical assistance from the iDB’s social entrepreneurship program. e Bank’s Multilateral investment Fund is analyzing the possibility of providing a grant to assist nonregulated financial institutions to improve their institutional capacity and credit, administrative and financial systems.

FiDeMype does not receive resources from el salvador’s Central Bank or other official banking institutions. its total loans amount to around $10 million. While the institution is self-sustaining, international assistance is critical to its success, liquidity and expansion. iDB financing will be supplemented by resources from other international agencies, mainly in europe, as well as by FiDeMype’s own resources.

FiDeMype offers a track record of best practices that may be applied elsewhere in Latin america and the Caribbean to better serve low-income entrepreneurs and producers. For instance, FiDeMype has developed an effective and unique risk-assessment system, which provides a risk profile, a collateral requirement and a credit limit to each of its nonbank institutional clients. ese institutions in turn provide individual borrowers with an average loan of around $1,500. two thirds of the individuals receiving these loans are women. although its credit operations are directed to service lowincome microentrepreneurs, FiDeMype has shown that this market can be consistently profitable. in a recent three-year period none of its loans were nonperforming.

FiDeMype represents a public-private partnership. its borrowers are from the private sector. its trustee is the Banco Multisectorial de Inversiones of el salvador, an official institution that, while not guaranteeing FiDeMype’s operations, provides that institution with critical managerial and technical support.

Five percent of FiDeMype’s profits go to the Fundación de Capacitación y Asesoría en Microfinanzas, a foundation that provides training and advisory services to microfinance institutions.

For more information about the program contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

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empowerment through investment A New Way to Pave City Streets roughout Latin america low-income neighborhoods have difficulty in paving city streets. Municipalities are typically short of funds, and many informal urban settlements have not yet been properly incorporated into the tax base. an innovative solution has been devised by CeMeX, a multinational cement company based in Mexico, to mobilize both public and private resources to pave streets in low-income neighborhoods. under the plan, called Mejora tu Calle, city residents will receive individual microloans and then pool the resources to finance half the cost of street pavement for their neighborhood. Municipalities will contribute the other half of the cost.

By participating in the project the iDB reduces the risk of other investors, encouraging its partners to move ahead on a larger scale. e Bank has the capacity to incorporate the program into a more ambitious mission of demonstrating to Latin america and the Caribbean as a whole the advantages of public-private partnerships in improving entire municipal neighborhoods. e iDB is backing the Mejora tu Calle project with a $10 million partial credit guarantee and a $250,000 grant for technical assistance to help the municipalities improve their tax collection through more efficient property registration.

A Market-Based Solution e iDB’s support for the project is offered in the framework of the Bank’s Opportunities for the Majority, an initiative that promotes innovative solutions and public-private partnerships to bring the benefits of economic growth to that 70 percent of the population in Latin america and the Caribbean with low incomes.

CeMeX is a world leader in devising creative, market-based solutions through a partnership between consumers and producers. recognizing the potential of a long-ignored but numerous market segment, CeMeX in the 1990s organized a program known as Patrimonio Hoy, which enabled 185,000 low-income households to improve their homes in stages through a system of microloans. Many of these beneficiaries are now enthusiastic supporters of the Mejora tu Calle plan, which extends the microfinancing principle on a collective basis to entire neighborhoods.

“We know that our future is closely tied to the growth of our people and to the coummunities where we work,”says jaime elizondo, chairman of CeMeX Mexico.

Creating New Wealth paving municipal streets improves public health and neighborhood security and allows wage earners to travel to their jobs faster and become more productive. property values rise, and so do incomes. in addition, thousands of neighborhood residents who participate in the microloan program will develop credit histories that will enable them to have access to other forms of financing in the future to meet their needs. e microloans will average less than $1,000 each and be repaid over a period of 70 weeks. CeMeX will organize a sales force consisting of a network, comprised mainly of women, known as promotores, to market the loans and collect the payments, and it will administer the loans through a special purpose Vehicle.

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empowerment through investment Continued om ont an evaluation has shown that the income of a family participating in Mejora Tu Calle — typically there will be two wage earners in a family — is expected to rise by more than eight times the amount of their original investment in road improvement aer five years. e time frame for paving a neighborhood street will be reduced from as long as 10 years to 70 weeks.

A Tested Model CeMeX tested the Mejora Tu Calle Model in the city of reynosa, Mexico, in 2007 and achieved positive results. e latest program will be applied

in its first phase to 12 selected cities, where 35,000 families are to receive microloans for financing pavement. in its second phase the model will be extended to up to an additional 60 cities. similar public-private programs for municipal infrastructure have been carried out by the Mexican state of Baja California, which launched a cost-sharing program in 2003 with support from the north american Development Bank, and in nicaragua and Chile.

For more information about the program contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

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a Leap Beyond Microfinance: Bundling Microloans with High impact social services e nongovernmental organization Global partnerships is redefining microfinance. Moving beyond the concept of microloans as working capital, it aims to achieve greater impact in reducing poverty by combining these loans with affordable social investments, such as health services, training and low-cost pensions and insurance. is approach represents a significant strategic leap compared with traditional microfinance lending. it conceives of low-income borrowers not only as economic agents, but also as individuals and family members who need advisory, educational, and health services, among other products, to raise their living standards in conjunction with access to finance. e new Global partnerships social investment Fund 2010 seeks investments in Latin america that are financially sound, competitively strong and with projects displaying an exceptional level of social impact.

Global partnerships, which has its main offices in seattle, Washington, and Managua, nicaragua, will use its extensive experience to identify microfinance institutions that are socially driven and have the capacity to bundle financial products with low-cost social services, such as regular medical check-ups, training in agriculture and other areas, the introduction of new microbanking technologies, insurance, and small-scale pension systems. ese services are to be financed by affordable contributions from the beneficiaries. By combining financial and nonfinancial services with working-capital microloans and new microfinance technologies, Global partnerships and its portfolio organizations will achieve a greater impact in breaking the poverty cycle.

Social Investment Fund 2010 to help finance this strategy, the iDB is participating in the $25 million social investment Fund 2010 by providing a $5 million loan from its Opportunities for the Majority facility. e resources will be channeled to about 20 qualified, highly motivated microfinance institutions serving low-income and rural communities in 11 countries in Latin america. e program is expected to improve the lives of 500,000 low-income borrowers while at the same time providing a positive return to lenders. since it was founded in 1994, Global partnerships has developed an excellent track record for sound financial management. in addition to providing small loans for productive activities and resources for social services, Global partnerships has also introduced new financial and management technologies tailored to the microfinance market. among them are evaluation and training tools, foreign currency hedging mechanisms and program impact measurements. examples of Global partnerships’ successful experience in bundling social services with microloans are its investment in nicaragua, to support proMujer, which has screened 10,000 women microentreprenuers through medical checkups for cervical cancer, saving 700 lives, and in el salvador, with apoyo integral, which combines microloans with affordable life and health insurance. e iDB support for the social investment Fund 2010 is designed to help ensure the sustainability and expansion of Global partnerships’ portfolio, as well as to counteract a trend in recent years in which some microfinance institutions are reducing social investments. Global partnerships’ innovative approach, combined with its business skills, is expected to result in successful experiences that can be repeated and expanded throughout Latin america and the Caribbean.

For more information about the program contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

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Mi tienda’s innovative rural supply network small, family-run grocery stores, known as tiendas de abarrotes, are essential for supplying basic goods and services in thousands of low-income rural communities in Mexico. ese stores are convenient – many are open 24 hours a day – but they normally charge higher prices than supermarkets and other large retailers in big cities, because of their reduced economies of scale and higher associated transportation costs.

Mi tienda, a Mexican company sponsored by private Mexican and international social investors, is dedicated to improving the lives of low-income families, enhancing the efficiency of the rural supply chain, and increasing the sales and productivity of small family-owned rural grocery stores. providing door-to-door supply of basic products, as well as consultancy and training services, Mi tienda focuses on benefiting small grocery stores in communities with populations of less than 5,000 inhabitants.

aer launching operations in 1999 with a single pilot warehouse in the city of atlacomulco, Mi tienda currently provides distribution and technical assistance services to 620 grocery stores in that city’s surrounding communities. is pilot warehouse now serves as a model for Mi tienda’s expansion plan to set up an additional 36 warehouses to service 22,000 grocery stores in communities of south central Mexico.

e iDB, using resources from its Opportunities for the Majority initiative, is supporting the expansion with a $2 million loan, while other project sponsors, including private and institutional investors, are investing $13 million in equity to complete the project’s financial package. promotora social Mexico a.C., one of Mexico’s most respected social foundations and main shareholder of Banco Compartamos, is providing a guarantee for the iDB loan.

Training is essential essential to the success of the program is the training component, in which Mi tienda offers free technical advice to increase the skills of the grocery store owner-operators, most of whom have little formal education. training is offered in administration, accounting, inventory management, product definition, and store layout and shelf placement. e model of Mi tienda shows how an efficient rural supply chain, combined with entrepreneurial training, can make more and higher quality basic goods available to rural communities at lower prices, while at the same time improving the lives and strengthening the skills of small rural microentrepreneurs. e expansion of Mi tienda’s warehousing and training operations are expected to have a significant impact in improving living standards of both providers and consumers and to result in the testing of new techniques and approaches that could later be applied throughout Mexico and other countries of the region.

For more information about the program contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

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epM extends Financial Democracy in Colombia empresas públicas de Medellín has experienced more than a half-century of solid financial growth and market expansion, becoming the second largest provider of electricity in Colombia as well as a supplier of water, sewerage and natural gas and, through a subsidiary, telecommunications services. analyzing its 1.7 million customers, epM concluded that many of its low-income clients were underachieving in terms of economic and social advancement: they paid their bills on time, but were excluded from credit markets and the formal banking system. Lack of access to formal financing, a handicap for 75 percent of the population of Medellín, forced many citizens to resort to informal loans – with extraordinarily high interest rates – to buy such basic necessities as refrigerators and home improvement supplies.

epM decided to extend financial democracy, enabling more lowincome customers to enter the formal banking and credit system and hence buy more basic goods at less cost. to achieve this goal, epM is leveraging its customer records of monthly bill payments by converting them into the equivalent of a credit history, the essential prerequisite for obtaining a loan and other financial services. a good utility payment history, according to epM, represents a good credit history, thereby bringing a much larger number of people into the formal financial system. is strategy also represents a profitable business venture, enabling epM to expand and diversify its presence in underserved markets.

to carry out the program epM established a trust, Financiacíon social, managed by two large Colombian banks. e trust screens and evaluates the credit profile of customers based on their utility payment records and other available data. ose who qualify receive a credit line to make purchases of basic necessities – such as refrigerators, other appliances and home computers – or building materials for home improvements. a network of 170 retail outlets, including 80 chain stores, has agreed to honor the credit line. Customers using the credit option receive bills for their purchases along with their monthly epM utility bills. e system is described by epM’s General Manager Federico restrepo posada as “a grand social alliance of bring a better quality of life for our customers.” its target is to bring an additional 190,000 households into the credit markets by 2015, since participation in the program will report to official credit bureaus. Most of the new beneficiaries of the credit system will be those who have only modest incomes. e iDB is supporting the program with a $10 million loan from its Opportunities for the Majority financing facility. e iDB’s Multilateral investment Fund is expected to provide a grant to support refinements in the credit rating system so it may be applied to customers with very low incomes who traditionally represent a high risk for financial institutions. in addition to improving the quality of life for many utility customers, Financiación social is also expected to result in energy savings, as more consumers will be able to replace old appliances with new ones that are more energy-efficient. property values are expected to rise as borrowers use the new credit system to buy supplies to improve their homes. epM’s system of extending financial democracy to the base of the economic and social pyramid has the potential to become a model that can be adopted by other utilities inside and outside of Colombia, bringing opportunities to improve the quality of life to millions of consumers in Latin For more information about the program contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

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Mibanco: strengthening Women’s entrepreneurship From its modest beginnings as a nongovernmental organization dedicated to providing small loans to improve the lives of the poor, Mibanco has grown steadily in four decades to become peru’s fih largest commercial bank.

Mibanco is also the country’s largest commercial bank specializing in financing microenterprise, combining sound business practices with a high level of social commitment and innovation. now Mibanco is adding a new dimension to its growth strategy: bundling loans with training to specifically strengthen women’s entrepreneurship.

to increase the success rate and expansion capacity of women microentrepreneurs, Mibanco has launched a new product called Crecer Mi Negocio (My Business Grows), that will offer loans as low as $350 and on average in the $2,000 to $3,000 range, to enable women to invest in productive assets – such as equipment or machinery to expand production – or in the purchase, expansion or improvement of a business locale. in a parallel project, Mibanco will offer a massive program of one-session training workshops free of charge for more than 100,000 low-income women entrepreneurs in basic financial literacy and management. an additional training course of up to 150 hours will be offered to those women who own more mature small businesses and have qualified for at least $10,000 in credit. e longer course will be developed jointly by the underbird school of Global Management and a peruvian university. e iDB is providing a $10 million loan through its Opportunities for the Majority initiative to help finance the project, while the Bank’s Multilateral investment Fund is providing a $3 million grant to support the training component.

Investing in Training For Mibanco, combining free training with microlending is a proven good investment. e bank has already pioneered the use of single-session workshops as a business tool through a program called Planificando el Éxito de Mi Empresa, which has trained more than 100,000 microentrepreneurs, both men and women, in a program developed in conjunction with aprenda, a sister company. Mibanco has concluded that the training workshops enabled it to both reduce the risk of its loan portfolio and reduce the interest rates charged to clients.

By focusing a new lending program to benefit women microentrepreneurs, Mibanco intends to reassert its historical social commitment and at the same time expand its client base, opening a new avenue for business growth aimed at serving the base of the economic and social pyramid. e technique of bundling microloans with free training opportunities benefiting women entrepreneurs could serve as a model for other microfinance institutions in peru and in other countries. in addition, Mibanco´s new program will meet an immediate need of many women microentrepreneurs because of a new peruvian law that restricts sales by street vendors. e law will require the vendors to move to fixed establishments, opening a credit market for those microentrepreneurs needing to purchase, lease or improve a business locale to enable their businesses to survive.

Microenterprise and small business account for about 60 percent of employment in peru, and 43 percent of these enterprises are run by women. although women have a better track record in repaying loans than men, their businesses are 30 percent less likely to survive in the medium term than firms owned by men.

Because women microentrepreneurs are more likely to invest in the health and education of their children than men, and because many are single heads of households, investments in small businesses run by women have a very high social and economic rate of return.

For more information about the program contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

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BCi Business strategy: extending Financial services rough supply networks Where others see obstacles, Chile’s Banco de Crédito e inversiones (BCi) sees opportunities. about 64 percent of Chile’s one million microenterprises, which account for 60 percent of the nation’s employment, lack access to banking services, a drawback for the country’s otherwise exemplary economic performance.

Banks are oen reluctant to extend financial services to low-income entrepreneurs because of what they consider excessive risk, represented by the lack of a credit history for borrowers, their low incomes, and relatively low levels of education. is market is also associated with high service costs.

BCi concluded that the microenterprise market, largely ignored, could fit into its growth strategy, offering both profits and an opportunity to help fulfill the bank’s social mission. rough a new unit, Banca emergente BCi nova, BCi is aggressively pursuing business opportunities in the low-income microenterprise market by applying new and existing technologies, specialized training for both beneficiaries and bank personnel, and developing innovative alliances to allow suppliers, intermediary organizations and other large companies already serving the base of the pyramid to share credit history information. e iDB’s Opportunities for the Majority initiative is providing the new BCi investment strategy with a $10 million partial credit guarantee to support microloans, while the Bank’s Multilateral investment Fund is providing a parallel $600,000 grant to help finance training and the creation of business alliances.

Over the next six years BCi expects its new strategy to result in the extension of credit and other financial services to more than 80,000 microentrepreneurs.

One of BCi’s advantages is its ability to create alliances with suppliers, utilities, nongovernmental organizations and educational institutions to build a nonconventional credit risk profile of customers who otherwise lack a credit history. Obtaining a credit profile is the gateway for unlocking credit and other financial services for microenterprises. BCi is in the process of developing such partnerships with more than 30 organizations to help build a databank of creditworthy, low-income customers. another pioneering technique devised by BCi is to divide microenterprise loans into two types, Alianza and Ejecutivo.

Customers for the Alianza loans, receiving credit from $300 to $1,000, are screened in a specially designed process using information from suppliers, such as embonor, a distributor of Coca-Cola, and Comercial torino, a distributor of beauty products. in addition to loans for working capital to buy business supplies, all qualified customers open bank accounts, designed to promote savings and timely loan payments. e Alianza process enables BCi to approve credit profiles of new customers in “batches,” reducing time and costs. e method works. e Alianza portfolio has a very low arrearage rate of 1.25 percent. e customers for the Ejecutivo loans, from $800 to $1,800, are screened by a comprehensive system of credit checks that may include visits by loan officers to interview relatives and business associates. since the Ejecutivo borrowers are considered less of a risk, their interest rates are reduced.

Other innovations being adopted by BCi are wireless point-of-sale electronic devices to gather credit information on potential microenterprise loan customers, the use of mobile educational classrooms to extend financial literacy, and the use of Web banking, mobile banking and telephone banking systems.

With its 326 bank branches and 988 atM outlets, BCi is Chile’s third largest private bank. it also has representation offices in Lima, Mexico City, Miami and são paulo. its size, solid financial track record, and investment in cutting edge technologies place BCi in a position to make a real impact in improving the livelihood of a substantial number of low-income entrepreneurs while building a new investment and development model that can be repeated throughout the region.

For more information about the program contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

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Venture Capital for Low-income Markets IGNIA Fund Bets on Investments for the Underserved investing in housing, healthcare, education, basic utilities and nutrition can not only fulfill a social mission, but it can also be a profitable business venture. is is the concept of iGnia Fund, which will channel venture capital resources to fund commercially viable growth companies serving the “base of the pyramid,” those persons in Latin america and the Caribbean earning less than $3,260 a year. e iGnia Fund selects projects with the potential to be expanded on a larger scale, thereby increasing the social and economic impact. e fund was established by two prominent microfinance pioneers, Michael Chu, former CeO of aCCiOn international, and Álvaro rodriguez arregui, who has held a number of senior positions in business, banking and microfinance. ey and other investors in the iGnia fund have a track record of professionalism, business expertise and a commitment to the social and economic development of underserved markets. Chu is also a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business school, where he specializes in majority markets issues. “partnering with the iDB is especially meaningful given the Bank’s leadership through its Opportunity for the Majority initiative,” commented Chu. e iDB is supporting the fund with a $25 million senior secured loan, a $5 million equity investment from the Multilateral investment Fund—which is part of the iDB Group—and a MiF grant of $205,000 for technical assistance. iGnia’s initial investments were in primedic, which delivers quality health care to low-income families in Monterrey, Mexico, and in jardines de Grijalva, a business that develops low-income housing in Chiapas, Mexico.

“Partnering with the IDB is especially meaningful given the Bank’s leadership through its Opportunity for the Majority Initiative. With the IDB’s support, we hope to create the vanguard of new industries that will deliver key goods and services to help the poor realize their full human potential,” —Michael Chu (Funding Partner and senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School).

Forging Partnerships e loan to iGnia, approved in 2008, was the first by the iDB in the framework of the Opportunities for the Majority initiative. it illustrates the Bank’s ability to form partnerships to expand investments that serve majority markets and to leverage resources that attract other investors who have the skills, experience and capacity to develop focused projects with a significant, positive impact on low-income groups. at the same time these projects offer an attractive rate of financial return. e iDB loan enables iGnia to move forward on its plan to raise a total of $75 million for investments benefitting the majority in up to 12 business projects throughout Latin america and the Caribbean. e fund intends to focus investments on small- and medium-sized companies, those whose revenues are less than $10 million a year, and on those firms that operate on the “last mile” of the value chain: businesses that provide services directly to consumers. in addition to improving the quality of life of low-income groups, a firm receiving an iGnia investment must represent a proven, robust business model with low fixed costs and the ability to quickly generate sufficient cash flow. iGnia expects to make an exit from all its investments aer 12 years with a significant profit.

For more information about the fund contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

A Vision for Housing Solutions in Paraguay A Partnership for Safe and Affordable Homes Over 800,000 Paraguayan families lack adequate housing; that number is growing by 15,000 every year. Low-income families have almost no access to the financial products they need to improve their living conditions.

New solutions for such households are now available, thanks to an innovative four-way partnership involving local microfinance institution Vision Banco, the international nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, the commercial bank Citibank, N.A. Paraguay, and the Inter-American Development Bank’s Opportunities for the Majority (OMJ) initiative. Low-income families will be able to access the loans they need to repair, expand, or improve their homes. They will also receive financial literacy training to help them manage their financial responsibilities.

Housing and Banking Access: Two Persistent Issues Affecting the Poor Paraguay’s housing deficit is not unique; most low-income communities across Latin America struggle with finding safe and affordable homes. Credit is virtually nonexistent for those at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid, so their prospects for improving their living conditions are grim.

However, Paraguay faces a particular limitation in addressing the housing and banking challenges of its low-income residents. Its financial institutions have limited options for accessing long-term local currency lending, which further limits the capacity of local institutions to offer credit to traditionally marginalized sectors.

Financial Institutions and a Nonprofit Unite for Results With the support of a US$3 million partial credit guarantee from the Opportunities for the Majority initiative of the

Inter-American Development Bank, Citibank N.A. Paraguay will provide the long-term financing needed by local financial institution Vision Banco to fund a new home improvement credit line designed specifically for low-income households.

Vision Banco, a leading Paraguayan commercial bank, specializes in microfinance; 75 percent of its loan portfolio corresponds to microcredit and loans for small and medium businesses. Habitat for Humanity, an international Christian nonprofit dedicated to building and repairing housing for the poor, has been working in Paraguay since 1998. Together, they have designed a program that provides low-income families with both the financial resources and technical expertise they need to make quality improvements to their homes.

Financial Tools for Low-Income Homeowners While some loan recipients are already microcredit clients of Vision Banco, Habitat for Humanity will play an important role in screening and training qualified applicants. Habitat architects will work with beneficiaries to plan and carry out the proposed construction projects, and will provide training in financial literacy to help the loan recipients understand how to manage the repayment of their loan, as well as make them aware of other financial services available to them.

To be eligible for these new loans, clients must have been working for the same employer for at least three years, be supporting at least one dependent, already own land, have family income of no more than four times the minimum wage, and participate in mandatory financial education workshops led by Habitat for Humanity.

This project is an example of the multisectoral approach frequently used by OMJ, as it combines the resources of a private financial institution, a commercial bank, and an experienced nonprofit to make the project stronger and better able to reach more clients than any individual partner could on its own. As a result, up to 2,500 families will lead healthier, more secure lives and will have increased access to financial services.

For more information about the program, contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

Tackling the Challenge of Finding and Developing Innovative Business Plans The Corporate Leaders Program for Success in Majority Markets While many companies are interested in base of the pyramid (BOP) business models, they often lack an understanding of how to access majority markets, have inaccurate assumptions about lowincome consumers, and have little experience in scaling up projects to make a significant social impact. To transform their preliminary concepts into detailed and successful business models, they need information, tools—and lots of advice.

To address these issues, the Opportunities for the Majority initiative of the Inter-American Development Bank, in partnership with management consulting firm Dalberg Global Development Advisors, developed the Corporate Leaders Program for Success in Majority Markets (CLP), with the goal of identifying several medium and large firms that have promising ideas about launching BOP business projects, but need some mentoring to get their plans ready to execute.

and education sectors —all areas of urgent need for majority markets. They were chosen because their ideas were judged to be the most innovative and to have the best chance of engaging with the base of the pyramid on a large scale. The companies are: •

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Sharing Knowledge, Fostering Ideas As a first step in the program, Opportunities for the Majority and Dalberg held a BOP Modeling Workshop in Miami on July 19, 2010. Dozens of executives heard about companies whose BOP business plans are finding success, learned more about the unique demographics and needs of low-income communities across Latin America and the Caribbean, and brainstormed about what their companies could do to develop their own projects.

Companies were then invited to fill out applications describing their business concepts. After consideration by a selection committee, seven companies were chosen to become part of the CLP. They cover the food, housing, health, technology

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3M, an American-owned multinational producer of a variety of products for households, workplaces, and schools, which is interested in creating educational technologies that can be used in classrooms, and proposes launching the new products in Argentina or Uruguay.

Camargo Correa, a Brazilian-based building materials manufacturer, which wants to introduce its affordable prefabricated housing in Argentina.

COMFAMA, a Colombian social enterprise with a rentto-own housing model that will allow low-income people to access housing subsidies more easily.

Empresa Promotora de Servicios de Salud, which has developed a successful business model for offering health care services to low-income residents in Guatemala, and now seeks to expand its reach into El Salvador and beyond.

Hitecer, a Paraguay-based computer firm interested in developing educational technology and affordable laptop computers for low-income teachers and students.

IMSA, a Honduran flour producer owned by parent company Grupo Corona, which proposes partnering with female entrepreneurs who will use IMSA flour to make breads and tortillas and sell them in their communities.

ZOOM Lego, a Brazil-based affiliate of the Danish toy manufacturer, which wants to develop educational materials to support early childhood development and distribute them through a social franchising model.

Using grant resources from OMJ and financial contributions from the companies themselves, consultants from Dalberg began working intensively with the CLP participants in late 2010. With Dalberg’s guidance, the companies are all developing customized plans for developing their concepts into detailed business plans. These seven companies will serve as leaders in their fields, showing the corporate world what BOP business models are all about.

For more information about the program, contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

Strengthening Community Institutions that Support Local Microentrepreneurs in El Salvador Supporting Municipal Marketplaces In most cultures around the world, municipal markets are popular places for starting up small businesses. An entrepreneur can set up a stall with very low overhead costs, and sell anything from food to crafts, from household goods to simple services. Some sellers pass their market businesses down through their families; others may use their market stalls as launching pads for larger projects.

Communities also benefit from central marketplaces that offer shoppers a variety of fairly priced and locally produced products.

In El Salvador, a new credit facility supported by the Inter-American Development Bank’s Opportunities for the Majority (OMJ) initiative will help ensure that municipal marketplaces remain a vibrant part of the local economy and a cradle of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Marketplaces at the Heart of Communities El Salvador has over 260 markets administered by municipal governments, in settings ranging from urban neighborhoods to small towns. These marketplaces act as public services, as they offer space in which local microentrepreneurs can conduct their businesses, and in which local residents can purchase affordable food and other goods.

In some towns, the demand from merchants has outgrown the available space inside the markets. Undeterred, many vendors have set up stands on street corners, which has led to crowded sidewalks and traffic problems.

To address such issues, Opportunities for the Majority is loaning US$10 million to El Salvador’s Federation of Savings and Loan Associations and Workers’ Banks (FEDECREDITO), a privately owned, cooperative financial institution with a network of 48 savings and loans associations and seven workers’ banks. Its member institutions provide microloans and other financial services to low-income families and microentrepreneurs across El Salvador.

FEDECREDITO, through its member institutions, will channel the OMJ funds into subloans for the municipalities that administer the markets. The money will be used to renovate market buildings, making them more inviting and useful to a new generation of vendors and shoppers.

Improving Management along with Infrastructure While modernizing and expanding the aging buildings that house the markets is one goal of this project, strengthening the tools and skills of those who oversee and operate the markets is equally important. A technical cooperation grant will complement the loan for structural upgrades by supporting management skills training programs that will help the municipalities run the markets more effectively and expand their provision of public-private services.

While these historic marketplaces remain popular throughout the country, they face increasing competition from supermarkets and other chain stores. Deficiencies in utilities like plumbing and electricity cause problems with hygiene and ventilation in the market buildings, and make the markets less attractive to customers and more likely to harbor dangerous food-borne illnesses.

For more information about the program, contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

Opening the Door to Higher Education for Low-Income Students in Mexico New Options for Aspiring College Graduates College degrees are hard to obtain in Mexico, but especially so for students from low-income families.

Only one in four Mexicans between the ages of 19 and 24 is enrolled in college—a number that drops to one in 30 for young people at the base of the pyramid.

A loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) through the Opportunities for the Majority (OMJ) initiative will help the Mexican education finance company FINAE expand its student loan offerings, allowing more low-income students to get degrees and training that will lead to better jobs and brighter futures.

was established in 2007 by a group of Mexican investors in response to universities’ requests for financing alternatives for students who would otherwise not be able to attend college. It works with a select group of well-known private universities.

Loan recipients must maintain higher than average grades and must be pursuing a degree in a field for which there is demand in the job market. Because Mexico has little history with student loans, FINAE works hard to educate potential clients about how its loans work and the advantages of financing higher education.

FINAE’s loans finance between 20 and 100 percent of the total cost of a university degree, or from US$2,000 to US$20,000 per borrower, depending on the students’ earning potential after graduation. FINAE has developed an effective, computerbased system for managing relations with its borrowers and receiving their repayments after they leave school.

Barriers to Education

A Brighter Future for College Graduates

In 2010, 2.4 million Mexicans were enrolled in higher education, two-thirds of them in public universities and onethird in private colleges. Mexican public universities currently are able to accept only about one in five students who apply.

Private institutions provide alternatives, but their tuition fees are well out of reach for low-income families. As a result, each year millions of young adults in Mexico are turned away from the path to job opportunities and social advancement that a college degree represents. This situation will become only more difficult over the coming decade, when the Mexican college student population is expected to nearly double.

A US$2 million loan from the IDB’s Opportunities for the Majority initiative will allow FINAE to expand its loan offerings. By partnering with FINAE, Opportunities for the Majority will not only help thousands of low-income Mexican students earn college diplomas, but will also let them establish formal credit histories, which will help them access a variety of financial services in the future, from bank accounts to mortgages and business loans. Most importantly, the college graduates will be able to pursue skilled and professional jobs that will bring them higher incomes and better prospects for supporting their families in the future.

Financing Now Available for Low-Income Students FINAE S.A. de C.V, a Mexican financial institution, is one of the few options available to students seeking loans to help finance their education. Only 2 percent of Mexico’s college students have an education loan, as compared to 76 percent in the United States and 59 percent in England. FINAE

For more information about the program, contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

Backing Community-Driven and Community-Led Investment in Ecuador From Disaster to Hope In 1993, a landslide and widespread flooding devastated the region around the city of Paute in southern Ecuador, taking lives and destroying property in its path. Out of a belief that the community itself was best able to determine what was needed to help it not only rebuild but grow and prosper, the Jardin Azuayo Cooperative was founded in 1996 as a savings and loans co-op dedicated to meeting the needs of this underserved region.

Today, the cooperative’s microloans support a wide variety of projects, such as educational programs, development of small businesses, and infrastructure improvements. The co-op boasts US$175 million in assets and some 180,000 co-op members. Now, with a $US9 million loan package from the InterAmerican Development Bank’s Opportunities for the Majority (OMJ) initiative and three impact investment co-lenders, Jardin Azuayo will be able to increase its activities.

A Network Creates Local Solutions The Jardin Azuayo Cooperative, based in a largely rural area of remote villages in southern Ecuador, has created a decentralized management structure with 30 branches.

This system enables the cooperative to serve each individual community better by offering members products and services that are tailored to meet its specific needs. This bottomup branch system creates local jobs by hiring villagers to administer its programs, gives people the chance to serve as leaders within their own communities, and helps ensure that programs and projects financed by the co-op are implemented effectively and appropriately. At the same time, leaders from

each branch have the opportunity to learn from one another’s experience, and to enhance their impact by banding together under the Jardin Azuayo name.

One highly successful example of a Jardin Azuayo project is the Mercado de Centavo (“One Cent Market”) in the town of Paute, which is managed, supplied, and staffed entirely by local women. In this area of Ecuador, many men migrate to larger cities or abroad to look for work, leaving wives and other female relatives at home. With support from Jardin Azuayo, the women of Paute established a central market where they could sell produce, meats, crafts, and other goods.

They are developing their entrepreneurial skills at the same time that they are earning money to support their households.

Investment with a Social Impact A $3 million loan from the OMJ initiative, along with $6 million mobilized from impact investors Incofin, Calvert Foundation, and Oikocredit, will finance Jardin Azuayo’s new Credits for Community Development project. In turn, the project will channel funds to municipalities, community organizations, and other local entities to finance improvements in social infrastructure such as renovating public schools; establishing marketplaces, parks, and other public spaces; building roads; and installing water treatment systems. This loan will help fund as many as 250 such projects.

Jardin Azuayo has a slogan: “To save is to invest in hope.”

Its members are given the tools to capitalize on hopeful investments, including savings accounts, automatic teller machines (ATMs) that service remote localities, the option to use mobile phones or computers to transfer money and process bill payments, and perhaps most importantly, credit accounts to finance their own dream projects, be they business ventures or new homes. For its part, Jardin Azuayo lives up to its motto by reinvesting profits in new projects, multiplying its impact by keeping money within its communities.

For more information about the program, contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

Small Farmers, Big Dreams: Creating Value at the Base of the Pyramid in Mexico PepsiCo Brings the Base of the Pyramid into its Supply Chains In rural Mexico, small farmers tend to grow staple crops like beans and corn, and sell them only in their immediate communities. With little access to national supply chains or the working capital they need to expand their farms, they remain at subsistence levels. Meanwhile, Mexico is developing ever-higher rates of obesity and related health issues, leading the government to call for food companies to cut their use of saturated oils and trans-fats, and to implement public incentive plans to diversify the country’s agricultural profile.

Sabritas, a leading Mexican snack foods producer owned by PepsiCo, has decided to take action. With support from the Opportunities for the Majority (OMJ) initiative and the local financial institution Agrofinanzas, it will scale a pilot program that incorporates small farmers into its sunflower supply chain. The new production of sunflower oil will reduce the company’s dependence on expensive, unhealthy imported palm oil, while giving small farmers the chance to expand their crop output and enter the formal economy.

Reaching Scale with Effective Business Models Sabritas has already conducted two pilot programs to test sunflower cultivation in Mexico, supporting the conversion of 350 hectares of farmland. A key obstacle to scaling production proved to be the lack of working capital loans to support smaller producers. Agrofinanzas, a financial institution that specializes in working with the agro-industrial sector, will provide such loans to the farmers so they can purchase seeds and expand their production of sunflower crops.

The Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB’s) Opportunities for the Majority initiative has been instrumental in helping Sabritas structure a market-based business model that will be sustainable in the long run. Thanks to the IDB, the project also has a sound financial structure. In creating a risk-sharing model, the IDB established a new alliance between Agrofinanzas and Sabritas to collectively provide the needed financial resources for the projects.

Agrofinanzas will finance loans to producers; Sabritas will finance the costs related to supply chain management and will cover a portion of potential losses; and the IDB will provide a partial credit guarantee to further mitigate the underlying credit risk.

When the project reaches full scale, as many as 2,000 microloans will have been made and a new sunflower supply chain will be launched. In addition to increasing their income by selling their crops, the farmers will build up credit histories and be able to access other financial services, like insurance or loans for purchasing homes or for higher education.

Added Benefits for Health and the Environment Besides addressing concerns about saturated fats and their effects on health, the conversion of farmland for the production of sunflowers is also in alignment with another Mexican government priority: diversifying crops and reintroducing native crops whose production has fallen off in recent years.

“This project is a great example of the kind of base of the pyramid business model we are working to support and promote,” said IDB project team leader Elizabeth Boggs Davidsen. “It will enable small producers to have access to otherwise unavailable financing to expand their production.

We are pleased to play a role in helping small farmers and Sabritas scale up this program to address both the demand for more nutritional oils and the working capital needs of lowincome farmers in rural Mexico.”

The project is expected to serve as a model of how the private sector can align its operations to advance public policies while still making smart business decisions. This is a model that the IDB expects to replicate in other countries and industries.

For more information about the program, contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

Including Small-Scale Producers in Argentina’s Wine Industry Helping a Cooperative of Smaller Wine Producers Compete with Larger Firms In recent years, Argentina’s wines have gained acclaim and distribution on an international scale. The country’s tourism industry has also benefited, as wine aficionados from around the world have come to visit vineyards and tasting rooms. However, these benefits have reached mostly those producers that are large enough to get the scale needed to satisfy the growing demand of new markets.

Now, through an innovative microloan fund, the members of La Riojana, a cooperative of small-scale wine producers, will be able to compete with their larger counterparts by increasing the output of their vineyards and improving the quality of their wines.

Modest Origins of a Celebrated International Export The international wine industry has a glamorous image in magazines and elite restaurants. But, as with most agricultural products, a great amount of hard work goes into making fine wines, most of it carried out in rural areas by low-income farmers and laborers.

The La Riojana cooperative, based in western Argentina’s Rioja-Chilecito valley, was founded in 1940 and currently has approximately 500 members, most small-scale producers of the grapes and wines for which Argentina is famous. The cooperative’s wines are highly regarded and have earned Fair Trade certification status. To date, however, the individual producers have had very limited access to the financing they need to upgrade and expand their operations.

Connecting Producers to Supply Chains through Working Capital A US$2 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank, through the Opportunities for the Majority Initiative, will significantly reduce the need for farmers to rely on high-interest credit lines, which are difficult to access and can hinder their ability to grow and expand their business. The fund will allow La Riojana to create a microloan fund, which will help members purchase new equipment, modernize their operations, and increase their production output. As a result, the project will strengthen the competitiveness of these small-scale producers, helping them gain the volume they need to enter regional and global markets. This loan is the first granted to a cooperative by Opportunities for the Majority.

Benefits Spill Over to the Community Increased productivity and revenue at the cooperative will also benefit the surrounding community. La Riojana currently employs 305 workers full time and up to 1,300 during the harvest period. As production expands, more jobs will be created for the low-income residents of this rural region. This project is a clear example of the bottom-up approach that the Opportunities for the Majority initiative is successfully supporting. Through its operations, La Riojana is working to ensure that small farmers will play a role in international supply chains and will have a significant impact on many more nearby families.

For more information about the program, contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org

Transforming the Lives of Low-Income Microentrepreneurs in Brazil Providing New Tools to Culinary Microentrepreneurs In Brazil, people who make and sell simple readymade food items are known as transformadores because of their skill in transforming raw ingredients into popular meals and snacks. But no matter how delicious their wares, without access to working capital or basic business knowledge, these microentrepreneurs face challenging odds in making a living from their businesses.

With support from the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB’s) Opportunities for the Majority Initiative, São Paulo-based food wholesaler Tenda Atacado Ltda. is offering new tools to help culinary microentrepreneurs establish thriving businesses, including credit for financing the purchase of equipment and ingredients, and training in management skills.

Challenges and Opportunities for Microentrepreneurs In the developed world, about 80 percent of the food services sector is made up of stable, profitable businesses. In Brazil, the reverse is true: 80 percent of its food-related businesses are small, informal—and economically vulnerable. Making and selling food is a popular entrepreneurial activity, as barriers to entry are low, no education is needed, and preparation work can often be done in a home kitchen with equipment that is already available. However, a lack of basic management skills, resources, and experience means fledgling microentrepreneurs in the food services sector have a hard time earning a modest living, let alone making their businesses profitable and successful. They are unable to position and market their businesses in a way that makes them to stand out against the competition. Without access to working capital, they lose time

and money every day by buying ingredients at retail prices because they do not have enough cash on hand to buy in bulk and benefit from economies of scale. They are also unable to buy the equipment or hire the employees that would allow them to expand beyond the “micro” stage of entrepreneurship.

A Recipe for Success Tenda Atacado Ltda., a leading wholesale retailer in the state of São Paulo, sells food in bulk and other consumer goods at discount prices. Another company in the Tenda Group, Vox Cred S/A, offers a variety of credit services to Tenda’s clients, the majority of whom are microentrepreneurs. Based on its experience, Tenda is developing a new program, Mundo Vox Tenda, which targets low-income microentrepreneurs in the food services sector, providing them not only with financing options to cover working capital needs and buy equipment and materials, but also with training in basic business knowledge: financial literacy, marketing, food safety practices, and the process of business formalization. As an added incentive, participants who complete the business training program will receive lower interest rates.

Tenda expects to reach between 55,000 and 90,000 microentrepreneurs with its new Mundo Vox Tenda program.

The loans will be financed in part by a US$10 million loan from Opportunities for the Majority. A US$270,000 technical cooperation grant will help cover the costs of developing and implementing the training program.

This business model is potentially scalable throughout Brazil and replicable throughout the region. By giving microentrepreneurs the training they need to run successful businesses, and access to credit that will help them not only grow their microenterprises but also participate in the formal economy, the Mundo Vox Tenda program may transform the economic prospects of transformadores at the base of the pyramid.

For more information about the program, contact: OM-IDB@iadb.org