Transcript
INTER-AMERICAN INVESTMENT CORPORATION ANNUAL REPORT
For the vast majority of small and medium-size companies in Latin America and the Caribbean the prize of local credit has been out of their reach.
Historically, only well consolidated firms have secured access.
The Inter-American Investment Corporation, a multi-lateral institution affiliated with the Inter-American Development Bank, was created to help solve this problem and to level the playing field and allow entrepreneurs to aspire to broader horizons.
And this year, the Corporation has reasons to celebrate after releasing a
successful report in Guatemala City, the site of the Bank’s Annual Meeting.
Jacques Rogozinski, General Manager
Inter-American Investment Corporation
“The results are historic this year for the Corporation. We conducted 46 projects in the region with credits for 511 million dollars, of which 340 came from the Corporation itself, and the rest was co-financed by private banks from the region and Europe. Finally, we obtained some 40 million dollars in benefits.”
What’s more, the Corporation grew by 309 percent and reached 940 million in capital in 2006.
And prospects seem to be looking on the up and up.
Jacques Rogozinski, General Manager
Inter-American Investment Corporation
“In recent years, because of growing competition and bank consolidation, more credits are being approved for these companies. However, the persistent problem for these firms, especially the small ones, is that they still need to undergo structural changes, such as reporting their financial status, to have their operations audited, which would allow them to have access to private loans.”
In order to help small and medium size businesses achieve these changes, the Corporation has created FINPYME, an initiative to promote a methodology to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of companies and improve their possibilities to access private bank credit.
Jorge Roldán
Division Chief, Finance and Risk Management, Inter-American Investment Corporation
“And what we seek is to offer a medical check-up to companies. The same way a person who whishes to run a marathon needs to have his physical condition evaluated, FIMPYME does something very similar. It takes ax x-ray plate of his chest, takes a blood test, a scan, a physical stress analysis. And all this will allow the doctor to tell the patient, ‘You are not ready to run a marathon. You need to lose weight, have a better diet, and exercise more. Just the same as if it were a company.”
FINPYME is working with universities throughout Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic in order to analyze companies to make them more competitive and to win that much coveted prize.
| 
About the Meeting
