Institutions from Chile, Peru and Jamaica win the Inter-American Awards in Financial and Entrepreneurial Innovation
Foromic, the leading event focused on financial inclusion and enterprise development in Latin America and the Caribbean, opens today in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The theme of this 19th annual edition of the conference is “Creating Opportunities through Financial Inclusion.” Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Luis Alberto Moreno and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness will both present remarks at the inaugural session.
Key themes of the conference include ethical banking, circular economies, and corporate venturing. More than 1,200 experts in financial services, international development, entrepreneurship, and other related fields from across the region are registered for the conference, which is being held for the second time in the English-speaking Caribbean.
The Inter-American Awards in Financial and Entrepreneurial Innovation will also be awarded during the inauguration. This year’s winners are:
Lifetime Achievement in Innovation: Banco Estado Chile, for its innovations in inclusive financial products and services, such as its low-cost RUT account used by more than 8 million Chileans for more than 76 million transactions every month.
Achievement in Emerging Innovation: Edpyme Acceso Crediticio, a Peruvian microfinance institution offering innovative products and services to its microentrepreneur clients in the transport sector (taxi and truck drivers), such as loan products designed for converting vehicles to use cleaner natural gas.
Local Innovator Award: Bio-Tech Research and Development Institute, a Jamaican firm specializing in developing pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products derived from indigenous Jamaican plants.
Foromic is organized annually by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Foromic 2016 also has support from the Jamaican Ministry of Finance and Public Service. For more information, including live video streams of plenary and panel presentations, visit www.foromic.org.
About the Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public and private sector clients throughout the region.