The Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, will launch FINPYME (Financiación Innovadora de PYME), an innovative program for financing small and medium-size companies, in five Central American countries, Panama, and the Dominican Republic starting February 1. The initiative seeks to improve access to financing for smaller companies
FINPYME will provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), free of charge, with the kind of diagnostic tools that large corporations use to collect and analyze data about their operations, detect problems, and define action plans.
The program will initially benefit some 300 small and medium-size enterprises. As the program is launched, IIC officials will give public presentations in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and the Dominican Republic, as follows:
- February 1 at 8:30 A.M. in San Salvador, El Salvador, at the Hotel Hilton Princesa
- February 2 at 10:30 A.M. in Guatemala City, Guatemala, at the Hotel Westin Camino Real
- February 7 at 8:30 A.M. in San José, Costa Rica, at the Hotel Real Intercontinental
- February 12 at 8:30 A.M. in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, at the Hotel Real Intercontinental
- February 13 at 8:30 A.M. in Panama City, Panama, at the Hotel Sheraton Panamá
- February 15 at 8:30 A.M. in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, at the Hotel Renaissance Jaragua
- February 19 in Managua, Nicaragua
Entrepreneurs in each of these countries who are interested in participating in the FINPYME diagnostic review program are welcome to attend the presentations. Also present will be local government officials; representatives from the IIC, the IDB, and business organizations; and officials from the universities that will serve as FINPYME agents for the IIC. Companies interested in attending the presentations should register by sending an e-mail to FINPYME@iadb.org.
Companies that participate in the FINPYME diagnostic review process will receive a report on their competitive position with an analysis of their strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats, as well as an improvement plan based on the results. Companies with annual sales between US$500,000 and US$5,000,000 are eligible for the program.
In addition to carrying out objective diagnostic reviews of the participating companies and facilitating their access to financing, the FINPYME program will also create databases of SMEs and compile studies on banking sector activities in each program country
Countries participating in the program will also benefit in several ways. The diagnostic reviews will provide information on the country’s business environment for SMEs. Such information is valuable input for strengthening country initiatives regarding financial and economic sector regulations and policies affecting private sector investments.
Universities, business schools, or educational centers with business management programs will be chosen as local agents for the Finpyme program. These local agents will be trained to apply the methodology, certified by the IIC, and made available to participating companies to perform the diagnostic reviews and define action plans for improving each company’s competitive position.
The FINPYME methodology was developed by ALPROALIA, an international consulting firm. The program is also supported by the Korea-IIC SME Development Trust Fund.
Entrepreneurs, government officials, financial institutions, and trade associations interested in obtaining more information on the program may visit FINPYME.
The Inter-American Investment Corporation, a multilateral financial institution based in Washington, D.C., provides financing (in the form of equity investments, loans, guarantees, and other instruments) and advisory services to private enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IIC's mission is to promote the economic development of its regional member countries by stimulating the establishment, expansion, and modernization of private enterprises, particularly those that are small and medium in size. The IIC is a member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group. For more information on the IIC's activities, please visit www.iic.int.