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Multilateral Investment Fund approves $2.17 million to support small and medium-size businesses in Colombia

The Multilateral Investment Fund announced the approval today of $2,177,400 in grants to increase the competitiveness of Colombia’s small and medium-size business sector through the encouragement of business alliances and through work force training.

The promotion of networks of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and supply chains has been designated as priority area for MIF financing, as these processes are seen as means to help SMEs adapt to new and ever more competitive environments within the region and abroad.

A grant of $1.1 million to Corporación Universitario Minuto de Díos will support the upgrading of the garment industry in the coffee-producing departments of Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío to make it more internationally competitive. Skills will be upgraded for approximately 3,000 workers and 1,000 trainers, and smaller firms will be encouraged to link with larger companies to standardize productive process and increase productivity.

Among the benefits will be the stimulation of greater economic activity in a region affected by a severe earthquake in January of 1999.

A second grant of $1,077,400 will enable the Asociación Colombiana de Medianas y Pequeñas Empresas to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs by encouraging and strengthening cooperative ventures among firms linked horizontally in industrial clusters or vertically in production chains.

The project is designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of cooperative ventures - in areas such as sharing technology, building economies of scale, and training - and encourage additional efforts at shared ventures and the building of confidence among firms.

The Multilateral Investment Fund, an independent fund administered by the Inter-American Development Bank, is dedicated to promoting private sector development in Latin America and the Caribbean through grants and investments.

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