Finaktiva guarantees 23 billion pesos for SMEs through FNG

With the premise of facilitating access to credit for SMEs in Colombia, Finaktiva, a digital credit platform for high-potential businesses in the country, is leveraging nearly $930 million (23 billion pesos) from the National Guarantee Fund (NGF).

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Finaktiva is the first Colombian fintech company to be backed by the NGF for special credit lines

Finaktiva is a digital credit platform, which develops financial inclusion solutions to enhance the growth of high-impact entrepreneurship and SMEs in Colombia, through smart financing, which is supported by business alliances, state-of-the-art technology and institutional funding.

With the funding from the National Guarantee Fund, Finaktiva becomes the first Colombian fintech company to which this national fund provides a special line of credit to support high-impact entrepreneurship projects related to the orange economy, and green initiatives, among other sectors.

This support from the NGF is added to the backing from Bancoldex, a Colombian development bank that promotes business growth. Bancoldex provided a pool of resources to Finaktiva so that entrepreneurs can access special lines with subsidized interest rates for various times of the economy as: Línea Avanzamos for the recovery of micro and SME’s affected by the national unemployment, Línea Microfinanzas Verdes 2019 and Línea iNNpulsa for the scaling up of production.

This leverage ratifies the positioning that financial technologies are obtaining in the Colombian entrepreneurial ecosystem, given that some years ago these resources were restricted only to traditional banks and cooperatives. It also validates that ‘fintech’ is an option for SMEs to access resources from national institutions.

Colombia is following Brazil and Mexico in regard to fintech activity in Latin America

According to an analysis by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Colombia is the third country in Latin America to lead the ‘fintech’ activity in the region, after Brazil and Mexico. The report from the IDB has shown that, from a total of 703 fintech projects in Latin America, Brazil has 230, Mexico 180 and Colombia 84.

“When two government entities link a new business model such as ‘fintech’ to articulate financing resources, with the support needs required by entrepreneurs, it generates access to credit, financial inclusion, and connection of companies with their first credit experience,” explained Pablo Santos, CEO of Finaktiva.

To date, this venture has financed more than 400 green companies, at an early stage, led by women and related to the orange economy, in 30 municipalities of the country, through a 100% digital experience and flexible credits.

Finaktiva has recently renewed an alliance with the Chamber of Commerce of Valle del Cauca,  along with which seeks to leverage funding of more than $400 million (10 billion pesos), in 2020, for dynamic and high impact ventures in this department.

These agreements and loans are a sample of the relevance that financial technologies are having in the development of local ventures, since years ago the resources from these entities were used by traditional banks and cooperatives.

In addition, these amounts “validate that fintech companies are an option for SMEs to access resources from national institutions,” said Finaktiva.

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(Featured image by Flavia Carpio via Unsplash)

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